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Turtles nesting on wild beaches, sunsets over the Pacific, fresh coconuts post-surf. A community of people who found their place in Nosara.
Decades ago, this little palm-fringed beach town decided to conserve its land. Much of the coastline sits within a pristine wildlife refuge, protected from development, where monkeys, coatis, and sloths have space to roam. The result is a place that looks, and feels, unlike anywhere else on the Pacific coast: no high-rises crowding the shoreline, no paved roads cutting through to the sand. Instead, jungle trees spill down to untouched, swimmable beaches. Nosara isn’t like other coastal towns in Guanacaste.
Javier, Journey Costa Rica’s Managing Director, chatted to Stefanie Tannenbaum about her story, how it began in a world on pause and how she channeled her experience into her own expression of hospitality at Sendero Nosara.
Sendero is a Neighborhood Hotel
Locals say once you’ve been to Nosara, it’s somewhere you will always come back to. For Stefanie and her family, Nosara felt like home from the start, so they made it one.
She first came here for a month with her husband and one-year old River, seeking something different from the U.S east coast, but not yet knowing quite what that was. “I fell in love with Nosara during that time – the community, the natural beauty, surfing, the people. It’s a peaceful combination of all these different cultures, which is what Costa Rica stands for in a lot of ways. Community forward, taking care of one another.”
While the world came to a standstill in 2020, Stefanie noticed Nosara’s quiet evolution. She opened a coworking space for the community, and her team became her closest friends. As more people arrived seeking the town’s natural beauty and laidback lifestyle, an idea took hold – a neighborhood hotel.
“We wanted to feel part of the neighborhood, not separate from it”, Stefanie says, “that also comes from my travels before. I’ve been to some great hotels around the world. Some of them are isolated, and when they are, I always wish it was more in the middle of things. I want to feel where I’m at.”
Design: An Open House
Not a single tree was cut down during Sendero’s development, and where nature already existed, the architecture moved around it. Trees grow through the middle of the restaurant. “Nature comes first,” explains Stefanie, “Costa Ricans think about nature and then think about how to construct in harmony with it, not the other way around.”
The results speak for themselves: a property that feels less like it was built on the landscape, and more like it grew with it. “Our front desk is in the middle of the restaurant. So, to me that design element is right off the bat one of the things that brings you in. It’s the heart of our hotel. It’s open to the public. It creates that energy right away. Instead of putting you in a private reception, it says come into what is happening here and go enjoy it.”
Breaking down the traditional elements of guest and hotel is a thread throughout Sendero’s hospitality. Team uniforms are comfortable and casual – “Why do they have to feel so different or formal compared to the guest?”. Signage is minimal so people organically get to know the place – “…we don’t have as much as you would typically have. We’re here to kind of share what we’re doing…”. And travelers are welcomed like they’re staying at their wealthy friend’s house – “…so they’re not walking into this division of this was built by X company to let these people in, but instead, this is my home, come on in.”
The property itself has history – one of the first cabinas in Nosara, originally known as Mama Rosa. Stefanie and her team kept the footprint but rebuilt from the ground up, doing a deep dive into vernacular Costa Rican architecture and locally sourced materials before adding their own modern twist. Reclaimed bricks from San José haciendas and marble from Nicoya meet unexpected tile details and a playful use of color – a look that feels contemporary without losing its roots. “We wanted something fresh, something that attracts a sophisticated traveler,” Stefanie says, “but grounded in what we are, which is Costa Rica.”
Surf is part of Nosara’s DNA. Playa Guiones, a beach break made world class by its year-round waves and accessibility for all levels of surfers, is just steps away. “We lean into how surf can be a true amenity. So we look at surfing more like the way hoteliers look at food and beverage or spa or fitness,” Stefanie says. At Sendero, that means making surf more accessible and more luxurious – for every level, every guest. “We always say that if a guest can get on a surfboard and feel stoked, we’ve done our job.”
On-site surf school Chorotegas has boards in every color, shape and size, and lessons that meet you wherever you are. Learn to read the ocean, nail a turtle roll, ride the face of a wave, fall without fighting it. Go further and there are carves, barrels, post-surf video analysis, and your own photography from the water. However deep you want to go, Sendero makes it easy, and the ocean is right there.
Families, Friends and Couples All Feel Welcome
Accommodating families has always been part of Sendero’s vision, without calling themselves a “family hotel” – Sendero, like Nosara, is not big on strict labels. The philosophy is built around flexibility rather than obvious kid-friendly touches: subtle, well-considered details that adapt to whoever will walk through the door. Couples, solo travelers, groups of friends, multigenerational families – the space quietly reconfigures itself around your dynamic.
Sendero’s philosophy on family travel goes back to the idea of togetherness. Rather than sticking on a colorful pool slide as an afterthought, “…it was, how do you integrate families into the broader kind of community? And I think that a lot of family trends are going that way”, Stefanie says, “you want the parents to be happy, the kids to be happy, maybe the grandparents too, and you want all these different dynamics, not just a kids club, and then separate.”
Take the two-bedroom from Sendero’s seven villa collection, introduced in late 2024. Nothing is fixed. Beds convert, spaces adapt, and nothing eats up square footage that nobody asked for. “To me, that just throws off a space,” says Stefanie. Outside, a private pool terrace with a generous daybed does the same work – fit for a couple with a glass of wine at sunset, a group of friends sprawled out after a surf, or kids napping in the shade post-splash. The scene shifts; the sophistication doesn’t.
That same thinking shapes the restaurant, where the design holds different moods at once. “If you’re two couples on a honeymoon together, we want it to feel sexy and fun in our restaurant. But we also want the kids and the parents to feel comfortable.” The details do the work – distinct areas within the same space, considered lighting, a pace that changes naturally through the day.
The same warmth runs through the staff. “There’s a friendliness between all the employees with the kids as well,” she says, “and I think that’s always a very fun moment, when kids feel like they’re seen and they’re heard on the property.”
There’s Space to Slow Down and Just Be You
Sendero’s hospitality brings together high-end professional service and authentic human connection – intuiting when to lean in with guests and when to give space. It allows organic confidence to grow.
“We had a guest and he was, in his own words, pretty burnt out from his life. Based in New York City but traveling all the time. And when he came to Sendero, he was waking up early. He was learning to surf. He was eating acai bowls and all of a sudden he realized – ‘oh, I’m this type of person’ – which is what a hotel can do.”
The best travel does more than move you from one place to another – it creates something beyond the trip. A stay that pulls you out of your normal context has a way of revealing expressions of yourself you didn’t know were there, or that you’d forgotten. That’s the power of great hospitality: not just making guests feel welcome, but giving them the space to feel different, and ultimately more like themselves.
We close the conversation chatting about the beach, “…that’s where I’m heading in 10 minutes. My seven-year-old is out surfing and the sun’s gonna set and…you can’t ask for more.” Stefanie sets off to walk the sendero – the path – through the trees and onto the sand to join her family for golden hour. Another day in Nosara life.
Get in touch with Journey Costa Rica’s expert team to start planning a trip around a stay at Sendero Nosara.
