Back in 2007, Airbnb rebranded vacation rentals to the point where it’s now a generic term. The self-catering landscape is a slightly mixed bag, though. Travelers have shared their worst experiences online, from the annoying (huge binders of house rules), to the fraudulent (a sea view that was actually a painted mural on a brick … Read more
Unexpected. That’s the first thought that springs to mind upon hearing that Estée Lauder has opened its first Skin Longevity Institute in the Americas in Pérez Zeledón, a wildly lush, remote patch of Costa Rica teeming with coffee farms. But then one learns that the Institute, centered around the brand’s age-defying Re-Nutriv skin-care collection, is … Read more
Pearched on a cliff overlooking the glistening Gulf of Papagayo on Costa Rica’s north Pacific coast sits the new Nekajui (pronounced NEK-ah-wee), a Ritz-Carlton Reserve property. When it debuted two months ago, this “rare estate set apart from the world” became the eighth Ritz-Carlton Reserve on the globe, as well as the hotel group’s first … Read more
Take a deep breath before trekking here. Deep in the volcanic mountains of Costa Rica hides a deadly, yet small opening of the Earth that engulfs and kills just about all that enters. Locals in the Alajuela Province call this six-foot-deep and ten-foot-long hell hole — accompanied by warning signs of skulls and crossbones — … Read more