The story
Bosque del Mar is what the name says — "forest of the sea." The hotel is built into a stand of mature trees on the quietest end of Playa Hermosa, and it has kept them: howler monkeys, iguanas, crabs and a long list of birds move through the property daily, and the rooms are glass-walled toward the canopy rather than the sea. It's a 4-star boutique with a spa, an open-air oceanfront restaurant and a small shaded pool, run under general manager Hamilton Leisure, who answers nearly every review personally.
What sets it apart in the Papagayo Gulf is scale. The big hillside all-inclusives up the road — Villas Sol, Condovac — shuttle guests down to this same beach. Bosque del Mar guests walk out the door onto it. Reviewers consistently describe the staff by name (Alexis, Dayana, Shirley, Carlos, Yorsi at the restaurant; Sletter at the bar; Sheila in the spa), which is the tell of a property small enough for people to matter.