Ocio Villas by Casa Chameleon

Style

Decadent jungle joints

Setting

All playa, no work

Imagine that the Jungle Book’s Mowgli grew up, cashed out some crypto at the right time, married a supermodel, then felt a nostalgic pang… that Mowgli might live in one of Ocio Villas’ two lavish residences. These Costa Rican mansions – with private pools, a helipad and many decks from which to admire your kingdom – are tucked away in the sort of rampant jungle-to-coast-scenery you’d need several viewmaster reels to contain. And, they balance ‘pura vida’ joys (nature’s wonders, time to share and socialise, peaceful seclusion), with unabashed ‘look at my riches’ luxury. An altogether more elegant and decadent way to get reacquainted with the wild.

Facilities

Rooms

Two tricked-out villas in the jungle: Villa Numu has two bedrooms, Villa Nimbu has five.

Checkout

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

More Details

Rates don’t include food, but order in using the house ‘grocery list’ and staff will happily whip up all meals (for an extra cost). If you’d rather leave it to the professionals, request a private chef to cook up delectable dinners (at an extra cost).

Also

The wild terrain and varying villa levels mean that unfortunately Ocio Villas by Casa Chameleon is unsuitable if you have mobility needs.

Fitness Center

Free Internet Access

Laundry

Pool

At the Hotel

Concierge; staff to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner (food & cost of staff not included); personal chefs can cook dinner (for an extra charge); round-the-clock security; charged laundry service; free WiFi.

Our Favourite Rooms

Villa Numu is more intimate for couples or small families, with just two bedrooms, but there’s no skimping on spectacular views or luxuriant living. While Villa Nimbu is all set for party posses or multi-generation getaways, with its many lounging terraces, large pools, alfresco bath tubs and showers made of local tree trunks, vast dining deck and enough space to sleep 10.

Poolside

No need to share with strangers, each villa has an infinity pool with a shallow end for little ones to play in and a hot tub. And, placed prominently on a jungle-bound deck which pans down to the Pacific, you get served serious looks as you swim.

Packing Tips

Gear that can get a little roughed up: shorts and t-shirts for jungle capers, wetsuits for surfing, and sturdy boots for self-guided safaris.

Also

Ruminate on your heavenly surroundings with meditation sessions on sun-warmed rocks, yoga stretching on your deck or knot-untying alfresco massages. And, you’ll have spinning bikes, weights, balls and resistance bands for gentle workouts.

Children

These are ideal for family stays, especially if you have little swimmers. Babysitters can be hired for $40 for two hours (advance notice needed).

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

For an intimate meal with 19 of your closest friends, there’s Villa Nimbu’s Arthurian-esque round table on the deck with tropical views and a bar. But, if you didn’t bring the whole horde, get cosy on carved Moroccan benches tucked into alfresco nooks.

Dress Code

As au naturel as you like – there’s only the howler monkeys to judge here.

Hotel Restaurant

Each of the two villas has its own fully equipped kitchen. For an extra cost, sit down and let staff prepare breakfast and lunch for you (from the grocery list you'll supply), and for an extra charge hire a private chef to whip up dinner. They know their stuff, particularly when it comes to European, African and Meso-American cuisine. For dinner they could cook the likes of blackened mahi-mahi in a basil-lime butter, shrimp and mango ceviche, papillote of whichever fish has been caught that day in coconut milk and ginger, and an array of desserts from coconut custard to chocolate volcano cake – a cute nod to Costa Rica’s natural charms. For more sociable affairs, or a change of scene, head 10 minutes up the coast to Brasas Del Mar restaurant at sister property Casa Chameleon. Menus here run all day – for breakfast, choose either the Tico (tortillas with eggs, gallo pinto and plantain) or the Gringo (with eggs and toast with spreads), or tuck into tropical pancakes with grilled pineapple, mango and coconut shavings; huevos rancheros and avo on toast. For lunch, there’s sandwiches packed with pulled pork and cheese, quesadillas, ceviche and more; and dinners amp up the elegance with dishes such as yellowfin tuna with a honey-lime ponzu sauce, shrimp salad with aji-pepper aioli, and fish spiced with jalapeño in a cashew crust.

Hotel Bar

In the interests of getting the party started and keeping it fuelled, ask for your villa to be pre-stocked with a range of global wines, spirits and mixers, local cervezas and pre-mixed cocktails. Perhaps a potent Guaro Sour (made using the local sugar-cane liqueur), Tequila Sunrise, fresh-fruit colada, jug of sangria or a round of Bloody Marys for morning revivals. Brasas Del Mar also has a cocktail list to celebrate – starting with the Pineapple Collins with a dash of tangerine and honey, continuing with the curaçao- and cantaloupe-laced Blue Chameleon, breezing through the blackberry G&T, and ending with a couple of – not all that intimidating – Scary Lemonades with rum or vodka, lemongrass, mint and lime.

Room Service

There’s a grocery list (of meals and pre-mixed drinks) guests can choose from before and during their stay, and chef Jose works to your whims.

Planes

If you’re flying into San José, the hotel’s around a five-hour drive from Juan Santamaria International (so it's best to try to land before 5pm local time). This includes the ferry crossing over the Gulf of Nicoya – which, with its aquamarine waters and potential whale sightings, is no hardship. Or you can fly into Daniel Oduber International in Liberia, around a four-hour drive away. The journeys might be long but they’ll give you a preview of the riotous greenery to come. If, however, you want to skip to the good part, hop on a flight from San José to ‘local’ airport Tambor, a more reasonable hour’s drive away; from here the hotel can pick you up for $90 one-way (for up to four).

Automobiles

Buses don’t really run through the jungle that frequently – or indeed at all – so a car will be useful for reaching the remoter parts of the peninsula. Main roads are fairly easy to navigate here, but some of the less-established routes get muddy in winter and cracked and dry in summer, so you’ll need to drive cautiously. And keep some cash on hand for toll roads. There’s free private parking onsite.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Sleepy fishing hamlet Mal País’ story could have followed that of many places too pretty to remain incognito. Surfers came for the waves and beachy ‘pura vida’, then the celebs took notice and turned tracts into eye-popping estates, then luxury hotels moved in, and…well, it stops there, because eco-tourism hero Costa Rica doesn’t give up its beauty spots so easily. Boats still bring in their hauls daily, locals tend to whizz about by bike or quad, beaches don’t care who you are (and stay fairly off-radar), and Ticos still barrel down mud roads to ride the breaks that crash onto shore. And these two villas are so thoroughly concealed in jungle, that only your helipad shatters the illusion that time has passed since prehistory. And so, you’ll swoop through the hundreds of trees that form the canopy on a zipline like a troop of howler monkeys, stalk through the trees on an ATV with the stealth of the local pumas, swim with a megapod of spinner dolphins in Drake’s Bay off the Pacific coast (whales pass this way too, come late autumn), before succumbing to the ways of the sloth, taking leisurely drinks and lingering dinners on your deck. Those with steely nerves can ride the bucking Rio Negro on a raft, bungee jump in the Cabo Blanco nature reserve – looking out for tree-dwelling parrots, capuchins, lizards and snakes as they descend – or look straight into the bubbling eyes of the region’s volcanoes (Arenal, Tenorio, Miravelles, Rincón de la Vieja) in a helicopter. While gentler souls can trot along on a sunset horse ride, bathe in fairy-glen waterfalls and hop from playa to playa. Surfers, suit up and head to Santa Teresa for world-class boarding or tuition for the less-confident.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .