Rancho Pacifico

Dining

When is the last time you enjoyed a gourmet quality, 4 course meal comprised entirely of fresh, organic, ingredients - grown and raised within 20 miles of your plate? Well, that is what you will experience at our Whale's Tail Club. To us, eating well means natural, abundant & beautiful - locally grown and raised organic fruits and produce, grass-fed meats & poultry, the freshest seafood right from our front yard and whole grains. Our innovative tasting-menu style service includes a surprise blending of traditional 4 courses, family-style tapas, and shared small dishes.

Spa

A TreeHouse treatment center, Tranquil Spa gardens, infinity-edge jacuzzi, various pools, relaxation areas, spring-fed soaking tubs, private patios and outdoor showers provide varied environments for your relaxation & indulgence. The Spa offers a variety of sumptuous health, fitness and beauty services as well as an oceanview fitness/yoga studio. Innovative wraps & scrubs feature indigenous botanicals. World-class therapists treat you to varied massages & bodywork. Half and full-day Spa Rituals send the senses and spirit to new heights. Through our Spa Director, Silvia Jimenez, MD, a former Miss Costa Rica, we can also arrange Medi-Spa services such as Botox, Hylaform and Restylane through our San Jose affilliate at considerable savings compared to the U.S.

Leisure

Fun, adventure and discovery in balance with style, comfort and refinement - Rancho Pacifico is a nature-lover's paradise. Situated in the Uvita Mountains, (highest coastal mountains in Central America) and overlooking the sea, guests can explore hundreds of acres of unspoiled rainforest right from the front door - on foot or horseback. An extensive private trail system offers miles of hiking opportunites - some strenuous - affording spectacular views and wildlife viewing opportunities. We also have a complete Fitness and Yoga studio offering light-impact machines, yoga equipment and an extensive dvd library. Spa Tranquila promises a unique opportunity to enjoy relaxing treatments and creative spa rituals among the pristine rainforest. The open-air spa overlooks the blue Pacific and surrounding mountains and waterfalls. Healthy gourmet dining is enjoyed al fresco in the private Whale's Tail Club dining room. Organic and local ingredients are utilized in creative tropical cuisine - with a Latin fusion flare.

Caring Luxury

WORLD TRAVEL AWARD NOMINEE - "Leading Green Hotel - Central and Latin America" As rainforest worldwide disappears at an alarming rate, those places where it still exists beg for caring and protection. Twenty years ago, Costa Rica went on a campaign to save the little remaining rainforest it had left - and to nurture the regrowth of areas where 500 year old trees once stood. The policies that emerged from this decision created new national parks and revolutionized Costa Rica tourism - producing an eco-tourism business model for other countries to follow. Unfortunately, creating national parks wasn't enough. Thousands of acres of pristine land were to fall in the hands of private investors - hungry to cash in on the Costa Rica development push. Their lack of experience, questionable morality and unquestionable greed --coupled with the country's lack of enforcement has led to the clearcutting of many priceless tracts of rainforest throughout the country - including on the South Pacific coast where RP is located. Garrison Krause and Costa Rica native Silvia Jimenez-Krause purchased the 50 acres for Rancho Pacifico in 2003. They loved the wildness of their land - and the adjacent expanse of rainforest that backed it. They immediately pledged to develop Rancho Pacifico with the strictest adherance to environmental common sense - and new "green" building models. ENVIRONMENT The first decision was to limit the cutting of trees. Each of 8 buildings was placed in the trees - even the designs were altered in a few cases to fit the space. We carefully transplanted hundreds of palms, ferns , and flowers to form our beautiful natural gardens. We created entries that conformed with the terrain. We even dug building sites and pools by hand - choosing to minimize the use of heavy machinery - practically to "0". We carefully avoided creating runoff paths for water that could eventually taint local water supplies in the village below. The next move was to round up the few landowners of the adjoining primary rainforest in the hopes that they would agree to place - along with ours - a portion of land for preservation. The result is a 250 acre private rainforest preserve - teeming with wildlife, birds, reptiles, waterfalls, and thousands of plant species, for us to feel good about and enjoy. BUILDING With farm-raised wood in short supply - and natural, local wood out of the question, we decided to focus on building with steel and concrete. We incorporated beautiful wood beams (molina) in a few areas which were purchased from a tree farm - good for the economy. This decision to use heavy materials provided large challenges based on our "up the mountain" location - but we did it anyway. Rancho Pacifico has won design awards and we feel good about the minimal impact our development plan has had. Concrete was sealed with natural stucco and painted with toxic free paints. We collected natural stone finishes from all over South and Central America - which grace all of the buildings, both outside and in. We use natural fertilizers, organic insecticides (sparingly), and pump water without motors 400 feet uphill from our natural springs. Basically RP was constructed by 10 guys with hand tools and a lot of energy. They lived and worked on the property for 3 years and applied their well-honed skills to compliment Garrison's designs. It was (and still is) a labor of love all around. COMMUNITY The third area of ecological importance to Garrison and Silvia has to do with the financial condition of the relatively undeveloped area around Uvita. It has been a peaceful if not prosperous area. Few opportunities for gainful employment existed in the past nor did the motivation for higher education. They saw this situation changing as development moved in - and were pioneers in providing training and financial promise to locals. Rancho Pacifico now employs 18 native Costa Ricans who have learned how to apply their innate hospitality to a quality hospitality business. Their financial reach spreads out to a large extended sphere of individuals positively impacted by both management and the generosity of RP's guests. RP has been cited as a pioneer in the establishment of the growing luxury sector of tourism in Costa Rica. Economists favor this type of development because it benefits every citizen of this unique country. In addition, scores of local entrepreneurs benefit from taking RP's guests to the hotel, on horseback rides, mangrove tours and snorkel trips and providing us with food, furniture and building materials....and on and on. We are Uvita's largest employer and are proud to see the quality of life improve for the growing RP family. We also have stood up for sustainable and low impact development methods as a way to demonstrate the practicality of "doing well by doing good". We have built relationships with local people in an attempt to help stave off ill feelings toward North Americans who have simply moved in oblivious to the culture and traditional ways. We operate as grateful guests - determined to leave the place better than we found it. Simply, we love Costa Rica - and are doing what we can to help it sustain its magic despite the unavoidable intrusion of the modern world.

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