Celeste Mountain Lodge has a whole page of its own for birders, which is unusual: private trails through its own primary forest, beside Tenorio Volcano National Park, with guided birding on them.
The lodge claims up to about 300 species a year, and its page offers a bird list to download before you come. That matters for a lister: you can mark the target list at home instead of in the dark at breakfast.
It also names its own targets: the Three-wattled Bellbird, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird, the Great Curassow and the Yellow-eared Toucanet. Four birds, named by the lodge, on one set of trails.
The lodge's birding page describes private trails through its own primary forest beside Tenorio Volcano National Park, guided birding, up to about 300 species a year, and a bird list to download. Trail lengths, feeders and a tower are not stated.
Photo: Celeste Mountain Lodge
Río Celeste
A Beautiful Resort on the Banks of the Picturesque Rio Celeste
★★★
Private trails through the lodge's own primary forest beside Tenorio Volcano National Park, with guided birding and a bird list to take along. Three-wattled Bellbird, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Great Curassow and Yellow-eared Toucanet are the targets it names.
The four the lodge names itself. The Three-wattled Bellbird and the Bare-necked Umbrellabird are both regional endemics on the official list, birds of Costa Rica and the mountains just over the border. The Great Curassow is a big, dark ground bird, and the Yellow-eared Toucanet is a small toucan of the forest interior.
Four birds is all the lodge itself gives us, and we will not pad the list with birds from other places.
| English | Scientific | Spanish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three-wattled Bellbird | Procnias tricarunculatus | Campanero Tricarunculado | Regional endemic |
| Bare-necked Umbrellabird | Cephalopterus glabricollis | Pájaro-sombrilla Cuellinudo | Regional endemic |
| Great Curassow | Crax rubra | Pavón Grande | |
| Yellow-eared Toucanet | Selenidera spectabilis | Tucancillo Orejiamarillo |
Celeste is a design lodge: one long two-storey building, so every one of the 18 rooms gets the same view southwest across the rainforest and valley to the Tenorio and Miravalles volcanoes. Rooms are 27 m², with a hot shower, a fridge and wide windows, and bed layouts from a single king to two doubles. The restaurant is the centrepiece, serving a tasting menu of new Costa Rican cooking, and the lodge suggests taking all three meals there. The bar opens onto a terrace for the last light. Mornings belong to the lodge's own 2 km trail through primary forest, and the Río Celeste waterfall hike is close by. Fibre wifi runs throughout.
Meals. The lodge restaurant, a tasting menu of modern Costa Rican cooking with a panoramic view or in the covered garden; the lodge suggests three meals a day there. Inclusion in the rate is not stated.
Perfect for: a couple who care about food and design and want one great trail before breakfast.
No 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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