Costa Rica: 2024 Destination of The Year by Travel + Leisure

If you haven’t heard the news, I will be happy to be the one to break it to you. According to Travel + Leisure, Costa Rica was recently named as the 2024 Best Destination of The Year for travelers to visit from across the globe. As someone who has visited this beautiful country 14 times in the last 3 years, I am not surprised by this outcome, but my hope is that travelers choose to visit in ways that help the local communities and surrounding environments. That is why when Gina DeCaprio Vercesi, a freelance writer for T+L, reached out to Lapa Rios interested in featuring them in this article, everyone involved knew it was a great opportunity to promote eco-travel in Costa Rica with the attempt of attracting a “luxurious” crowd, if you will.

One main challenge I’ve noticed within the Adventure Travel Industry is that a lot of people believe you have to “rough it” by sleeping in a hammock or tent somewhere under a tree. Therefore, going “off the beaten path” can seem like a challenge to many, but Böëna Wilderness Lodges is completely changing that rhetoric. What began as an operation 30 years ago as a campground to help rafters have a place to sleep along the Pacuare River at night, to now hosting travelers on authentic Costa Rica travel experiences throughout the entire country. This is the story of Böëna Wilderness Lodges and how they became named some of the Best Eco Lodges in the World!

Highlights of Lapa Rios, Pacuare Lodge, and Tortuga Lodge

Started as Pacuare Lodge, Expanded to Böëna Wilderness Lodges

When it comes to ecotourism in Costa Rica, there are a few lodges who are considered the pioneers. One of them is Pacuare Lodge, a unique lodge where guests are provided an opportunity to whitewater raft into and out of the property. Beyond the amazing adventure activities, what truly makes Pacuare Lodge are the people behind it. Founded in 1986, it has been built up to the Virtuoso level and is an inspiration for other luxury adventure lodges around the world. Now, the owners have taken what they’ve learned along the way by adding several more luxury adventure lodges and services to form Böëna Wilderness Lodges.

The Story of Pacuare Lodge

Böëna Wilderness Lodges officially began in 2019, but their history as a hotel collection dates back from humble beginnings more than 30 years ago. Roberto Fernandez, the owner of Pacuare Lodge and now Böëna Wilderness Lodges, opened Pacuare Lodge in 1986 on the Pacuare River, actually known as one of the top 10 rivers in the world for white water rafting according to National Geographic. Roberto envisioned the Pacuare Lodge as a place where he could share the extraordinary uniqueness and biodiversity that surrounds the Pacuare River while going on rafting expeditions.

Original Pacuare Lodge Bungalow

This is an example of what Pacuare Lodge began as, a few bungalows with no hot water or electricity, but a place to rest your head at night and enjoy the sheer beauty of this place.

Current Garden View Suite

Now, Pacuare Lodge is a Virtuoso property with 20 different suites, this one is a Garden View Suite. Same bungalow format as the original, but now with running hot water and electricity operated by solar energy.

The land was purchased from a local farmer who had cattle on the property and was unfortunately destroying the forest. Roberto saw this as an opportunity to save the forest through ecotourism, but to also offer the locals a way to earn a living without harming the biodiversity of this unique region. Nearby the property is the Cabecar Indigenous Reserve, which belongs to the members of that ethnicity and they can’t sell the land.

Once Pacuare Lodge was purchased and ready for operation, they placed a few raised platforms with overhead covers on the property for guests to sleep on. Eventually, they bought more land and grew Pacuare Lodge into a Virtuoso property (formerly part of Nat Geo Unique Lodges of the World as well) for travelers from all over the world to come visit. Still to this day, the Cabecar indigenous community borders the hotel and guests can meet members of the village by hiking with an expert, in-house guide from Pacuare Lodge, or by meeting one of the Cabecar staff members at Pacuare.

A few of the current Pacuare Lodge guides who have a lot of history working with this unique property. On the left is Ananias, who is part of the neighboring Cabecar indigenous community, and Luis on the right grew up exploring Pacuare Lodge since his father was one of the first employees. They have seen the forest expand throughout their lifetime and love telling guests how wildlife has continuously been thriving since Roberto and his family purchased the property.

New Opportunities to Expand Ecotourism

Roberto’s wife Luz Cáceres is the Commercial Director and his daughter Natalia is the Director of Sales, making it a truly local and family-run business. Through their hard work and perseverance, Pacuare Lodge has remained one of the top eco-lodges in all of Costa Rica. In 2019, they were presented an opportunity to acquire Lapa Rios, another lodge in Costa Rica known for being one of the best eco lodges in the world – which was also part of Nat Geo Unique Lodges of the World, but managed by Cayuga Collection at the time. The owners of Lapa Rios wanted to ensure that it was sold to someone who was going to not only maintain their sustainability practices, but who would advance it as well. The collection of Böëna wilderness Lodges was launched after they purchased Tortuga Lodge and Monteverde Lodge. The vision of having a cluster of emblematic lodges in amazing destinations was achieved once they brought Lapa Rios, Monteverde, Tortuga Lodge to join Pacuare Lodge. Now, Böëna Lodges is locally owned by the Fernandez and Loeb families.

Of the 5 lodges, we represent Lapa Rios, Pacuare Lodge, and Tortuga Lodge. Originally, we represented Lapa Rios with Cayuga Collection, but once they sold to Böëna we continued working with them and eventually were honored to add Tortuga Lodge and Pacuare Lodge.

From left to right: Luz, Roberto, and Natalia at Lapa Rios.

Böëna is a Cabecar indigenous word meaning “Pura Vida” or “wellness; enjoying nature” is exactly how guests are invited to experience the lodges and allow their worries of the world to disappear in order to fully reconnect with nature.

After Lapa Rios was purchased, more opportunities to acquire eco-lodges in Costa Rica followed. In the late 80´s, Roberto met Michael Kaye who is considered the pioneer of adventure travel in Costa Rica, he was also the owner of Tortuga Lodge, Monteverde Lodge, and Costa Rica Expeditions. Böëna Wilderness Lodges was offered the opportunity to purchased Tortuga Lodge and Monteverde Lodge in the pandemic. Following that, they acquired Cloud Forest Lodge in 2022 and purchased a new Cessna Caravan under the name of “Xplore Air.” Instead of simply maintaining and operating these newly-purchased properties, they took it 10 steps further by upgrading each of them to the standard that a guest would experience at Pacuare Lodge.

Local guide at Lapa Rios happy to be guiding again after months of no guests during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Boena Wilderness Lodges Timeline:

Pacuare Lodge (their original hotel, founded in 1986
Lapa Rios (purchased in 2019)
Monteverde Lodge (purchased in 2021)
Tortuga Lodge (purchased in 2021)
Cloud Forest Lodge (purchased in 2022)
Xplore Air Cessna Caravan (purchased in 2022)

Recononstruction During the Pandemic

Once the pandemic began in March of 2020, Böëna Wilderness Lodges was put into a tough position. They made massive investments on growing their brand and purchasing hotels, so it was majorly unfortunate that travelers weren’t able to visit for some time. However, instead of looking at the negative side of things, they took the opportunity to make major renovations which is why all of the properties are at the luxury level of Pacuare Lodge currently. Instead of firing all of their staff, they allowed many of them to stay at the hotels and help with renovations/upkeep. When visiting these lodges, its inspiring to talk to staff members who have been working there for decades and are so passionate about Costa Rica. They make guests feel like family and are some of the most welcoming people you will ever meet.

As someone who has worked closely with the Böëna team and travels frequently to each property, what they have accomplished is unlike anything that I’ve ever seen in the travel industry. Beyond the luxury aspect of being some of the best eco-lodges in Costa Rica, most of them include their own spa treatments, nature excursions & activities, restaurants with locally-sourced food, and cultural activities where you can meet local people and learn their way of life.

Amazing locally-caught tuna tostada at Tortuga Lodge.

Making a Difference in Local Communities and Preserving Nature

Every guest who visits a Böëna Wilderness Lodge pays a one-time per person/per stay conservation fee of $10-$25. This money goes directly to programs that each hotel supports or has created. Böëna as a company sets aside a % of its revenues to support the different projects. This is the main source of the budget. The Conservation Fee helps to make those projects more ambitious.

An Ocelot caught on one of Pacuare Lodge’s Trap Cameras to monitor wildlife.

For example, at Tortuga Lodge, that money goes towards funding the “Escuela de música caribeña de Tortuguero” a school where local children attend to learn their local Calypso music in order to maintain its original Caribbean heritage. On weekends or special occasions, the kids will come perform at Tortuga Lodge. It is one of the most amazing experiences! At Lapa Rios, that money goes towards paying a full-time administrative person to be in the office doing paperwork and handling other matters. By doing so, park rangers are able to be out in the field studying and doing research full-time in the Osa Peninsula – where nearly 3% of our planet’s biodiversity exists. Last but not least, Pacuare Lodge has a Jaguar Research Program in conjunction with the National University of Costa Rica since 2009 where they set trap cameras throughout the forest to monitor wild cats and even offer a presentation at the lodge for any guest interested in learning more.

Escuela de música caribeña de Tortuguero performing for guests at Tortuga Lodge.

At each lodge, guests can partake in a sustainability tour to see how the hotel/staff operates behind the scenes with advanced solar and water-turbine energy sources, cooking classes, and much more. Since Böëna Wilderness Lodges owns and operates each of these properties, they preserve all of the land on it as well. For example, at Lapa Rios, one of the nature trails where guided hikes are offered is located in Primary Forest, meaning that it has been untouched for hundreds of years – which is rare to find in Costa Rica considering mostly all of the nature reserves are secondary forest. This preserved land at each property has been a corridor for wildlife species to live and thrive, that’s why guests are always in awe of how much wildlife one can see while visiting. In fact, Böëna Lodges preserve 2,000 acres of rainforest and cloud forest among its Private Nature Reserves.

Overall, Böëna Wilderness Lodges has become a fine example of generational tradeoff within the hotel industry, and how one company with a vision of luxury hospitality combined with environmental and cultural preservation can make a positive impact on a country – helping the adventure travel industry advance rather than deteriorate. Now, with the Xplore Air plane, guests can get to one another easily and experience many different parts of Costa Rica in a unique way.