One of our favorite places in Costa Rica, is the Drake Bay region of the Osa Peninsula. This is the gateway to the famous Corcovado National Park. Despite its size, the Osa Peninsula packs an astounding 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity into just 0.001% of its surface area. According to National Geographic, this makes it “the most biologically intense place on Earth”. So it is worth the trip!
Usually, you have to fly into the Drake Bay airport and take a boat to your lodge. If you are coming by land, it is a long drive to Sierpe, where you can catch a water taxi. So the transportation gets a little pricey. Much of the food and beverages consumed have to make that same trip. So you can see how this can add up.
The lodges still have to provide their own potable water as well. Fortunately, they are now on the electrical grid. This is a fairly new development. So most of the lodges provide air conditioning.
All that being said, this place is worth the effort and expense. We recently toured three of our favorite lodges. Each is unique, and all have their own attributes and amenities. So we have something at every level.
All three lodges offer three or four night packages, that include meals and two tours. These two tours are usually is a guided hike in the Corcovado National Park, and a snorkeling tour at Isla del Cano. Though all offer different optional tours. Fishing, diving, kayaks, tours to even more remote parts of the park, and more. We recommend a minimum stay of three nights. Add another night if you wish to add another activities. These same tours are offered at all three lodges, and they will often pool their guests to fill out a tour.
So the right choice for you, depends on the level of amenities that you require, in this rustic place.
The three lodges that we toured on this trip were Drake Bay Wilderness Resort, Aguila de Osa and La Paloma Lodge.
This time around (November 2024), we stayed at the Drake Bay Wilderness Resort. This was our first visit in quite a few years. This was the first lodge that we stayed at in the early 1990’s. Back then, they referred to it as a Wilderness Camp. Not a Resort. The basic screened in wooden cabins lacked hot water and A/C. I seem to recall that there was a generator, that was turned off overnight. The food was “typical” local Costa Rican fare. Despite the lack of modern amenities, we loved our stays there. We visited several times. We love the nature, the snorkeling, the beaches, and the mischievous monkeys that took up residence around the lodge. It was rustic, but we were hearty travelers. Eventually, we stayed at more upscale lodges and didn’t make it back this lodge for quite some time.
Our recent visit was about a perfect as it could be. The resort has grown, and improved by leaps and bounds. They have either completely renovated or demolished the old cabins. Even now, they are still making another round about the property, making further improvements. Most importantly, they have renovated all of the bathrooms. The showers are hot, and the air conditioning is cold. There are some single cabins, but most are duplexes. The owner told me that she takes two rooms out of rotation at a time, and completely renovates them. There was a small crew at work while we were there.
The rooms here are not high end luxury. But have everything you need for a comfortable stay. We found ours to be extremely clean and suitably equipped. It met all of our needs. We relaxed every evening with an adult beverage on our porch, and enjoyed the ocean views. The more time you spend here, the more it grows on you. We spent three nights, and could have happily added one or two more.
The restaurant here is quite good. We were there at the slowest time of the year. So the restaurant offered a limited menu. But everything was perfect, especially for this admittedly picky eater. My wife and I both have some dietary restrictions, and the restaurant was happy work within our guidelines. The food was delicious and well prepared. We each ordered different dishes each night. We were both satisfied. They have more choices during busier times. The owner assured us that they can accommodate strict vegetation diets, and religious restrictions (with prior notice). Another nice touch was that we had the same waiter at breakfast and dinner. He treated us like family.
There is a pool and open air bar at one end of the property. You can order snacks here. A little farther down the path are some tidal pools. These are fun at low tide. Though they could be dangerous at high tide. So mind the tide charts.
Most of all, the staff was friendly and happy. To me, this is one of the ways we gauge a property. If the staff isn’t happy, then your visit isn’t going to be nearly as positive. This is a reflection of management. When people are treated well, they are happy. This makes a huge impact on the guest experience.
Everyone here was willing to go above and beyond for anything we needed. With a smile.
To the point, we had to make sure that we limited our requests. An example was when they didn’t have my favorite local cervesa at the pool bar. The bartender was ready to walk 150 meters (300 meters round trip) in the driving afternoon rain, just to fetch one from the main restaurant. I couldn’t ask him to do that, and was happy to order another brand. But he was ready to roll.
On one of our mornings, we decided to take the rather substantial walk into town. Our waiter insisted to walk with us for the first 500 meters or so, uphill. He didn’t want us to miss the trailhead of the path through the forest. This led to the hanging bridge over the estuary to get on the right path. We didn’t ask, but he insisted. We enjoyed our chat with him up the hill.
All in all, this was a home run. We hope to go back soon. We recommend Drake Bay Wilderness Resort to all of our budget minded guests.
