This wonderfully remote 400-hectare working cattle ranch and salt farm is an incredible setting for birding, horseback riding and good old-fashioned R&R. Rustic but comfortable wooden bungalows face the Golfo de Nicoya, and have private solar-heated bathrooms and patios with hammocks. There’s also a restaurant, a romantically rickety jetty and a terrific trail network.
Containing primary and secondary forest (a rarity in this part of the country), as well as mangrove swamps at the mouth of the Río Abangares, this property has been declared a national wildlife refuge. Boat tours to the mangroves (minimum six people, per person US$35) offer the chance to glimpse dozens of bird species, caimans and crocs, while horseback tours (US$35) take you through the tropical dry forest.