Chilamate Eco Retreat: Is this the best family eco lodge in Costa Rica?

There are some stays that don’t just show you a destination — they let you really experience it. For our family, that’s exactly what Chilamate Eco Retreat did. Hidden away off-the-beaten track in Sarapiquí, this place feels like the Costa Rica you dream about: wild, green, and full of heart.

As a family traveling through Costa Rica on our gap year, we’d stayed in all sorts of places — but this was something else. Swinging into the river from the rope swing, waking to the sound of the jungle, learning to cook with a local family — it was exactly the kind of travel experience we were hoping for when we planned our adventure.   

If you’re searching for the best family eco lodge in Costa Rica, somewhere that combines comfort, community, and a real sense of adventure, Chilamate Eco Retreat might just be it. In this review, we’ll share exactly what makes it so special — from the spacious family suites and rainforest setting to the range of educational family activities on offer that help support the local community. 

Chilamate was definitely one of our favourite stops on our Costa Rica itinerary – and here’s why.

Table of Contents

• Where is Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat?
• How do you get there?
• Why stay at Chilamate?
• What are the rooms like at Chilamate Eco Lodge?
• How much does it cost to stay at Chilamate Eco Lodge?
• What activities do they offer through the lodge?
  • Whitewater Rafting
  • Chocolate Tour
  • Ethnobotany Walk
  • Cooking Class
  • Snake Garden
  • Rainforest Trails
  • Massage
• Finally – why we think Chilamate is the best family eco lodge in Costa Rica
• Planning a family travel adventure to Costa Rica?

Where is Chilamate Rainforest Eco Retreat?

Chilamate is just outside the small town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui in the North-West of Costa Rica.

The area is very rural and the town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui itself is pretty small. 

Chilamate Eco Retreat sits right on the banks of the Sarapiqui River. It’s down an unpaved road (more of a track really). To get to it you have to cross a pretty, old, worn-down bridge. This well off-the-beaten track location makes it amazingly peaceful and quiet. Perfect if you want to get away from it all and immerse yourself in nature.

The views in the evening along the river are stunning. And when the heat of the day gets too much, you can launch yourself in to the river from the rope swing right outside the lodge. Our boys spent hours happily flinging themselves in to the water, then getting out and doing it all over again!

The area is also one of the richest regions of Costa Rica in terms of biodiversity. So if you’re coming to Costa Rica for the flora and fauna And let’s face it, who isn’t?!) then this is a great place to visit.

How do you get there?

This is an area of Costa Rica that is missed off the itinerary by most travellers to the country. Which does make it a bit trickier in terms of getting there. There is basically no public transport to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. Bus routes don’t run anywhere near the lodge. 

By far the easiest way to get to Chilamate is in your own hire car. Whilst driving in Costa Rica might seem a bit daunting, I promise that it’s easier than you think! It also really allows you to access wonderful spots like Sarapiqui which otherwise you’d have to miss.

There are however a couple of options if you’re REALLY not up for driving. We took an Uber from La Fortuna on our way there. This took around 50-minutes and cost £60/US$80. 

Following our stay at Chilamate we headed to Manzanillo on the Caribbean Coast. For this journey we opted for a shared shuttle with Interbus which took about 4-hours. This was pricey for the four of us, coming in at a whopping £220/US$295.

So whilst non-driving options are available, for a family of four it is definitely easier AND cheaper to hire a car.

If you’re interested in EXACTLY what we spent on our travels in Costa Rica, we’ve shared all this info right here.

Why stay at Chilamate?

It might not be the easiest location to get to, but Chilamate is somewhere that is really more of an experience than just a place to stay. They are driven by community values and a desire to connect visitors to real local experiences that benefit everyone. At it’s core, this is what makes Chilamate one of the best family eco lodges in Costa Rica.

And if you need any more reasons than that, well:

• The rooms are massive and lovely, and the family apartments are fab (with great kitchens for self-catering if you want to)
• It’s immersed in wildlife – we saw dozens of Poison Dart frogs every day in the grounds, plus opossums and lots of different birds
• The communal area is a wonderful space to chill out and chat to other travellers
• There’s an absolute ABUNDANCE of activities on offer and loads of them are highly educational if you’re travelling with kids
• Megan and family are wonderful hosts and will make you feel right at home. They offer a wealth of expert advice on the surrounding area and Costa Rica in general

What are the rooms like at Chilamate Eco Lodge?

The rooms at Chilamate are dotted around the lodge grounds and surrounded by lush foliage everywhere. They feel really private as there is so much space!

We stayed in a family apartment which was HUGE, with a king sized bed and three singles. The beds were super comfortable and we had a lovely big bathroom with a fab with a multi-option hot shower. The lodge also offers a really cheap laundry service which we took full advantage of.

The suite also has a small decked area outside that overlooked the fields to the back. This is entirely surrounded by mosquito netting so was actually a nice space to sit out in the evening without being mauled by the little horrors.

The wifi was surprisingly good considering the pretty remote location. It worked well enough for the boys to watch their maths videos. And even well enough for us to watch a film one evening on the small TV. 

The communal area has loads of space to relax with a little bar and plenty of sofas to chill out on. There’s also free coffee and water. This is all under a thatched roof with open sides, so you still feel really immersed in the surrounding nature.

They serve meals here, both for guests and visitors. Breakfast is included in the room rate. We spent several weeks travelling across Costa Rica and this was the best breakfast we had! Loads of cooked options, fresh fruit and freshly baked bread and cakes.

Dinner is buffet style so there’s plenty of choice (including for kids).

How much does it cost to stay at Chilamate Eco Lodge?

There’s several different types of rooms you can book at Chilamate, with varying price tags. 

The Family Room with Private Bathroom (where we stayed) comes in at around £145/US$195 per night. There are other much bigger family suites that sleep 7-8 people and are great value for larger families. 

Standard Doubles are around £120/US$160 per night, and there are also cheaper dorm beds if you’re on a tight budget.

What activities do they offer through the lodge?

One of the BEST things about a stay at Chilamate Eco Lodge is the choice of activities on offer. The lodge has a big focus on working with the local community which means that most (if not all of the tours) are run by locals.

This makes sure that your tourist money goes directly to the community. It also gives you the chance to really engage with the local Costa Ricans. We took a tour with one of the lodge’s neighbours and visited another neighbour’s home for a cooking class. It really feels like you are part of the community.

I’ve listed below the activities that we opted for during our stay, but there are many more on offer via the lodge.

Whitewater Rafting

The very first thing on our list was whitewater rafting. The Sarapiqui River has a range of gentle-moderate rapids which are great for newbies and kids. Plus it’s literally right outside the front door!

The local guide who ran our rafting trip was absolutely brilliant.  And probably one of the best guides we’ve had for anything anywhere in the world. As an ex-Costa Rica national rafting team member he’d worked on rivers across Costa Rica and the US. 

The trip was SO much fun. The adrenaline and the sheer delight of the boys when we hit the first rapid was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget! The rapids were all class 2-3 so perfect for a family rafting outing.

You stop a couple of times along the route. There’s time for fresh fruit and cold drinks, plus extra time for just jumping in and out of the river! 

When you’re not being thrown around on the rapids there’s loads of bird life to be spotted too.

If the adrenaline isn’t for you, then you can opt for a more chilled option where you raft downstream spotting wildlife at a nice, leisurely pace. 

In total the whitewater rafting trips last for around 3 hours. Best of all, the rafting ends right outside the lodge so you can just walk back in.

For a family of four you’ll need to budget around £220-230/US$295-307 for this trip.

Chocolate Tour

There are options for chocolate tours all over Costa Rica. Learning about the chocolate making process (and more importantly, testing the local products) is a great educational activity for the whole family.

The tour in Sarapiqui is a short walk from Chilamate Eco Retreat. It lasts around two hours. The tour gives you the opportunity to learn about how and where cacao is grown, the process of farming the beans and how it’s turned in to chocolate. And of course, there are plenty of opportunities for tasting (and drinking) chocolate. Spoiler: it’s all pretty delicious!

It certainly ticked the ‘educational activity’ box for the boys. Plus they very much liked the fabulous gift shop at the end. 

For a family of four you’ll need to budget around £100/US$135.

Ethnobotany Walk

This might not spring to mind as a family holiday activity. I hadn’t seen ethnobotany tours on offer anywhere else on our Costa Rican travels. So when it popped up on the activity list at Chilamate I was pretty intrigued. 

It sounded really interesting, and given our focus on worldschooling during our family gap year we gave it a shot.

The tour is run by one of the lodge neighbours, a local expert in the flora of Costa Rica. He took us out around the local area and explained what all the various plants were. And the incredible uses that many of them have!

We tried edible plants and the boys got to chop and crush up some things. They both LOVED this bit. These plants were all either as dyes or in medical treatments. Including one that had an anaesthetic element – from personal experience I would HIGHLY recommend only trying a tiny bit of this one. Otherwise you will, like me, end up with a numb mouth for some time afterwards!

The whole tour was really engaging and worked perfectly for the kids. They were brimming with plant facts by the end!

The cost of this tour is around £50/US$65 for a family of four.

Cooking Class

This seemed like a wonderful opportunity – the chance to learn how to cook a traditional Costa Rican dish in someone’s home. Again, this was exactly the kind of educational experience we wanted for the boys as part of our worldschooling adventure.

Chilamate connected us with a wonderful local woman who welcomed us to her family home. She showed us how to prepare a meal of stewed vegetables, rice, tortillas, salad and homemade lemonade. 

My basic Spanish just about got us through – with a lot of added hand gestures when words failed! At the end we shared the delicious meal that we’d helped to cook with her family. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon – very different from lots of the adrenaline-filled and nature stuff in Costa Rica. 

Expect to pay around £80-90/US$110-120 for a family of four. Remember though that this does include everyone getting a massive, hearty meal too!

Snake Garden

Around 15-minutes from Chilamate Eco Retreat, this makes for an interesting half day trip. You can get there and back on the local bus service if you don’t have your own transport. The bus picks up from the main highway (about a 5-min walk from Chilamate) and drops you off right outside the Snake Garden entrance.

Our nature-loving kids were fascinated by all the snakes here. And there are SO MANY of them. 

They also had rescued crocodiles that had had their teeth removed so wouldn’t have survived in the wild. This triggered an interesting debate with the boys about the ethics of keeping animals in captivity. 

This is pretty pricey for a half day trip, coming in at £55/US$70 for a family of four. If you have the time, and kids who love reptiles, then it’s worth a visit.

Rainforest Trails

There are several trails you can follow through the rainforest that start right at Chilamate. Megan can give you a map to follow, or alternatively they can set you up with a local guide. 

Massage

If you’re feeling a bit exhausted after ALL the activities at Chilamate, treat yourself to a massage and/or a bit of chiropractic care. Chilamate can set up appointments with another of their neighbours who will come to the retreat for a private session.

This was a REAL treat for me (and possibly the best £38/US$50 I spent on this leg of our travels!

Finally – why we think Chilamate is the best family eco lodge in Costa Rica

Chilamate is a really unique chance to stay somewhere that combines great accommodation with real cultural immersion. If you want to stay somewhere that’s both fun AND highly educational, then this is the place for you.

Their ethos of supporting the local community and connecting travellers with it was really wonderful to see in action. For us it prompted long discussions with the boys about sustainable tourism and how important this is to local communities. Which was worth the stay alone!

It also really did feel like a stay immersed in nature AND staying in a family home. Megan and her family are so incredibly knowledgeable about Costa Rica and can provide tons of tips for your travels. 

The ‘service’ at the lodge is amazing – so good it doesn’t feel like customer service at all! The whole team really make you feel like part of the family and go out of their way to help make your stay memorable.

Sarapiqui might be a bit off the beaten track for most visitors to Costa Rica. But Chilamate Eco Retreat must be one of the best family eco lodges in Costa Rica. Our stay here reminded us exactly why we invest in travel – for those connections and real world experiences that are absolutely priceless.

Ready to book your Chilamate? Click here to start your eco adventure!

Planning a family travel adventure to Costa Rica?

Check out some of our other posts for more information and advice on everything Costa Rica! Or download our Costa Rica Travel with Kids Guide right now as a pdf, and get planning your own Costa Rica dream adventure.