Nosara, Costa Rica

Esh Hotel

Price per night from$283.35

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD283.35), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Esh Hotel Photos

Style

Alight relief

Setting

Between clouds and canopy

Explore

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Sparks are sure to fly at Esh Hotel, an adults-only hideaway held in the embrace of Nosara’s rainforest. The Hebrew word for ‘fire’ fuels the inspiration for Esh’s interiors, which combine an ashen palette with blackened wood furniture and lava-stone soaking tubs to radiate a sense of calm. When you’re not sipping charcoal margaritas by the pool or dining at the thatched-roof restaurant, you can be shuttled down to the beach for surfing and other burn-out-extinguishing activities.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A cocktail each served at Ember & Ash with appetizers from Almar restaurant

Facilities

Photos Esh Hotel facilities

Need to know

Rooms

29, including 10 suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More details

Rates include breakfast à la carte.

Also

Unfortunately, Esh Hotel is not wheelchair-accessible.

At the hotel

Free shuttle service, beach chairs to borrow, fire pits, indoor-outdoor lounge, charged laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: air-conditioning, minibar, coffee machine, bathrobes, slippers and Le Labo bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Volcanic stone sinks, ash-white linens, and molten lampshades keep Esh Hotel’s fiery spirit gently flickering throughout the bedrooms. They’re all TV-free, allowing you to tune into the rainforest (especially from the canopy-perched suites with private balconies). Villas come with an additional sizzler; either an on-deck bath tub or just-for-you plunge pool, plus indoor-outdoor showers for bathing in nature.

Poolside

Cascading across three curving tiers, the outdoor pool is granted sun-dappled shade by palm trees rising from the water. Mezcal margaritas and tuna tostadas can be summoned, courtesy of the palapa-housed bar and restaurant, which are just a few barefoot steps away from your coconut-cream day-bed.

Spa

The small-but-mighty Vitalis Spa does just that with meditative massages, refreshing facials, a sauna and cold plunge.

Packing tips

Come ready to set your intentions — there are notecards at reception for mindful musings, which you then throw into the fire pit, which burns around the clock. Oh, and several swimsuits and rashies suitable for pool dips and surfing the waves.

Also

Early risers can join daily morning yoga classes and stretch to the sounds of the rainforest canopy.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs are welcome to stay in any room here for $50 a night (plus taxes and additional cleaning charges). See more pet-friendly hotels in Nosara.

Children

Over-13s are welcome, but this retreat is better suited to adults.

Sustainability efforts

Alongside Esh Hotel’s water conserving, waste reducing systems, private tree-planting experiences can be organized with Costas Verdes. The hotel supports the ongoing reforestation efforts of this local non-profit working to restore coastal ecosystems, and will match any guest donations made. In line with Nosara’s Blue Zone principles, all seafood is sourced from local fishermen and organic produce from nearby farms. The basket lamps hanging in some of the suites are woven by local women who are survivors of domestic abuse, offering regular income and a creative outlet to fractured families.

Food and Drink

Photos Esh Hotel food and drink

Top Table

It’s less about the view, and more about the proximity to the pool — so be sure to snag any of the perimeter tables.

Dress Code

Crocheted sarongs and surfer-chic swimwear by day; neutral linen sets after dark.

Hotel restaurant

Almar’s name is a play on words for ‘soul of the sea’, which is exactly what this open-air restaurant serves up from its semi-open palapa setting. Fusing flavors from the Mexican Pacific with fresh daily catches from local fishermen, the menu shifts from poolside finger food to elegant evening plates such as ceviche and tartare.

Hotel bar

Smoky cocktails with subtle heat and plenty of spice quench your thirst at Ember & Ash, the hotel’s poolside bar (which shares the restaurant’s thatched roofing). Mezcalita Nicoya is the mixologist’s signature — a spirited concoction of lime, mezcal, chilli liqueur and tamarind.

Last orders

Breakfast is from 7.30am to 10.30am, lunch from noon to 4pm, and dinner from 4pm to 10pm.

Room service

Ocean-inspired bites from Almar can be rolled into your room between 7.30am and 9.30pm.

Location

Photos Esh Hotel location
Address
Esh Hotel
Las Huacas Playa Guiones
Nosara
50206
Costa Rica

Wrapped up in a leafy patch of rainforest on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, Esh Hotel is a short shuttle ride away from Nosara’s surfing-magnet beaches.

Planes

There are three airports to choose from, each a different driving distance from the hotel. San José’s Juan Santamaría Airport is the furthest away but best connected to international hubs, if you’re willing to set aside five hours for the journey. Guanacaste Airport is just under three hours’ drive, with Nosara’s small, domestic airport coming in as the closest option (the hotel can organize transfers for this 15-minute leg for $30 one-way). Alternatively, you can hop on a connecting flight from either San José or Guanacaste to Nosara and skip the road trip.

Automobiles

The hotel's free shuttle service to nearby beaches comes in handy if you’re just planning to fly and flop, but renting a car will put more of the coastline within reach. There’s free valet parking at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Although Esh Hotel is slightly set back from the coast, the free shuttle service puts the beaches of Nosara, Pelada and Guiones — plus Point-Break-perfect waves — within easy, breezy reach. Book in for surfing lessons to improve your pop-up, or simply head down to the shore, board in tow, for your own gnarly session. Keep the wetsuit on for kayak tours through tangled mangrove forests, or venture offshore on a Pacific fishing charter for a chance to catch marlin, sailfish and yellowfin tuna. Spot sea turtles along the black sand beach at Ostional Wildlife Refuge (20 minutes’ drive from the hotel), as they nest in large numbers throughout the year. The week before a new moon between September and November is prime time for witnessing the natural gathering, known locally as arribadas. The hotel can also organize horse-riding on the beach, ATV expeditions, hiking, mountain biking and zipline canopy tours which whizz across the treeline.

Local restaurants

Soak up the après-surf scene at Smith stablemate, Sendero Kitchen, an easygoing restaurant serving wholesome, daily-changing dishes such as locally caught grilled fish and veggies from organic farms. Stop by Posada Margherita on Playa Guiones for a slice of Italy (count wood-fired pizzas and homemade gelato among the crowd pleasers), and mountain-perched Coyol Restaurant to tuck into oven-fresh flatbreads and smoked-fish salads around crackling fire pits.

Local cafés

Make a morning date with Destiny Café, an alfresco brunch spot with a feel-good menu of fresh smoothies, vegan, gluten-free, and keto dishes.

Local bars

The surf shop set-up of Howler’s Beach Lounge is every bit as laidback as it looks, and the winning combination of tuna carpaccio, local microbrews on tap and generously spiced margaritas will tempt you to stay put all evening.

Reviews

Photos Esh Hotel reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this canopy-tucked hotel in Nosara and unpacked their boardshorts and shell-strung jewelry, a full account of their barefoot break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Esh Hotel in Costa Rica…

The flickering flames of Esh Hotel’s ever-burning fireplace are the first to greet you in the stone-clad, palm-flanked entryway, into which you can cast your intentions for your stay (and beyond). There’s plenty of kindling for mindful moments within the stripped-back suites and villas, which are deliberately low-tech but high on nature-immersing details such as canopy-skimming balconies and in-the-jungle bath tubs. Guac bowls and tuna tostadas can be delivered to your day-bed beside the three-tiered pool, or savored under the shade of the palapa-style pavilion just a surfboard’s length away. And although this isn’t a toes-in-sand stay, the hotel’s beach shuttle can whisk you to Guiones within 15 minutes to (re)ignite a passion for catching waves — with spicy mezcalitas to return to at your rainforest base, just in time for sunset.

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Price per night from $283.35

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