If you’re looking for a peaceful place to get away from it all, a short flight away from much of the U.S., El Jicaro Island Eco-Lodge on Nicaragua’s big lake near Granada would be a fine choice.

Later I will post some photos on here of animals and food, but how about a video tour for now?

I promise you’ll look forward to meal time here. You’ll feel downright healthy too on top of it. The sustainability claim is a serious one here and it extends from the building materials to what’s on your plate at all times. Pretty much everything comes from local sources, vetted well.

Enjoy the tour, then see our full review of El Jicaro Island Lodge.

We’ve been covering luxury travel in Nicaragua since we launched in 2007, but the boom in tourism everyone was expecting then has taken longer to arrive than hoped. There are a few reasons for this—fear of the ex-Sandanista president’s regime for a start. Plus while there are some great luxury hotels in Nicaragua, there haven’t been many organized tours run by experienced, well-known companies in the U.S.

That’s about to change this coming April. International Expeditions, a company that’s been taking travelers to Latin America for three decades, is launching a 9-day Nicaragua tour that will start April 21.

This tour hits highlights of the northern half of the country: the colonial gem of Granada, the colonial college town of Leon (founded 1524), Lake Nicaragua, and multiple expedition areas. Over the course of the nine days, you visit four nature reserves, sleep next to a coffee plantation, and take boat rides that glide past Central America’s bird bounty. Naturally you’ll have a guide who can spot what you want to see and you can concentrate on the experience instead of taking care of logistics. Not just any guide though: “Nicaragua’s first licensed naturalist” will be with you.

Rates are set at $3,198 double, $3,987 single before airfare. This program is so new it’s not on their website yet, but they will send the detailed flyer in PDF form by e-mail. Contact International Expeditions to request it.

[Flickr Creative Commons photo by puroticorico]

We don’t make it a habit to review inns with only five rooms, but we made an exception for this luxury home turned small hotel in the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. Latitude 10 is small, yes, and as with many resorts in Costa Rica, you are asked to sweat a bit for the sake of our planet’s future: no air conditioning here.

That’s part of what makes Costa Rica such a special place though, unmatched by pretty much any other destination on Earth except perhaps Bhutan. Here, taking care of the environment is not just some greenwashing slogan the PR people trot out to evoke an image of responsibility. Here most “green” resorts really are.

Latitude 10 is tucked into the foliage in a spot that’s easy to miss, with its own stretch of hidden beach running alongside it. And even if the resort is close to empty, you won’t be alone:

Wildlife is abundant: birds perch in the forest canopy; howler monkeys bellow; and iguanas scurry along tree trunks. Guests can breathe in the outdoors from cushioned wicker furniture decorated in earth tones and wooden tables with views to a salt water pool and the rolling Pacific surf.

All the suites here are private casitas and they come with a soundtrack of the rolling surf outside.

See our full review of Latitude 10 in Costa Rica and for other sustainable upscale lodging, check out our detailed reports on luxury hotels in Costa Rica. You can book some of them, including Latitude 10, through the the Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality group.

Back in December I spent a couple weeks traveling through Costa Rica. There’s an adventure tour story on the way and I added a few new hotels—see the Costa Rica category of this blog for links to those. But I also took some time to revisit some luxury hotel favorites and revamp older reviews.

For all the following, you will now find updated and expanded reviews, plus some new and better photos I shot while I was there. If you’re headed to Costa Rica anytime soon, I assure you that you can’t go wrong with any of these three fine resorts in Guanacaste, San Jose, and the Osa Peninsula.

The Four Seasons Costa Rica is in a class all its own. A high-end luxury resort with its own unbelievably scenic golf course. Two beaches, stunning views, a great pool complex, and one of the hardest-working executive chefs in the country.

If you travel to San Jose and want to stay in the city, Grano de Oro is a perfectly fine hotel. You can be just as close to the airport though at Xandari and feel like you’re in a real resort, with a hillside of plants, waterfall hikes, and a great infinity pool with a view. If you like color and personality in your hotel, you will fall in love with this artist-owned place and wish you’d booked a few more nights there.

Lapa Rios wrote the book on sustainable upscale jungle lodges and this pioneer is still hard to beat when it comes to communing with nature while enjoying guilt-free luxury lodging. I was blown away by the views and the abundant wildlife, plus there aren’t many lodges anywhere that have 1,000 acres of their own jungle surrounding their bungalows. Lapa Rios caters to couples, friends, and families equally well and it offers an experience you’ll remember for a lifetime.

A while back I put up a post on this blog about the eco-friendly resort that really walks the walk, Playa Nicuesa. On the gulf that runs between the mainland and the Osa Peninsula, this is an adventure resort with a conscious and one that offers a great mix of water and jungle activities.

Now our full rundown is posted and you can see it here: review of Playa Nicuesa in Costa Rica.

We’re also in the midst of adding more Costa Rica luxury hotels and those will be up this month as well. Subscribe to our RSS feed or our monthly newsletter if you want to see when they go live.

I also spent a few days at the hotel that must be at the top of the list when talking about luxury in this country, the Four Seasons Costa Rica. So I’ve updated our review with more details and adding some more photos to make you salivate—especially if it’s below freezing where you are right now.