Eco-luxurious reaches new heights at Costa Rica’s Drake Bay Getaway Resort and a Forbes Travel Guide Recommended tropical retreat wherein the jungle meets the ocean. Built from the floor up with the aid of proprietors Yens Steller and Patrick Ludwig, the postcard-worth assets are as hospitable as it’s far lovely, with custom excursions, personalized food, and attentive service from the innkeepers themselves. Forbes Travel Guide stuck up with Steller to determine how two engineers jogged a sustainable motel, what to p.C, and why you must attempt chocolate-blanketed steak for a jungle getaway.
How did you go from being a PC engineer to proudly owning a lodge?
I was 15 years old. I was an excursion guide in Costa Rica. I finally earned enough money to leave my city, Drake Bay. I dreamed of becoming an astronaut, so I went to Seattle to try to become one. However, I realized that I got seasick. So, I studied laptop science as a substitute and became a software program engineer and, sooner or later, a supervisor at a fast-growing corporation there.
I married Patrick in 2013. After a few years of working as a software program engineer — he was an aerospace engineer, he worked for Honeywell, and I turned into a supervisor at that factor operating for a massive software program company — we just had sufficient time to go for walks around crazy all of the time, so we said, “Let’s get married, allow’s promote the whole lot we got and move to Costa Rica. So, we bought 22 waterfront acres and built a lodge from the ground up. We wanted to do something dramatically distinct. So, we went from an excessive-tech international to one in which we have no information at all.
What became your preliminary imaginative and prescient for Drake Bay Getaway?
We knew from the start we wanted to do something luxurious and sustainable. And we knew the assignment became a way to integrate the two. We like to name ourselves “eco-luxury” because there’s a serious dedication when you’re sustainable instead of green. Sustainability is designing and jogging your business, meaning the substances you operate to construct your inn. Our homes are built with 80 percent wood and metal, with excessive ceilings and white roofs for ventilation.
So, suppose we ever decided we were achieved with the motel commercial enterprise and [we wanted to] close the hotel down. In that case, we’d disassemble the development, and the jungle might take over the land — it’d be like we had been by no means right here. So, we wanted to do something that had no TV, no A/C, and no pool from the very start. That became very crucial due to the fact all people seem to have that at this point. But there’s a subset that wants the enjoyment of a lifetime, and that’s what we’re looking to create.
People looking for an enjoyable, now not simply an everyday, standard hotel are people who come right here. It’s now not only about the tours. It’s no longer best about the view. It’s now not the most effective thing about the food. The resort owners, my partner, and I are always onsite. The owners are always in the hotel assisting. Most people who visit our resort are couples and households with kids — it’s honestly break up. You are welcome here as long as you need a lifetime revel in your family or your courting.
Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime reviews, what are the most popular tours at Drake Bay?
One of them is Corcovado National Park. It’s regarded internationally for its biodiversity. Supposedly, it has 2.Five percent of the arena’s biodiversity. TSo that method of all the animal and plant species in the world has 2.Five percent on this little park. Well, it’s no longer little; however, if you look at a map, it’s a small point in the world. People go on day hikes there with a bilingual tour manual and spot plenty of the natural world. It’s remarkable. You see one-of-a-kind monkeys and anteaters. One massive animal is called a tapir. It’s very famous. People usually need to look at that. It’s like a rhino, like a pig with a protracted nostril. We’ve seen puma twice in the park.
There are masses of cats there, too. You can see masses and plenty. Those are simply the large guys. But there are over 10,000 bugs alone in this area. There are hundreds of species of birds. The next one could be snorkeling or diving at Caño Islands Biological Reserve. That is near us, too. You can go snorkeling or diving to see turtles, sharks, manta rays, and dolphins. Those are the two essential ones, but we’ve hen-looking and night tours — night tours are excellent, you may see plenty of natural worlds — and within the July-August time-frame, it’s excellent popular for humpback whale-looking.
The humpback whales come here to give delivery, and you can witness them giving swimming training to the little whales. They’re here by the hundreds. So, every season is distinctive; however, birds and flowers are usually here. This city has the most scarlet macaws inside the globe, and I think — the crimson, yellow, and blue ones. And seeing that we’re so near the park, you could see scarlet macaws and toucans nearly daily. People even take pictures of birds from their showers!
