Monteverde is an amazing place, with incomparable beauty and a unique collection of ecosystems, thanks to its location near (and occasionally among) the clouds in the Cordillera de Tilaran mountain range. This creates a range of elevations and, subsequently, a range of ecosystems that draws scientists, students, and nature lovers from around the globe.

We often talk about how important the forests are to the health and welfare of the planet, and about how much work goes into their preservation and care, but what many people don’t understand- at least until you take a tour- is that it really is a labor of love.

The Ocotea Boutique Hotel is an extremely unique business in Monteverde for a number of reasons. Not only is it run by an exceptional mother-daughter team (which, in Costa Rica, is still pretty rare), but it was also designed and built with nature in mind, from the eco-friendly, sustainable features to the low-impact construction using locally-sourced materials.

Heading out to visit a new place is always an adventure. With the right amount of planning, it can be a wonderful experience… or not. There are always things you can’t control, like delayed flights or flat tires, that can keep things from running as smoothly as they might have… but we aren’t going to focus on those.

So often when we talk about Monteverde, we talk about it in terms of the feelings we experience there. In many ways, that makes it difficult to describe exactly what it is about this amazing and awe-inspiring place that makes people want to visit. After all, we all experience beauty in a different way.

There are many beautiful places, scenic vistas, and mountains, but there is only one Monteverde. I say this not only because of the rarity of the cloud forest, which makes up only 1.4% of the world’s tropical forests. Or because of the fact that Costa Rica hosts 6% of the planet’s biodiversity while only having 0.03% of the Earth’s surface.

We recently did an article that discusses the Natural Modern style of design and how it was used to draw our guest’s focus to the beauty that surrounds the hotel and pulls that beauty inside providing a calm and relaxing space.

Monteverde is a place of diversity, both in terms of the incredible variety of life that thrives here and the many experiences that will appeal to different types of people.