Hotel Aquas Claras

This exquisitely restored whitewashed, British colonial-style wooden house sits behind twin, gently curving beaches of white pepper-fine sand on the Caribbean coast.

It looks like a 1930s writer’s retreat, with its shutterboard panelling and tile-roofed turrets. You can imagine Graham Greene or Hemingway tapping at a typewriter on the wrap-around balcony. Interiors designed by the artist-owners are all-white, with splashes of Caribbean turquoise and heliconia red from the bright furniture and abstract art. The seafood-focused restaurant is one of the best in the region.

With heliconia and hummingbird-filled gardens trilling with tree frogs and cicadas, waves lapping sugar-white palm-shaded sand, laid-back, reggae-throbbing Puerto Viejo village fifteen minutes’ cycle ride away – Aguas Claras is quintessentially Costa Rican Caribbean.