Casa Turire is a country hotel on a working farm a few minutes outside Turrialba, on the edge of La Angostura lake. The birding here is garden and lakeshore birding, and we say so plainly: there is no forest reserve on the property.
What it gives a birder is a base. Rancho Naturalista's reserve is under 10 km up the valley in a straight line, the Río Tuis valley about 9 km, Cerro El Silencio under 12 km. So the foothill mornings are a short drive with a driver, and the evenings are spent back at the farm.
We use it when a birder travels with someone who would rather have a pool, a spa and a horse than a 5 a.m. start.
The hotel lists birdwatching in its gardens among its activities, along with walks on the property's own trails and horseback rides. The farm is a working one, with a herb and vegetable garden that supplies the kitchen and the spa, and hens for the breakfast eggs. Our catalogue adds the toucans and parakeets in the gardens. The hotel's site names no bird species and offers no birding guide of its own, so for a real birding morning we bring a guide in or send you up the valley.
Photo: Hotel Casa Turire
Turrialba
Intimate Location full of luxury in Verdant, Exotic Turrialba!
★★★★
A twelve-room country hotel on a working farm a few minutes from Turrialba, beside La Angostura lake, with toucans and parakeets in the gardens and Rancho Naturalista's forest up the valley. Where we put birders who want a proper bed between the foothill mornings.
Around the gardens, toucans and parakeets, and out in the open country by the lake the Red-breasted Meadowlark and the Tropical Mockingbird on the fence posts.
A short drive up the valley at Rancho Naturalista's reserve, the foothill birds: the Snowcap at the forest pools, Gray-headed Chachalaca, Collared Aracari and Red-headed Barbet at the feeders, and the Tawny-chested Flycatcher for the lister. The guides take the Lanceolated Monklet in the Río Tuis valley, and the Red-fronted Parrotlet on Cerro El Silencio.
| English | Scientific | Spanish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red-breasted Meadowlark | Leistes militaris | Tordo Pechirrojo | |
| Tropical Mockingbird | Mimus gilvus | Pájaro-imitador Tropical | |
| Snowcap | Microchera albocoronata | Colibrí Copete de Nieve | Regional endemic |
| Gray-headed Chachalaca | Ortalis cinereiceps | Chachalaca Cabecigrís | |
| Collared Aracari | Pteroglossus torquatus | Tucancillo Collarejo | |
| Red-headed Barbet | Eubucco bourcierii | Barbudo Cabecirrojo | |
| Tawny-chested Flycatcher | Aphanotriccus capitalis | Mosquerito Pechileonado | Regional endemic |
| Lanceolated Monklet | Micromonacha lanceolata | Monjito Rayado | |
| Red-fronted Parrotlet | Touit costaricensis | Periquito Alirrojo | Regional endemic |
Casa Turire feels like a country house rather than a lodge. With 16 rooms, each decorated differently, it stays small, and the grounds do the rest: a pool among the gardens, trails and horses on the farm, and a spa tucked into one corner that uses herbs grown on the property. The Standard Deluxe rooms look over the pool and gardens toward the mountains, with a bathtub as well as a shower, a ceiling fan and cable TV. It is a comfortable counterweight to the rustic lodges: you come back from the river or an early walk in the gardens to a proper dinner, a massage if you want one, and a quiet room. Turrialba town is a few minutes' drive away.
Meals. The hotel has its own restaurant ("Hotel and Restaurant"). Breakfast inclusion is not stated on the site.
Perfect for: a couple where one birds the gardens at dawn and the other wants the pool and a massage.
La Angostura lake and the farmland around Turrialba: toucans and parakeets in the gardens, birds on the water, and the country hotel we use by the lake.
See the placeThe Río Tuis valley below Rancho Naturalista, a few hours or the whole day: the Lanceolated Monklet, the tanager flocks and the trips that bird here.
See the place125 acres of Caribbean foothill forest above Turrialba with a bird list over 450: the Snowcap at the pools, the feeders, the trails and how to get there.
See the placeNo fixed trip stays here yet; we build it into a custom trip.
Want to add a luxury stay to your trip? See every hotel we represent on CostaRica.Org (opens in a new window). We plan birding lodges and beach resorts in one trip.
Tell us the birds you want, your dates and how you like to travel, and we will come back with a first itinerary: the lodges in the right order and how many nights each one really needs. That first version is just a place to start.
Or call us: 1 (800) 996-1139 from the US and Canada, +506 4052-2140 in Costa Rica.
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