Vista del Valle Plantation Inn
About 15 minutes from San Juan International Airport and in the center of fruit and coffee plantations is Vista del Valle Plantation Inn. The resort offers regular hotel rooms as well as private bungalows and villas nestled among native tropical landscaping that include a 300-foot waterfall and botanical gardens, all maintained without the use of pesticides. Adjacent is an equestrian center, a nature reserve and multiple hiking trails. The hotel purchases its coffee and produce from local growers, monitors its water consumption, and even has its own wastewater disposal system.
The bilingual staff will help arrange tours to the four different volcanos and hot springs in the area, as well as Lancaster Orchid Gardens, Carara Rain Forest, and snorkeling and scuba diving.
Rosario de Naranjo, Costa Rica
+ 011 (506) 2451 1165
Finca Rosa Blanca Plantation and Inn
Listed as one of the five-star eco hotels of the world, Finca Rosa Blanca is also an organic coffee plantation. The inn has 13 rooms, including the two-story Rosa Blanca suite with a 360 degree view of the valley from the bedroom. Guests can participate in picking coffee beans and learn about the process of maintaining a green coffee plantation, which has been a hallmark of the hotel since 1985. There is a restaurant and bar on premise, as well as a spa that offers an organic coffee body scrub from the plantation's beans.
Finca Rosa Blanca is the only hotel in Costa Rica to receive a 100 percent score from the Sustainable Tourism Certification program, which includes keeping strict written records of its interaction with the environment, and at least 80 percent of the electric appliances be energy-efficient.
Finca Rosa Blanca Plantation and Inn
Apdo Postal 41-3009
Santa Bárbara, Heredia, Costa Rica
+ 011 (506) 2269-9392
Hotel El Rodeo
Only 10 minutes from San Jose International Airport, Hotel El Rodeo is another eco-friendly hotel near San Jose. With warm, natural and solar lighting, simple rooms and a steak house that seems more like a family gathering than a restaurant, El Rodeo integrates its sustainable aspects as if it were a vacation home and not a hotel. Its cleaning products are biodegradable and waste is recycled, and El Rodeo educates its guests on how they can help maintain a greener environment during their stay.
Guests can play games of foosball, lounge poolside, or have the friendly staff book a trip to many of the nearby nature preserves or Los Angeles Cloud Forest. San Jose is also minutes away.
Hotel El Rodeo
San Antonio de Belen, Costa Rica
+ 011 (506) 2293-3909
