A family-run rainforest lodge in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí with gardens, three lakes, two pools and La Casona restaurant — about an hour and a half from San José.
Ara Ambigua Lodge is run by the Araya Corrales family, who built it from a cattle pasture into a lodge with gardens of local trees and shrubs. It is named after the great green macaw, the lapa verde, that flies over the Sarapiquí forests. Today guests, staff, the community and the family describe themselves as one family.
The lodge has about 50 air-conditioned rooms in tropical gardens, a restaurant and pizzeria for 150 guests (La Casona), two cold-water pools for adults and children, three large lakes, mountain trails, a frog garden, a sauna, a spa for massages and a room for yoga. There is also an events hall for 300 people and a conference room for 60.
It is an easy base for the Sarapiquí region: the chocolate farm of Costa Rica Best Chocolate in Chilamate, with its chocolate, bird, frog and night tours, is about 4.5 km away, and the Tirimbina Rainforest Reserve with its hanging bridges is a short drive. San José is about an hour and a half away by the Braulio Carrillo highway.