Need to know
Rooms
Seven suites, including a treetop villa.
Check–Out
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More details
Rates include an organic Tico breakfast made using freshly gathered ingredients from the estate’s vegetable garden, farm, and natural lagoons.
Also
Golf-carts are available to transport guests with mobility issues around the estate, but the jungle boardwalks and treetop nature of the lodges sadly make this hotel unsuitable for wheelchair-users.
At the hotel
Organic garden, network of trails, yoga pavilion, wine cellar, carpentry studio, craft boutique, charged laundry service, and free WiFi. In rooms: fire-heated outdoor bath, private terrace, coffee machine, organic minibar, binoculars, walkie-talkies, raincoat, and hotel’s own organic bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Six standalone lodges cling to the hillside, ensconcing guests within the sights and sounds of the rainforest foliage – waking to a natural alarm clock of howler monkeys, and falling asleep to the pitter-patter of tropical rain. Wooden shutters on every rounded wall open your lodge up to the elements, allowing a cooling breeze to billow out your giant canopy bed. When the mist starts to set in across the cloud forest, retreat to your hot-tub (heated by the wood-burning stove on your terrace). As the estate’s only three-bedroom option, Three Bedroom Vertigo Lodge takes aerial living to new heights. This treetop-suspended stay feels adventurous yet cocooning, and is kitted out with lots of creature comforts – not to mention a fully-equipped kitchen and volcano-facing living room (who needs a TV?)
Poolside
Gently curving around the front of the restaurant, the natural infinity pool (open daily from 7am to 9pm) at Origins Lodge makes you feel as though you’re floating above the clouds. Swims are suspended at canopy level, with sweeping views across the rainforest towards Nicaragua Lake and the still-smoking Tenorio Volcano.
Spa
Fully immersed within the jungle wilderness, the thatched Laka-Tii Spa Suite (which translates to ‘earth’ and ‘water’ in the local indigenous Maleku dialect) grounds guests in the healing powers of nature. Plant-based treatments rooted in ancient traditions vary from volcanic stone and bamboo massages to facials, body wraps, and scrubs using medicinal herbs grown in the Origins garden (which also give the steam room its earthy aroma). Out on the tree-fringed deck, there’s a wooden hot-tub and loungers to relax in while listening to birdsong and the slow rustling of sloths in the branches above. Guided yoga classes, meditation sessions, and breathwork therapy take place in the shala, which is covered yet still open to the elements. Holistic wellness programmes are available on a bespoke basis, which include three organic superfood-packed meals a day, emotional release therapy, one-to-one time with the lodge’s healer, and health-focused activities.
Packing tips
With all the outdoorsy activities on offer (and changeable weather), you’ll be changing kit several times a day. Sporty layers, a good waterproof, and sturdy footwear are all must-brings. And this isn’t the place to go style-over-substance on swimwear.
Also
The circular skylight in your lodge is inspired by pre-Columbian roundhouses, which welcomed positive energy at dawn and banished any negativity from the day at sunset.
Pet‐friendly
Well-behaved pets are welcome to stay in any room here for free. See more pet-friendly hotels in Bijagua.
Children
Babysitting is available on request; Three Bedroom Vertigo Lodge sleeps up to six across three treehouse-style bedrooms.
Sustainability efforts
Origins Lodge is as green at heart as its verdant jungle surroundings (and B-Corp certification) suggest. Reforestation efforts include planting 500 native trees throughout the 111-acre estate every year, particularly on the edges of its rivers to help boost the natural water supply. Any fallen trees are gathered and taken to the on-site woodworking studio to be transformed into furniture, flooring and beams for the lodge. You can also purchase tree-planting packages through the hotel’s partner, Planta Mi Árbol, a Costa Rican foundation dedicated to fighting deforestation in Central America. The Origins team support the important conservation work of the Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation, including helping to save the Central American Tapir from extinction. The resident bee-keeping team look after 25 beehives which are home to Melipona, tiny stingless bees which are integral to the ecosystem (and produce the purest honey in the world with medicinal powers, which the lodge’s chefs use as a secret ingredient). The on-site organic garden supplies the kitchen with fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs, which are grown and composted using earthworms (a special vermiculture technique which enhances the quality of the soil). Completing the jungle-to-table picture, diners can sample fish from the estate’s lagoons; organic eggs, milk, and cheese from the on-site farm (specifically from Origins’ beloved dairy cow Margaret); and natural sugar-cane juice from a small local plantation. Origins Lodge is entirely plastic-free, and operates its own waste-management system and recycling programme. Bathrooms are stocked with the lodge’s own organic products made from ylang-ylang trees on property, and you’ll find solar water tanks in each air-conditioning-free room, which provide energy-efficient hot water.