The Harmony Hotel, Nosara, Costa Rica - Explore & Book

"The Harmony Hotel isn't easy to reach, but it’s well worth the effort. An eco-hotel with exemplary credentials, it sits in the jungle of Nosara - a coastal town made up of 4 beaches - and a few yards behind one of the most stunning surf beaches on the Nicoya Peninsula, Playa Guicones. It’s become the place to stay for city-dwelling surfers and grown-up Bohos who are too old - and too well-off - to stay in a grungy surf shack, but still want the feeling of a stylish, authentic hotel. With its wood and wicker furniture, palm trees, freshwater swimming pool and open air/open-plan layout, the hotel has a 1950s Hawaiian resort feel. This is not, I emphasise, a luxury hotel: there are no plasma screen TVs or iPods in the 24 rooms, and service is more of the chat-at-the-breakfast-table variety than silent obedience. But if luxury means a healing centre, organic food, sunrise yoga on the beach before hitting the surf, a hotel with integrity, the sound of waves drifting you to sleep in a big comfy bed, and a tropical paradise, then Harmony would more than qualify as a top-notch destination. Highs A hotel in tune with nature - it's environmentally conscious, and set in tropical gardens, with howler monkeys, hummingbirds, iguanas all aroundThe vegetable patch serves the kitchen, food is organic, shower water is recycled, and the hotel contributes to local environmental and social projectsNew York levels of service delivered with ‘Tico’ charmRooms have private patios, hammocks and outdoor showersDirect access to the beach down a pathway crowded on both sides by bush that sings and twitches with lifeA protected (no building allowed) 6km white sand beach for yoga, surfing, shell collecting, nature walks, horse and bike riding and cold beers at sunset Lows An adventure to get there: most guests take a small plane from San José to Nosara. Once there, the pot-holed, jungle dirt tracks are only suitable for 4x4s. The dry season means dust on the roads, the wet season brings thick mudExpensive compared to other hotels in the area Power cuts are a frequent occurrenceWith its rip tides, Playa Guiones is more of a surfing beach than a swimming beachNosara is not so secret anymore: American retirees own many of the hotels, surf schools and restaurants" - Charlotte Sinclair