Costa Verde Hotel Costa Rica

Hotel Costa Verde is located on a coastal rainforest bluff overlooking the Pacific beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepos, Costa Rica.

Its many amenities make Costa Verde a perfect destination for those seeking adventure travel, ecotourism, sportsfishing or just the tranquillity of white sand beaches and magnificent ocean views.

Three hundred yards from the beach and Manuel Antonio National Park, the Hotel Costa Verde features two cliffside pools with sundecks and spacious rooms and balconies, all offering a bird's-eye view of the Park's coastline plus rainforest canopy vistas dotted with native birds and monkeys.

Hotel Costa Verde offers accommodations for a variety of options for vacation living. These include air conditioned studio and efficiency apartments with cable TV and Costa Verde II, a special group of 15 studios designed exclusively for couples with an open-air design and no air conditioning, glass windows or TV. In addition, we have Bungalows available for vacationers interested in renting a private house. Each area has its own swimming pool, special ambiance and vistas.

Rooms at Hotel Costa Verde
Hotel Costa Verde offers accommodations for a variety of options for vacation living. These include air conditioned studio and efficiency apartments with cable TV and Costa Verde II, a special group of 15 studios designed exclusively for couples with an open-air design and no air conditioning, glass windows or TV. In addition, we have Bungalows available for vacationers interested in renting a private house. Each area has its own swimming pool, special ambiance and vistas.

Our studios at Costa Verde II

Evening view from one of our Studio-Plus open-air design units at Costa Verde II

For guests traveling with children, or who prefer air-conditioned rooms, we offer 520 square foot Studio apartments with one king-size and one full-size bed. Three pools are available to guests staying in this area of the hotel. We have a total of 24 air-conditioned studios of this size, all with an ocean view; eight are Studio-Plus units with the best panoramic views. These studio units are equipped with ceiling fans, a powerful air-conditioner, a kitchenette and a large balcony.

We also offer 14 Efficiency units, featuring post & beam hardwood construction and air-conditioning. The units are located in three different areas. All of these units have two queen-size beds, ceiling fans, air conditioning, cable TV, kitchenette and balcony.

Air-conditioned Studio-Plus

Rooms at Hotel Costa Verde II

Our newest area, Costa Verde II, is designed for couples seeking a more romantic getaway with a balmy, tropical ambiance. Each apartment features 750 square feet of space with expansive screened windows and doors that draw in ocean breezes and commanding rainforest or ocean views. Guests will enjoy a spacious balcony, two queen-size beds, kitchenette, and ceiling fans. Eight Studio-Plus units offer direct, panoramic ocean views; six Studio units offer less-direct ocean and rainforest views; and the fifth-floor Penthouse, with two king-size beds, boasts a spectacular panoramic view of both land and sea.

Studio-Plus in Costa Verde II

Studio-Plus balcony in Costa Verde II

Penthouse Costa Verde II

Houses & Bungalows

Casa Quinta & our Bungalows are perfect places for travelers interested in renting a private house, while still receiving all the amenities of the hotel. Sitting above the main hotel area, they are surrounded by the sounds of nature and views of the jungle and ocean. The houses feature easy parking, a pool and a complete kitchenette.

Amenities
El avion Bar
Our Fairchild C-123 was a part of one of the biggest scandals in the mid 1980's. During this time, the Reagan Administration had set up a bizarre network of arms sales to Iran designed to win release of US hostages being held in Lebanon and raise money to fund the Nicaraguan, counter-revolutionary guerilla fighters, commonly referred to as the "Contras." By artificially inflating the prices of the arms, NSA official Oliver North, was able to reap profits that could be diverted to fund the counter-revolutionaries of the Cuban allied Sandinista government.

Of the $16 million in profits raised, only $3.8 million actually funded the Contras. With the CIA's help, they purchased several items, including two C-123 cargo planes (one of which is our plane), two C-7 planes, a Maule aircraft, spare parts, and munitions. They also built a secret airstrip on an American-owned, 30,000 acre ranch in northwest Costa Rica. On October 5, 1986, a US cargo plane (the twin sister) of El Avion's own Fairchild C-123, was shot down over southern Nicaragua. One of the crewmembers, C.I.A operative Eugene Hasenfus, parachuted to safety and was captured by the Sandinista army. Led out of the jungle at gun point, Hasenfus's very existence set in motion an incredible chain of cover-ups and lies that would mushroom into one of the biggest scandals in American political history known as the Iran-Contra Affair. As a result of this successful Sandinista strike on our Fairchild's sister plane, the cargo operation was suspended and one of the C-123s was abandoned at the International Airport in San Jose.

In August 2000, we purchased the abandoned Fairchild for $3,000. We then disassembled and shipped the pieces of the Iran-Contra relic to Quepos. From San Jose, the fuselage was shipped via ocean ferry (from Caldera to Quepos) because it was 10 inches too wide for the antiquated Chiquita Banana railroad bridges! After hauling all seven aircraft sections up the Manuel Antonio hill, the C-123 finally found its current cliff-side resting-place.

Our Pub Plane
Monica Quesada, Tico Times

Now, our C-123 has been retired to less risqué endeavors as a restaurant, bar, coffee store, and an enduring Cold War relic.

Now El Avion is ready to serve up a food, drinks and beautiful sunsets!

Join us under the wing at our restaurant or in the fuselage at our pub.

Sunset Dining at El Avion
Monica Quesada, Tico Times