El Jaguar Lodge

Drake Bay meets the Osa Peninsula's rainforest at this beachfront lodge, reached only by boat from Sierpe. The property sits on 130 acres of primary forest bordering Corcovado National Park, sharing the same wildlife corridors without the park's permits or crowds. Tours leave straight from the beach. There is no road in. Guests wade off the boat onto the sand and start their stay from there, whether that means a hike, a paddle, or a cocktail on the open-air balcony bar overlooking Caño Island. Scarlet macaws, monkeys, coatis and tapirs move through the grounds regularly, and camera traps in the reserve have recorded ocelot, peccary and jaguar. Meals are included and built around the day: lunch on arrival, tea at three, dinner after the evening's tour. Rooms and cabins sit close to the water, solar-powered and fan-cooled rather than air-conditioned, with filtered tap water throughout. Guides live on site and lead sunrise birding, night walks, and hikes into the reserve's arboretum of endangered trees. Whale season runs from mid-July to late September, when humpback families pass between the lodge and Caño Island. It is a small operation by design, with tours made up only of lodge guests. The nearest town, Drake Bay, is reached by boat, not by road.