Costa Dulce – Wellness Playground
Costa Dulce Nicaragua – A Regenerating Ecolodge
Love our planet and all the life she holds.
Our desire is to enjoy mother earth’s bounty while simultaneously helping to regenerate what has been lost, creating a more abundant future.
Without an established set of guidelines we feel the ‘ecolodge’ concept has become a bit of a cliche. It is our belief that to be ‘eco’ we need to have a holistic understanding of the impact created by our actions. We can then strive to manage a net positive impact for our planet and society.
“Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!” – Chief Seattle
So what do we do at Costa Dulce to manage our impact?
We believe it starts with connection and therefore it is our mission to:
“Help people deepen their connection with community, nature, and self by creating an open and nourishing environment that stimulates presence, curiosity, and growth.”
In addition, we believe that in order to achieve a positive impact it is essential that our resources be managed responsibly to improve our collective and thus our vision is to:
“Generate an inspiring community model where resources are leveraged to improve the collective wellbeing; by nurturing a diversified locally owned economy that shares the vision of social equality and environmental regeneration.”
Some specific examples of our initiatives to be eco-friendly and environmentally aware:
- Low impact construction – We have done our best to integrate our presence into the existing ecosystem. Most of the excavation was done carefully by hand. When building our lodge we carefully selected our materials first seeking organic, recycled materials, bamboo, stone wood, and clay.
- Energy Efficiency – Our lodge is solar-powered, and has been designed to take maximum advantage of cooling breezes, thermal mass, and natural lighting, along with the application of water and energy-efficient technologies.
- Offsetting impacts – Through supporting conservation projects such as vital actions sea turtle nursery, investing in reforestation, and habitat restoration we strive to mitigate our impacts.
- Foster local talent – We have trained our neighbors rather than recruiting people with existing experience.
- Conscious consumption of locally sourced products – By understanding the origin of the products we consume we are able to support non-exploitive production practices, and create opportunities for small local businesses to prosper.
- Avoid excess and minimize waste– We avoid he use of plastics and other disposable or single use items and utilize all that we can. All food scraps go into our compost facility.
- Create equity through empowerment – Through microfinancing and partnerships we have had significant success
Educate to regenerate- We do our best to create educational experiences for visitors and locals, helping promote a collective shift of awareness.
The Surroundings
Costa Dulce is located within a tropical dry forest half of the year, which transforms into a lush jungle during the rainy season. We are environmentalists at heart, and as such do our best to minimize our impact on our surroundings; which we share with monkeys, sloths, snakes, iguanas, turtles, birds, and bugs.
Blessed with beauty on all sides, you will find a network of walking trails to explore, enjoy and immerse yourself in nature. Find the secret lookout where you will be surrounded by the serenity of the environment, collect shells in “mermaid cove” or take a dip in the tidal pool. Our playground is full of places to discover!
Gather and Unwind
In addition to our private bungalows and cabins, Costa Dulce consists of several inviting shared spaces. All accommodations are built around our central dining area, where something tasty is always being whipped up in the Dulce Cocina.
Directly below you will find Casa Ola; our lounge/ bar with library and beach view terrasse, as well as our awesome new pool and the spa area.
The Beach
Just steps away from our bungalows and cabins is a beautiful public, but a secluded beach. You will find our surf school is stationed here along with a little locally owned restaurant serving up fantastic margaritas and authentic Nica food. The beach is equipped with hammocks, sun chairs and lots of shade. Down the south end of the beach, the river Escameca Grande flows into the ocean. This is a great place to go paddleboarding (SUP), spot local wildlife, or enjoy a freshwater swim.
The beach is generally very safe, sandy and without hidden rocks or strong current, which makes it great for surfers and water enthusiasts of all levels
The Yoga shalas
Our main Yoga shala is located directly above our dining area with an absolutely stunning view.
It is fully equipped with quality Manduka mats, wooden blocks and dowels, and straps.
Our secondary yoga shala/ lookout, and favorite meditation spot, is a short walk away positioned on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Enjoy the stunning views, take a deep breath, and connect with yourself and your beautiful surroundings. Our team of professional yoga teachers off yoga twice a day.
Environmental Responsibility
We love our planet and we are aware that changes are needed in order to preserve the beauty of our surroundings. As such, we are constantly trying to evolve and adopt new measures to minimize our contribution to climate change and related problems.
This is a challenging task being a service provider in the tourism industry, as the business model is centered around guests traveling by plane to enjoy an experience with us. Unfortunately, the airline industry is a significant contributor to human-based CO2 emissions, therefore we are committed to offsetting your air travel by donating half the value of your CO2 emissions towards a local reforestation project (link).
Your emissions are calculated through myClimat, and we highly encourage you to offset the remainder of your footprint by contributing to our Collado Reserve (whereby all funds are donating directly to the project), or to one of their listed causes.
Get in Touch
North America +1 (707) 505-9009
Nicaragua +505-8277-8009
Costa Dulce Surf & Yoga Retreat
Escameca Eco-Lodge
San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Contact Us
Visit our FAQs for quick information on general questions.