Punta Islita | $2.2 million
A newly renovated hilltop estate with ocean views in a gated community.
Perched 427 feet above sea level, this three-bedroom house on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula offers sweeping ocean views. The 45-home development is in Punta Islita, a resort village in the western Guanacaste province. Most of the residents are American and European, with a few Costa Rican owners. The upscale Punta Islita Hotel, a Marriott Autograph property, shares the development’s grounds.
Punta Islita has a small airport for charter and private flights about three miles from the home. Museo Islita, Costa Rica’s only open-air contemporary art museum, is a short distance from the house. Don Ramiro, a restaurant and art gallery popular with locals, is less than a mile away, and the Punta Islita Wild Macaw Reserve, an avian refuge operated by the Macaw Recovery Network rescue organization, is about a mile away. For groceries, shopping and services, the nearby towns of Carrillo and Sámara offers more options.
The Costa Rican seller has been renting the house on Airbnb for up to $2,000 a night.
Size: 3,500 square feet
Price per square foot: $627
Indoors: The Spanish-style house on 1.7 acres was renovated in 2022 and recast in a palette of yellows and blues. An arched front door opens to a covered terrace with views of the Pacific. Off the terrace, an airy living and dining space opens to the pool and veranda through yellow sliding doors. All three bedrooms have en suite baths and face the ocean through glass doors. The primary suite is windowed on two sides and includes a glassed-in shower that opens to the outdoors. The kitchen has a semicircular window and checkerboard floors, along with steel-blue cabinets topped with white granite. Floors throughout the house are in Italgraniti ceramic tile from Italy.
Outdoor space: The rear terrace is designed as a second living space. Along with a 430-square-foot pool, the partially enclosed terrace has two dining tables, a bar and several niches with seating. Arches separate part of the seating area from the pool deck. Howler monkeys, white-tailed deer, macaws and gray foxes roam the community grounds.
Costs: All homes in Costa Rica are subject to an annual 0.25 percent municipal property tax, calculated on the registered property value. Since 2008, the government has also imposed an annual luxury tax on homes valued above 100 million colons (about $189,000). Rates range from 0.25 percent to 0.55 percent, depending on a home’s value. Annual property taxes on this home are approximately $5,500.
Contact: Angie Miranda, Clari Vega, LX Costa Rica, +506-8826-8545, lxcostarica.com
Cabuya | $2 million
An off-the-grid compound built by “Entourage” actress Perrey Reeves
Actress Perrey Reeves retained San Jose “contemporary tropical” architects Luz de Piedra to design this 11-bedroom compound in Cabuya, a village at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. Completed in 2012, the 38-acre estate has hosted yoga and health retreats since 2012, and can be converted to a family residence. Its 12 free-standing structures total nearly 12,000 square feet of living space. The complex generates its own solar power and sources water from an on-property mountain spring.
The province of Puntarenas, which includes Cabuya, is home to the Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve, Costa Rica’s first protected area for nature conservation. The beach town of Montezuma is about three miles north; Santa Teresa, which has luxury hotels, a medical clinic, banks, a pharmacy and supermarkets, is about eight miles northwest. The estate is a five-hour drive from San Jose’s Juan Santamaría International Airport, where there are frequent one-hour flights to the small airport in Cobano, about nine miles from the estate.
Size: 11,843 square feet of living space across 12 buildings on 37.8 acres.
Price per square foot: $169
Indoors: The estate’s 12 structures include two 1,280-square-foot cabins, two 613-square-foot cabins, and an 1,800-square-foot residence with laundry facilities and a supply room. In total, there are 11 bedrooms, 12 full bathrooms and four half-bathrooms. All of the residences have slate-tiled floors and wraparound teakwood decks with steel railings. The bathrooms feature slate tile floors and resin countertops that resemble granite. An airy yoga chalet and a cabin dedicated to massages and spa treatments can be converted. The kitchen occupies its own building overlooking the property’s waterfalls.
Outdoor space: A dirt road leads up from a gate at the bottom of the hill. The grounds are dense with lush tropical flora, including 300 fruit trees added by the owners. A 500-square-foot lap pool, lined in fossilized white and pink coral, abuts a minimalist cabin with dressing rooms. Whitefaced monkeys, iguanas and tropical birds are common around the property; because the Cabo Blanco nature reserve is close, big cats also have been sighted. Instead of using earth-moving machinery to clear the site when the compound was built, foundation pedestals were dug by hand and moved into place with hand pulleys and wood logs.
Costs: Property taxes total $2,500.
Contact: Wijbrand Tuinstra, Costa Rica Sotheby’s International Realty, +506-8790-4949, sothebysrealty.com
Escazu | $2.1 million
A modern mansion with stone details, a fish pond, and a boulder in the bathroom.
This three-bedroom house on 0.63 acres is in Escazu, an affluent suburb five miles west of Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. The hilly neighborhood is home to a cluster of embassies, including the United States, Canada and Mexico. The private Costa Rica Country Club is two blocks away. Avenida Escazu, a sprawling mixed-use development with retail, hotels, offices and residences, is less than a mile away, as is the La Paco shopping mall. Irazu Volcano, the highest volcano in Costa Rica and a major tourist attraction, is about 40 miles east. Juan Santamaria International Airport is about 12 miles north.
Size: 6,458 square feet
Price per square foot: $325
Indoors: The one-level home has a great room with stone-tiled floors, full-length windows and 20-foot ceilings. The owner had a taste for leather furniture, and the sale includes all of it. The living room has a tufted leather sofa, leather armchair, pool table and a carved, stand-alone bar with four leather stools. In the kitchen, a wall of rough stone bricks rises to the wood-paneled ceiling. A granite-topped island and a fireplace, both in stone, are off the kitchen.
The primary bedroom has a wall of windows that open to a private terrace. Behind the bed, a stone “hut” with a wood door conceals the toilet. The bedroom flows into an en suite bathroom that is open to the back gardens. Showers and a stand-alone tub are outdoors, along with a whirlpool. The bathroom features a boulder that serves as a natural divider between indoors and the grounds. Two other bedrooms, both facing the front of the house, have en suite baths and walk-in closets. Instead of air-conditioning, the house harnesses natural airflow for cooling.
Outdoor space: The house is behind a custom iron gate off a private road with just two other homes. The living room opens to a stone terrace surrounded by grass, trees and tropical plants. The home was built around natural rock formations, which form its lushly landscaped gardens and grounds. Tucked among the stones are niches designed for lounging and socializing. The terrace has a fire pit and a full kitchen with two pizza ovens, a barbecue and dual refrigerators. The pond is stocked with koi, and the owner placed gym equipment on a gazebo for outdoor workouts. A covered driveway offers room for six cars.
Costs: Annual property taxes total $2,000, with an annual luxury tax of about $2,000.
Contact: Virginia Pastor, Engel & Volkers Tamarindo, +506-8335-3232, costarica.evrealestate.com
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