Gaia Hotel and Reserve

Facilities

• Dining:La Luna is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the chef creates really top-notch food from Costa Rica’s abundant natural ingredients. Breakfast can also be arranged in your room, and there's a bar, The Ambar Lounge, which serves a selection of tapas along with cocktails if you want a lighter meal
• Communal areas: The hotel has a sleek, chic design in all rooms and public areas: this feels nothing like the rest of Costa Rica
• Internet Access: Outdoor work stations are available if you have a laptop or there is a business centre with internet access
• Swimming Pool: Two pools with whirlpool, connected by a waterfall, vertiginously piled up with superb views, on the hillside. Here you can order drinks and light snacks from the bar
• Spa Treatments: A really excellent spa, boasting unique and holistic treatments designed with Costa Rican organic products; modern clean lines, each treatment room has a wall of local stone where water trickles down, to soothing effect
• Recreational: You will have your own dedicated concierge for whom nothing is too much trouble. There is a gym with a personal trainer available, and an in-house travel desk to help with travel arrangements or day tours
• Weddings and Celebrations: Weddings can be arranged on the beach, or at the resort - the Hospitality Manager will take care of all the arrangements
• Meetings/Functions: Gaia can host groups of up to 40. A private conference room has fax, copier, scanner and internet services. Audio-visual equipment is also available
• Disabled Access: Yes
• Pets: Welcome by prior arrangement
• Languages Spoken: English, Spanish, French, Hebrew, German

Also...

• There's an art gallery with paintings for sale in gift shop

Environmental Policy

As well as usual policies of encouraging guests to use towels and sheets for a few days before laundering, Gaia Hotel and Reserve belongs to The Green Hotels Association. Hotels that belong to the association are brought together with other properties that are interested in environmental issues and are given guidelines and ideas to help with implementing such things as environmentally-friendly water saving, energy saving and solid waste reducing ideas.

Social Responsibility

The Hotel belongs to the TITI Conservation Alliance which finances the protection of biologically diverse natural areas in Costa Rica's Central Pacific and provides local schools with environmental opportunities; 8 schools now have their own nurseries where the students will grow different species of trees planted during sponsored reforestation outings.

Support is also given to 'Kids Saving the Rainforest' - an organisation started by 2 schoolgirls who sold painted rocks hoping to raise money to save the rainforests and Titi monkeys of the Manuel Antonio area. The organisation has a number of projects such as educating children about the rainforest, and ensuring the survival of the endangered Titi monkeys.

When to go?

The hotel is open all year round. It's great in the green season (May to November) since you’ll want an excuse to spend rainy afternoons indoors being pampered in the spa. High season, from December to April, is hot and dry so better for those wanting time on the beach. If you want to stay at Christmas or New Year you'll need to book at least a year in advance.

Author's tips

The dress code is casual chic, though bring something elegant for the evenings. Swimwear, beachwear, dresses or light short sleeved shirts and shorts are perfect for the dry season; add fleeces, long trousers and a waterproof for the green season. Don't forget sun block, sun hat and sunglasses which are essential all year.

Features include:

• Restaurant
• Room service
• Bar
• Vegetarian menu
• Garden
• Internet access
• Outdoor pool
• Plunge pool
• Spa treatment rooms
• sauna
• Jacuzzi/hot tub
• Gym
• Concierge service
• Meeting rooms
• Disabled access
• Pets welcome by arrangement
• Off street parking
• Airport Transfers