La Paloma Lodge - Osa Peninsula / Corcovado National Parks lodges

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La Paloma Lodge

	Ranchos at La Paloma Lodge virtually hang over the ocean, providing spectacular sunset views.

La Paloma Lodge is one of our favorite Costa Rica luxury ecolodges located at Drakes Bay on the south Pacific Coast of the Osa Peninsula. It is especially ideal for Costa Rica family vacations and for Costa Rica honeymoons. Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the offshore Caño Island, La Paloma Lodge is built within twelve richly landscaped acres and surrounded by dense tropical rainforest rich with wildlife. The sights and sounds of the jungle surround you on a Costa Rica adventure tour to La Paloma Lodge. From each rancho it is possible to see and hear plenty of wildlife: monkeys, sloth, scarlet macaws, toucans, hummingbirds, and many other birds, as well as butterflies galore including the amazing Blue Morpho.

Seven deluxe ranchos are spread out amongst lush vegetation maximizing privacy and seclusion. Each rancho is perched on points overlooking the vast Pacific. Prevailing westerly trade winds cool the open-air ranchos creating ideal sleeping conditions on your Costa Rica adventure tour lulling you to sleep by the rhythm of the surf and awakening you by the symphony of the rainforest. Each cabana has an artistically tiled private bath, expansive balconies with hammocks, varnished hardwood floors, and a breathtaking view of the Pacific. La Paloma Lodge faces west, the perfect direction to catch a magnificent sunset over Caño Island. Five of the ranchos are large enough to sleep a family of five with a wrap-around porch and a second double bed in the loft. Four standard rooms are also available.

Spacious ranchos, large enough for family trips to Costa Rica, feature loft bedrooms, glistening hardwoods and large wrap-around windows with spectacular views.		Take time in the rain forest on your Costa Rica vacation to rest in a hammock on your private veranda.

There are so many activities to do on a Costa Rica adventure tour at La Paloma Lodge including daily excursions such as whale watching, snorkeling and optional scuba diving at Caño Island, guided hikes in the Corcovado National Park, horseback riding, and easy kayaking in the river behind La Paloma Lodge. And, don't miss the nocturnal rainforest walk with "The Bug Lady," which is a real hit on Costa Rica family tours! The beach is a short walk down the hill, La Paloma has nice pool, and you can walk to the small village nearby to mingle with the locals or even take in a little rural Tico night life!

The cuisine on this Costa Rica eco tour is delicious from jumbo shrimp to filet mignon, fresh caught fish, and always vegetarian options. Enjoy a cocktail at sunset and dinners can always be accompanied by a glass of wine and fresh tropical juices are served with all meals.

The partially shaded pool in the rainforest with a swim-up bar is a popular spot on our family vacations in Costa Rica.

La Paloma Lodge Field Report
By Grettel Calderon
Costa Rica Program Director

What can I say? I keep loving La Paloma!! Until now I've normally sold three nights here, but I realized that four nights is so much better; after 2 full-day trips, you want to have a free day to just rest and relax in this tropical paradise.

I loved the rooms and Ranchos, surrounded by jungle, very clean, secluded and with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The food, the service, the orientation Nicole gives to the customers (she is a great host), the staff in general, the tours, boats, the classic Land Rovers that pick you up at the airstrip, the guides, the gardens, everything was perfect. It's really important for guests to understand they are going into a very remote rain forest environment, and two important things to bring are binoculars for the day time and flashlights for the night. Also people with walking difficulties should be advised that just like in Lapa Rios, there are lots of stairs to get to the rooms, restaurant, dock, town, etc.

La Paloma generates its own electricity; the power never went off during my stay. People usually go to bed early; the bar is normally closed by 10 p.m. There is a nice, small swimming pool surrounded by jungle. The beach (Cocalito) is very private and only a 5-minute walk from the rooms. There are boogie boards for those who are not strong swimmers--it is good for swimming, but there are not lifeguards on duty. It is perfect to sit under the shade on one of the comfortable chairs and read, take a nap or just relax.

I loved the fact that the Deluxe and Sunset Ranchos have an outdoor shower open to the forest. One day I was taking a shower under a tropical thunder storm! Staying at this luxury rainforest lodge you know you are just another creature of the forest; I had a friendly gecko and a colorful moth sharing the room. It is very unlikely to get bugs of the biting kind; mosquitoes exist, but I did the night walk without insect repellent and I was surprised I came back to my casita without a single bite!

The windows of the rooms are not screened, they are sliding glass and the views are amazing. From the room it is possible to see a lot of wildlife: monkeys, sloth, scarlet macaws, toucans and lot of other birds, I also saw a blue morpho and lots of other colorful butterflies.

The food is very good, from jumbo shrimp to filet mignon, fresh caught fish, vegetarian options, etc; dinners were always accompanied by a glass of wine and breakfast and lunches with plenty of fresh tropical juices.

It is easy to walk to the little town. The locals play volleyball at the beach to collect funds for the school, you pay $1 and you can participate on the games, it is a lot of fun! This is done regularly, weather permitting.

The two principal tours of the area are by boat to Cano Island and Corcovado National Park. The boat ride to each of these places takes about 1 hour. During the boat transfer it is really easy to see dolphins and it is also common to see whales sometimes with their babies. I got to see the spotted dolphins, which I have not seen before.

Cano Island
Besides the whale and dolphin spotting on the boat, we went out to Cano Island for snorkeling, although on occasion such as when I was there, it wasn't good visibility (it rained the day before) although I got to see lots of King Angel fish and bicolor parrot fish. Swimming at the island is fine, but small kids need to stay close to the shore since after a few steps it gets very deep, there are some tidal pools with rich marine life as well. Gustavo was also the guide and he was great; he can spend more than 3 minutes under water! We hike on the island, as well, which is fairly flat with the exception of the first 20 minutes of steep uphill walking at the beginning. The island was used as an Indian cemetery in pre-Columbian times and you can see a couple of stone spheres here.

Corcovado National Park
This is a beautiful tour into the beaches and coastal rain forest of the Corcovado. The boat arrives in front of the Park Ranger Station where there is an office, public restrooms, an outdoor shower and storage area. We took a 4-hour hike in the morning and after lunch walked about 2 hours to the waterfall and took a dip in the swimming holes, although guests can hike as much or as little as they like. Return time to the lodge is about 3 p.m. Gustavo was the guide and he was great to spot wildlife.

The Bug Lady
This is an amazing tour conducted by a resident naturalist from the lodge for those who appreciate the little wonders of creatures that come out at night. Every insect, spider, etc. has a great story. Can you believe that the thread of the golden Orb weaver spider is stronger than steel? It is actually being studied for future development in industrial use and the US army is interested in creating material that would be as soft as any t-shirt but bullet proof! Lots of weird looking creatures were found, all amazing!

Corcovado Zip Line canopy tour
Excellent for first timers, it goes through secondary and primary rainforest, this is the first zip-line where you can actually see quite a bit of wildlife: on the way to the canopy we saw lots of scarlet macaws, a toucan, a sparrow hawk, and a spider monkey jumping from branch to branch, also several colorful birds and an agouti. We saw lots of butterflies, too.

They now have horses so guests can ride in the forest and on the beach. Kayaking on the gently flowing Agujitas River is great and it is included for free. There are lots of chances to see crocodiles by the dock all the time, they are 9-feet long but not aggressive. They have been there for years and caused no problem, but don't be tempted to feed them!

Regarding the seasonality of whales and dolphins, here's a guide to what you can see throughout the year: