Timberline WrenPhoto: Çağan Şekercioğlu
Paraíso Quetzal is the high one: 2,600 metres on Cerro Buena Vista, at km 70 of the highway south, between Tapantí and Los Quetzales national parks. The Serrano Salazar family opened it in 2005.
The lodge is built for watching from where you stand. A hummingbird garden is planted around the restaurant and the bungalows, and an observation deck looks out over the treetops, to Poás and Barva on a clear day.
Then there are 80 hectares of its own forest to walk, with five trails to rivers and four waterfalls, past oaks and a mountain cypress the lodge says is over a thousand years old.
And the birding here is backed by work. The lodge hosts a Motus wildlife tracking station, sponsors the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica, and supports the project that protects quetzal habitat and wild avocado trees in Dota.
The 80-hectare reserve has five self-guided trails, one of them past the Las Bromelias waterfall, and all are open to guests. The hummingbird garden and the observation deck are a few steps from the rooms. The lodge runs nature and wildlife photography tours with certified guides, the quetzal among the targets, and its own posts follow the quetzal pairs that nest on the property.
Photo: Paraíso Quetzal Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota
A family-run birding lodge in the cloud forest at km 70 of the Inter-American Highway South
★★★
At 2,600 metres on Cerro Buena Vista, km 70 of the highway south, with an 80-hectare reserve, five trails, four waterfalls and a hummingbird garden where a quetzal sometimes turns up. The Serrano Salazar family has run it since 2005.
The Resplendent Quetzal gives the lodge its name, and the hummingbird garden is where it sometimes turns up. With a guide, all year.
On the trails and the edge of the bamboo, the birds of the high ridge: Timberline Wren, Wrenthrush, Flame-throated Warbler, Collared Redstart, Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher and the parakeet flocks, Sulphur-winged Parakeet. All six are regional endemics.
The lodge names the hummingbirds of its garden only as colibríes. Down in the valley the guides look for Fiery-throated Hummingbird and Volcano Hummingbird, two more of the regional endemics.
| English | Scientific | Spanish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resplendent Quetzal | Pharomachrus mocinno | Quetzal | |
| Timberline Wren | Thryorchilus browni | Soterré del Bambú | Regional endemic |
| Wrenthrush | Zeledonia coronata | Zeledonia | Regional endemic |
| Flame-throated Warbler | Oreothlypis gutturalis | Reinita Garganta de Fuego | Regional endemic |
| Collared Redstart | Myioborus torquatus | Candelita Collareja | Regional endemic |
| Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher | Ptiliogonys caudatus | Capulinero Colilargo | Regional endemic |
| Sulphur-winged Parakeet | Pyrrhura hoffmanni | Perico Aliazufrado | Regional endemic |
| Fiery-throated Hummingbird | Panterpe insignis | Colibrí Garganta de Fuego | Regional endemic |
| Volcano Hummingbird | Selasphorus flammula | Colibrí Chispita Volcanera | Regional endemic |
This is high, cool country, and the lodge is built for it. You sleep in a bungalow of your own rather than a hotel corridor, each with a heater, hot water and a coffee maker, so the first coffee of a cold morning happens in your room. The Classic bungalows add a balcony facing the mountains, and the Superior bungalows have a king bed and a private jacuzzi for the end of a long day outdoors. Meals are in Los Colibríes, the lodge restaurant, café and bar. Days start early and run on foot along the five trails, and evenings are short: reception closes at 8:00 pm and the lodge asks guests to keep to it. It is a simple, warm base for people who come for the forest and go to bed early.
Meals. Los Colibríes, a restaurant, café and bar on site. Breakfast with a bungalow stay appears only in a promotional post, so it is not confirmed as standard.
Perfect for: a birder who wants a private, heated bungalow and an early night, with trails starting at the door.
The highest road in Costa Rica, over the ridge above the quetzal valley: the birds of the ridge at km 70, two family lodges on top and how to get there.
See the placeThe oak forest on the ridge above San Gerardo de Dota: 12,355 acres of park, the quetzal with a guide, the six lodges at its edge and the trips nearby.
See the placeThe Savegre valley at about 2,200 metres, where we send birders for the Resplendent Quetzal: the birds, the lodges in the valley 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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