Montemar Eco Luxury Villas

Montemar is a forty-three-acre property in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island, built where an abandoned cattle pasture once stood. The land has been left to regrow for the giant tortoises that now move freely across it, and the two villas sit inside that habitat rather than beside it. Villa Tortuga sleeps up to eight guests across four rooms and three bathrooms; Villa Lechuza, named for the owls that share the grounds, holds four guests in two rooms. Both were built from local bamboo, volcanic rock and Spanish cedar, materials chosen to avoid shipping supplies in from the mainland. Solar panels supply most of the power and every drop of water comes from rain, collected and treated on site. A four-hectare plot grows shade-cultivated arabica coffee, planted originally to fund control of invasive plants on the reserve; the same farm supplies eggs, fruit and vegetables to the kitchen. There is no front desk. Guests cook for themselves or use the villa's own chefs, and staff double as guides for kayaking, snorkelling and hikes into the surrounding reserve. It is a working farm as much as a stay. Founded by naturalist guides Reyna Oleas and Roberto Plaza, who bought the land in 2009 and opened the villas in 2019, Montemar remains entirely locally owned and run.