TreeCasa Resort

Built Into the Trees at El Papayal

San Juan del Sur is a surf town with a horseshoe bay and a lot of noise, and TreeCasa is what happens when you drive a few minutes inland and stop in the trees. El Papayal is green rather than coastal, and the resort has been laid into that canopy instead of carved out of it: low buildings among the trunks, paths rather than corridors, three pools at different heights in the gardens and quiet corners between them. The architecture is eco-minded and the materials are local, but the effect is not rustic. It is a resort that behaves like a garden with rooms in it.

Why It Works

Three reasons. The water, first: three separate pools mean the property never concentrates in one place, and there is always a lounger somewhere out of earshot. Second, the range of rooms. Six categories cover a couple in a Canopy Suite and a party of ten in the Garden House, which is rare in Nicaragua and turns the resort into a place for a wedding, a retreat or a family without the usual compromise. Third, the food. Farm to table is a claim made everywhere; here it means Nicaraguan produce cooked simply enough that you can taste where it came from.

Why This Location

Inland is the point. San Juan del Sur's beach and its bars are a short drive away when you want them, and the surf beaches north and south of town, Maderas, Marsella, Remanso, Playa Hermosa, are within reach of a morning. The rest of the time the forest holds the property quiet, which in this part of Nicaragua is genuinely hard to buy. The road in from Rivas and the crossing to Costa Rica are both close, so the resort works as an arrival or a departure as readily as a stop in the middle of a trip.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Jungle, design-led, sociable, wellness

• Rooms: Six categories, from Canopy Suites and Cabins for two to four and Casa Árbol for two or three, to a two-storey Family Suite for six to eight, Bungalows for six and a Garden House sleeping ten

• Best For: Couples, groups and families taking a whole house, weddings and retreats, travellers pairing surf with a garden

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Three separate pools at different levels of the grounds, so there is always one nobody is using

• Dining: Farm-to-table cooking built on fresh local ingredients and Nicaraguan flavours

• Amenities: Three pools, a spa, yoga sessions, guided eco-tours, gardens laid through the canopy, pets accepted, private parking

• Attractions: San Juan del Sur and its bay, the surf breaks at Maderas, Marsella, Remanso and Playa Hermosa, the Rivas road and the Costa Rican border

Three Pools, and Which One to Pick

The pools are the design decision that makes the place work. Instead of one large terrace, the grounds hold three, set apart at different levels, which spreads the guests out and gives each pool its own character and its own hour of the day. Between them are the corners the property calls secluded and, unusually, actually are. If you are here to read rather than to socialise, ask which pool the groups are using and take one of the other two.

Six Categories, From a Couple to Ten

The room list is the other reason to look closely. Canopy Suites and Cabins take two to four with a king or twins; Casa Árbol suits two or three and adds a sofa bed; the Family Suite is a two-storey private unit for six to eight; the Bungalows take six across two kings and twins; and the Garden House sleeps ten. That range means the same property can hold a honeymoon and a family reunion without either noticing the other, provided you choose your side of the gardens.

Farm to Table, Spa and the Slow Morning

Breakfast, yoga and the spa give the mornings their shape here, and the kitchen is the anchor: fresh local ingredients, Nicaraguan flavours, and a farm-to-table approach that shows up in the vegetables rather than in the menu language. Guided eco-tours leave from the property for anyone who wants the forest explained. Everything else runs on the rhythm of a place that would rather you stayed by the third pool.