Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Talamanca Hummingbird (Eugenes spectabilis)Talamanca HummingbirdPhoto: cratervalley

Highlands

Hotel Suria, a family hotel on a farm in the Savegre valley

Suria is the plainest of the lodges we use in San Gerardo de Dota, and the most personal: a Costa Rican family's hotel on about 10 acres of farm, creek and forest in the Savegre valley, run by Hilda Araya and her family.

There is no reserve of hundreds of hectares here and no spa. What there is, is the valley's birds around a small farm, a family who know them, and the same guided quetzal walk the bigger lodges offer.

The best evidence of what turns up is the hotel's own photo gallery. Its captions name more than a dozen species, most of them hummingbirds.

At a glance

Habitat
farm, creek and gardens in the river valley, cloud forest on the slopes
Nearest hotspot page
San Gerardo de Dota and the Savegre valley · 1.6 km

Birding on the property

The hotel runs three guided outings with bilingual guides: a quetzal tour through the Savegre valley, a two-hour birding walk aimed at birders and photographers, and a hike to the páramo, which it puts at 3,491 metres. The land itself is farm, creek and forest. The hotel's site gives no trail names, feeders or species count, so the gallery is the best record of what is around.

Photo: Hotel Suria

San Gerardo de Dota

Hotel Suria

Welcome to the San Gerardo de Dota Cloud Forest!

★★★

Twenty rooms on 10 acres of farm, creek and forest in the San Gerardo de Dota valley, owned and run by Hilda Araya and her family. The simplest of our highland lodges, and the valley's birds are the same ones.

Plan a trip with this lodge

The birds to look for

The Resplendent Quetzal is what the quetzal tour is for. With a guide, all year.

The gallery is mostly hummingbirds: Fiery-throated Hummingbird and Volcano Hummingbird, the Talamanca Hummingbird (older guides call it the Magnificent Hummingbird), the White-throated Mountain-gem and the Lesser Violetear. Four of the five carry the regional endemic flag.

Around the farm and the forest edge it shows Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Collared Redstart, Flame-colored Tanager and Tufted Flycatcher, and two thrushes: the Sooty Thrush of the highlands and the Clay-colored Thrush, which the caption calls by its local name, yigüirro.

EnglishScientificSpanishStatus
Resplendent QuetzalPharomachrus mocinnoQuetzal
Fiery-throated HummingbirdPanterpe insignisColibrí Garganta de FuegoRegional endemic
Volcano HummingbirdSelasphorus flammulaColibrí Chispita VolcaneraRegional endemic
Talamanca HummingbirdEugenes spectabilisColibrí de TalamancaRegional endemic
White-throated Mountain-gemLampornis castaneoventrisColibrí Montañés GorgiblancoRegional endemic
Lesser VioletearColibri cyanotusColibrí Orejivioláceo Verde
Northern Emerald-ToucanetAulacorhynchus prasinusTucancillo Verde
Golden-browed ChlorophoniaChlorophonia callophrysClorofonia CejidoradaRegional endemic
Collared RedstartMyioborus torquatusCandelita CollarejaRegional endemic
Flame-colored TanagerPiranga bidentataTangara Dorsirrayado
Tufted FlycatcherMitrephanes phaeocercusMosquerito Moñudo
Sooty ThrushTurdus nigrescensMirlo NegruzcoRegional endemic
Clay-colored ThrushTurdus grayiMirlo Pardo

Staying at Hotel Suria

Suria is a family place: a local family built it among gardens, farms and creeks in the valley, and it runs on that scale. The rooms are cabin style, set in pairs in blocks around the gardens, and you choose between a garden view, among the flowers, or a mountain view across the valley. Each room has a private bathroom with hot water, a portable heater, a coffee maker and extra bedding, all needed at this altitude, where the nights are cold. The restaurant, café and bar is the centre of the evening, with a fire lit when it turns cool. Mornings start early with the guided walk, and the afternoons are for the valley trails or the river.

Rooms

  • Standard, garden view: sleeps 3, 1 double and 1 single, garden view; heater and hot water.
  • Standard, mountain view: sleeps 4, 1 double, 1 single and 1 trundle bed, or 2 doubles; mountain view.
  • Villa, mountain view: sleeps 4, 1 double, 1 single and 1 trundle bed; the larger room type, valley view.

Meals. The hotel's restaurant, café and bar serves local and international dishes. Whether breakfast is included is not stated on the site.

Good to know

  • Nights are cold in the valley: rooms have portable heaters and extra blankets, and you will want a warm jacket.
  • The valley is reached by a steep, winding road down from the Inter-American Highway.
  • Rooms take 1 to 4 people, so a solo birder, a couple or a small family fits.

Perfect for: a couple or a small family who want a simple, family-run base in the valley with a guided quetzal walk on the doorstep.

Hotspot pages near the lodge

Trips that stay here

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.

Which of these fit your list?

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.

Plan my birding trip

Or call us: 1 (800) 996-1139 from the US and Canada, +506 4052-2140 in Costa Rica.