The story
Costa Verde has been building on the cliffs beside Manuel Antonio National Park for more than 25 years, and at some point it decided to become the world's only true airplane hotel. The original is a 1965 Boeing 727 that flew for South Africa Air and Avianca, rescued from San José airport, trucked to the coast and hoisted 50 feet onto a pedestal in the canopy, then fitted out as a two-bedroom, full-kitchen suite with two balconies over the park's coastline. A second fuselage became the Cockpit Cottage for couples; a converted MD-82 holds the Cockpit Cabana and Skyloft; an old plane serves as the El Avión bar-restaurant on the main road.
Around the aircraft is a large, well-priced hotel of 70 rooms — efficiency studios, penthouses with 200-square-foot balconies, studio bungalows with three queens, two-bedroom bungalows with BBQ terraces, and the four-bedroom Casa Quinta — on ridges arranged for sea breeze and views over the canopy, where toucans, sloths, coatis and all four monkey species pass. Three cliffside pools, four restaurants, spa services, and the park gate and Espadilla beach within a walk.