Arco Iris Lodge – A Favorite for Families in Monteverde

Arco Iris Lodge has 13 cabin-style rooms, including stand-alone cabins, family rooms, suites with balconies, and budget doubles. The stand-alone cabin #8 offers a private balcony facing a forest grove where white-faced monkeys regularly visit. The honeymoon suite includes a kitchen, Jacuzzi, and two balconies, with a view of the surrounding gardens.

A buffet breakfast is served daily from 6:30 AM in a bright communal room looking out onto the garden. The buffet offers gallo pinto, fresh tropical fruit, made-to-order eggs, pancakes, pastries, and unlimited coffee. The breakfast also includes quail eggs, homemade jams, and a range of local and western items that keep guests going until mid-afternoon.

The lodge is a 5-minute walk from the restaurants, shops, and tour offices in Santa Elena. It is 6 kilometers from both the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Santa Elena Reserve. The property sits at the end of a steep driveway that removes it from street noise, giving guests a quiet compound while remaining central.

The property has mature trees, tropical vegetation, fruit trees, a small chicken farm, and horses on site. Guests regularly see capuchin monkeys moving through the guava tree near the breakfast room, along with agoutis, howler monkeys, and a variety of birds. A short hiking path behind the lodge leads to a viewpoint over the town and offers opportunities to spot more wildlife.

The tour desk staff arrange night tours, cloud forest walks, coffee tours, zipline excursions, and shuttles to the reserves. The reception can also organize taxi pick-ups and drop-offs, with round-trip transport to the cloud forest at $8 per person. The lodge has a safety deposit box at reception, key access to rooms, daily housekeeping, and a laundry service.

Accommodations: stand-alone cabins, suites with balconies, family rooms

Breakfast: made-to-order eggs, quail eggs, fresh tropical fruit

Wildlife: capuchin monkeys, agoutis, howler monkeys on property

Tours: night walks, coffee tours, zipline, cloud forest shuttles