Santa Juana Lodge and Nature Reserve

Great staff, healthy food, family-owned hotel, nice, clean property. Except off road drive, everything is great. I never experienced bird watching as exciting.

Amazing property, location and staff.

Road to.. It was a great ride on the dirt road to Santajuana alongside palm tree trimmers, cattle, motorbikes, and the required 4-wheel momentum to make it up into the hill. Clean woodsy classy designed room with comfortable bed in the screen sided cabin, plus 270 degree view on the deck, while we appreciated the rain soundtrack and viewed fog, haze & gorgeous sunsets meant a new level of peace, bookended with hikes to and dips in waterfalls. While power went out briefly, backup generator provided power & WIFI in main lodge/dining area. There are guided tours for booking, or the kind generous host provides a local tour which folks loved cuz he shares his local knowledge and wisdom of the rainforest they know as home. We took a couple hikes they recommended and thoroughly enjoyed. The food was cooked by the staff, many of whom are of the same family as the hosts. Solid attention was paid to making sure the food served was to our liking. Enough variety to keep it interesting and to serve different pallets while clearly much of it being sourced a few steps away. On the return of one hike we passed by the vegetable and fruit garden being tended to by la madre, showing us the various herbs she cultivates. The highlight was the local family who worked and managed the lodge. They were inspirational, kind,warm and caring. The initial welcoming and subsequent engaging conversations were fun & interesting. Inquire about the history of this nature preserve… Fascinating!

We stayed in Laurel house, which was very spacious with a large yard that included 2 hammocks. The view is beautiful and Tucans would perch up in the trees each morning. Santa Juana lodge in general is a beautiful, secluded and well maintained property. For something to do, there is a 45 min path through the jungle that we took on our own. And of course there are excursions you can book, including a longer guided walk that leads to a beautiful waterfall spot that was a lot of fun jumping into and swimming in. Alan is a great guide who will point out numerous birds and other notable biodiversity along the way. The food at the lodge is very tasty. Not much variety day over day, but that didn’t bother us much over a 3 day stay. You can also buy wine, beer and other drinks as well. The pool was also nice to have, we used it a few times. Overall, highly recommend.