Monteverde is one of the most unique places in Costa Rica and features a combination of geography, climate, plants, and animals that are found nowhere else on Earth. In the heart of the global ecotourism capital, Monteverde offers something a little different than the steamy tropical rainforests Costa Rica has become known for.
The air is cool and crisp, the sun is gentle and delicate, and woven in with all of the tour guides, trails, and adventure parks is a small town that has been thriving in the mountains long before Monteverde became a must-see destination in Costa Rica.
There’s something very real about Monteverde that’s apparent from the moment you first arrive. The more you travel, the sharper your eye gets about spotting authenticity, places that have grown and improved organically, evolving with the tastes and desires of the people who live there.
And on a beautiful stretch of road in Santa Elena, one of the neighborhoods of the Monteverde region, there is very little that feels as organically grown as the Ocotea Boutique Hotel.
Some hotels seem like they were carried in by a fleet of helicopters by a multinational conglomerate and dropped there. There’s a comfort and familiarity to these places, which are essentially the same whether you visit them in Panama or Poughkeepsie.
The Ocotea Boutique Hotel, envisioned by Karen Fallas as the culmination of decades in the family business of Monteverde tourism, is not one of these places, and that’s never more apparent than when you’re sitting in the rooftop lounge.
The rooftop lounge at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel is a fantastic space envisioned by Karen and her team of designers. It has tremendous views, sliding glass windows to allow in the fresh Monteverde breeze, and a design and furnishing layout updated year over year that has only gotten more sleek, stylish, and welcoming as the years have gone on.
A gorgeous cloud-forest-inspired mural by artist Majo Rodriguez covers the walls, with a resplendent quetzal perched in the branches, but the real breathtaking moments come from the views in three directions — east towards the mountains, south towards the town of Monteverde, and west towards the Golfo de Nicoya and the Pacific Ocean. Behind the bar, there’s even a glimpse of the swaying trees to the north.
The people of Monteverde and the surrounding towns are innately used to living on the mountainside, and when you see a true Monteverde local enter a room, you can see them instinctually moving towards the spot and orientation that has the best view.
Karen has that instinct, but each time you spot her in the rooftop lounge, she’s in a different place. She explains that when they created the rooftop lounge, they wanted to have views of everything that Monteverde has to offer, and depending on the time of day, the best view could be in any direction from any angle.
To the west are the astounding, breathtaking postcard views towards the ocean, stretching all the way down across the mountains towards the Golfo de Nicoya and beyond. On a clear day, you can see straight across the Nicoya Peninsula and see the shine of the Pacific as the sun hits the horizon, and on the evenings when things aren’t so clear, the layers of clouds and moisture turn the sky into a rich watercolor painting that’s different every day.
To the south is the most active view, one where you can see over the neighborhoods of the Monteverde region, where well-maintained little roads wind through the hills and connect the quaint little shops, restaurants, homes, and cafes that perch upon them. It’s one of the best city views in Monteverde and pays some homage and attention to the thriving little town all around you.
And then there’s the view up into the mountains. On a bright sunny day, gazing upwards into the forest feels like standing at the edge of something magical, just waiting to be explored. In the textures of the treetops you see the effect of the wind, the competition for sunlight, the hidden valleys and trails that might carve through gaps, and with just a touch of luck, you can see birds and the occasional monkey making their way through the forest.
On misty afternoons and moonlit nights, gazing up at the forest takes on a different feeling. It’s daunting to look up into that dark forest silhouetted against the misty mountain sky, and it triggers some deeply ingrained response, a combination of awe, respect, and caution born from knowing that out in that forest, you’re stepping into a truly wild, untamed place.
Surrounded on all three sides by beauty both daunting and delightful, the comfort, coziness, and cocktails of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel rooftop lounge complement your surroundings perfectly, capturing the essence of comfort-on-the-edge-of-adventure that epitomizes Monteverde.
In the garden at the heart of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel, there is an Ocotea tree, the endemic Monteverde avocado tree that draws the resplendent quetzals here year after year on their migrations and keeps some around throughout the year.
The Ocotea tree is a symbol of Monteverde in many ways, and having the Ocotea Boutique Hotel’s rooftop lounge perched like a treehouse just above the tallest branches of the courtyard’s Ocotea feels appropriate.
Kids are climbing trees in Monteverde from the moment they can walk, looking for the best view they can find, and though you don’t have to get your hands dirty to enjoy the Ocotea Boutique Hotels’ rooftop lounge, you’ve certainly earned your trip to the rooftop lounge simply by taking part in life in Monteverde.
Monteverde is a place of great activity. Locals stay fit simply by walking, running, riding, or even just going about their work day living in the hills here. Meanwhile, visitors are here to take in all that Monteverde has to offer in the outdoors. It’s an adventurous place, one with experiences that will stay with you forever, and they leave you that good kind of tired at the end of them.
So after a long morning and lunch, you come in a little worn out, a little dusty, maybe a little damp from the mist, and you enjoy a long slow shower in the generous, gorgeous bathrooms. You’re comfortable, and you can relax. You have time for a nap or a brief moment of solitude out on your terrace and then whenever you’re ready, you can begin the long Monteverde afternoons.
In Costa Rica, the sunsets right around the same time every year, with a variance of only about 45 minutes in each direction. So you don’t get the long days of sunlight of more temperate regions, but you also don’t get the short winter days either.
Instead, there’s a consistency to things in Monteverde, and once you’re ready for the afternoon, it’s time to find a cozy spot with a good view, bring a snack or a drink (or have one delivered to you), and then just do whatever you want.
You can get work done, or play a board game with friends. You can write, or journal, or paint. Enjoy conversations, catch up with an old friend, or chat about work with a business partner over coffee. You can enjoy Monteverde afternoons in perfect solitude, or in the company of others — there’s no pressure, just the desire to find a good spot and take it all in.
Those long Monteverde afternoons are a beautiful thing, a local embodiment of Pura Vida, and it’s no surprise that the rooftop lounge at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel seems to have been designed to accommodate those long afternoons as well as anyone. After all, Karen has lived here her whole life, and both she and the designers of the lounge are attuned to the rhythm of this place.
It’s a lounge that welcomes sociability, both with your immediate group and with fellow travelers, but doesn’t demand it, and is just as well-suited to a moment of personal tranquility. And that’s without getting into the beverages, which we touch on in another article. Needless to say, they are absolutely worth drinking in such an incredible spot, and the care is given to them that they deserve.
Perhaps what’s most interesting about the rooftop lounge at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel is the fact that it is so consistently welcoming. Some spaces are designed to be visited once, and lose their shine if you go day after day. The Ocotea Boutique Hotel isn’t like that, leaving you with a warm embrace and a sense of wonder that makes you want to come back.
The roots of the Ocotea Boutique Hotel come from a time well before the world went digital, a time when the idea of a good reading spot existed. Well, if you remember those times, you’ll be happy to know the rooftop lounge at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel is an excellent reading spot.
It’s a place that makes you feel connected. You don’t feel an urge to check your phone. And that’s something powerful.
It doesn’t mean you can’t use your laptop here. On the contrary, it’s a great place to do work if you choose to get some done during your travels. But for the long Monteverde afternoons and evenings, you can spend hours here enjoying board games, conversation, cocktails, and company and realize that at no point did anyone look at a screen.
Monteverde is a place that is anachronistic in that way, one that wasn’t built for a digital world, and has a lot of people careful in how they allow technology to influence their lives. Maybe they’re actually ahead of the curve, and in the future, we’ll be looking to Monteverde as a model to live our lives.
Either way, if you’re in the area, the rooftop lounge at the Ocotea Boutique Hotel is a place worth visiting, and if you spend a good while up there, you’ll start to pick up on exactly what the beauty of Monteverde living has in store.
To learn more, reach out to us at info@ocoteahotel.com.