The Best Holiday Apartments in Costa Rica

Over the past decade, Nosara village, on the Nicoya Peninsula, has morphed from a sleepy-backpacker secret destination to a mini-resort town with restaurants and buzzy beach bars. In lush surrounds off the main drag, a 15-minute walk from curling waves, the Gardens Hotel is an old surfer favorite with a facelift. The good-value Garden Bungalows are simple white cubes with boxy bathrooms. Consider upgrading to the spacious Master Suite, decked out in honey-colored hardwood and featuring a large balcony over the pool.

In the leafy Escazú neighborhood of Costa Rica’s capital, San José, Villas del Río is an urban gem that offers a restful’s night sleep. The suites (some large enough for families) feature tropical colors and herringbone-parquet floors and open onto gardenia-scented woodland. Amenities include a pool, a gym and business services. Shopping centers and restaurants are nearby, and the Juan Santamaría International Airport is a 15-minute ride via the hotel shuttle.

At just under a 30-minute drive from the Juan Santamaría International Airport, the Xandari Resort and Spa, which sits among a former coffee plantation, is a good choice for a first or final night in the country. No matter which villa you stay in, the views are incredible. However, the Ultra Villas are especially popular, with floor-to-ceiling windows that provide vistas of the twinkling lights of San José and the rippling Cerro de Escazú mountain range. Resort activities include bird-watching and hiking through the hotel’s extensive forest gardens to waterfalls and rushing mountain streams.

What it lacks in luxury, the low-key Hotel La Dolce Vita makes up for in location and value. The simple apartments – with little more than a bed, wardrobe and kitchenette – sit around a small pool on the palm-shaded coral sands of Esterillos Oeste. Each apartment costs less than a night in a British B&B, and the hotel offers a wealth of activities, from surf classes and horseback riding to kayaking and reef snorkeling.

In the resort village of Tamarindo on the Pacific coast, Ocho Artisan Bungalows is so close to the waves that you can taste the salty spray when relaxing on your hammock-slung balconies. The decor is surfer chic, with palm-thatch roofs, lush hardwoods and wispy cotton drapes billowing in the ocean breeze. The ensuites, in raw stone and distressed bamboo, have indoor-outdoor showers. Enjoy an icy mojito at the beach cocktail bar while admiring the stars above.

With beachfront suites big enough for a large group, a kids’ menu, a large paddling area in the pool and gentle wildlife tours in nearby Manuel Antonio National Park, Cocomar is a favorite with families. There are no palm-thatch roofs or open-air showers here; its rooms are for nature lovers who prefer the wild to stay resolutely outdoors, albeit on the doorstep. The Palo Seco turtle-nesting beach is just a few paces away.

Sloths idling in the garden, toucans chattering in the trees outside your balcony, athletic squirrel monkeys swinging past the pool deck at breakfast – Hotel Plaza Yara is so close to the wildlife-filled Manuel Antonio National Park that you’ll feel as if you’re actually within the forest. With custom-made furniture, the spacious suites feel functional rather than luxurious, but they’re comfortable and budget-friendly. What’s more, under-12s stay free, and with the jungle surrounds as well as the beach a mere 10 minutes away, you won’t be spending much time indoors.