When couples begin planning a May escape to Costa Rica, the question shifts quickly from where to how. How do we spend our days together? How do we balance exploration with rest? And how do we choose experiences that feel meaningful rather than overplanned?
At Santarena Hotel, a boutique beachfront hotel in Las Catalinas, May lends itself naturally to a slower, more intentional itinerary built around contrast. Calm mornings on the water. Grounded afternoons on land. Experiences that invite shared awareness without demanding constant movement or adrenaline.
This is where a thoughtfully paired approach comes in. A guided mangrove experience through Costa Rica’s rich estuary ecosystems, followed by a deeply grounding afternoon, where interaction with horses becomes an exercise in trust, calm, and non-verbal connection. Together, these moments create a full, balanced rhythm for couples traveling in late April or May.
This is not about filling your schedule. It’s about choosing experiences that complement each other, and letting Santarena quietly anchor the time in between. From seamless planning to an unrushed return point between adventures, our boutique hotel becomes the place where meaningful days begin, settle, and make sense together.
Why Late April and May Feel Different Here
As Costa Rica moves out of peak dry season, the rhythm softens. Late April carries the last hurrah of high summer, while May introduces a quieter, more personal energy. Landscapes are alive. Wildlife activity increases. The pace of daily life shifts from vibrant to intentional.
For couples, this moment offers rare balance. The weather remains ideal for being outdoors, but the town is uncrowded and unrushed. Experiences unfold without competition or noise, allowing you to settle into them fully.
This season isn’t about doing less. It’s about choosing experiences that create space for attention, reflection, and shared meaning.
Mangrove Exploration: Shared Presence on the Water
Mangrove ecosystems operate on their own quiet logic. Life moves subtly here. Birds rest in branches overhead. Monkeys navigate the canopy. Fish ripple through the water and vanish again. Everything rewards patience and awareness.
A guided mangrove exploration through Las Baulas National Marine Park and the Tamarindo Estuary – the largest mangrove estuary in Latin America – offers you and your loved one a chance to enter this world together, traveling by small, shallow-bottom boat that glides deep into narrow canals and hidden estuaries. Depending on tide conditions, your journey adapts naturally, allowing access to areas unreachable by larger vessels.
Movement is gentle. Conversation fades to presence. With a private naturalist guide leading the way, the experience unfolds slowly, offering insight without interruption. You learn how mangroves serve as vital nurseries for marine life, how birds and reptiles coexist in this layered ecosystem, and how the health of these waterways shapes the coastline itself.
What stays with you isn’t just what you see, but how you experience it together. You sit side by side, noticing the same details. You pause together when something catches your attention. Silence is shared rather than empty.
This kind of presence deepens connection with ease. You’re not trying to bond; you’re simply immersed together in a place that invites stillness and curiosity at the same time.
Returning to Santarena: Space to Process and Pause
Back at Santarena, the day doesn’t rush forward. There’s time to sit with what you experienced. Time to rest by the pool, lounge on the rooftop terrace, let conversation drift, or enjoy a quiet lunch at Ponciana without checking the clock.
These moments between experiences matter. They give meaning time to settle. They turn observation into memory. Slow travel lives here, in the space where nothing is scheduled and nothing feels missing.
La Estancia Equine Experience: Grounding Connection on Land
If the mangroves invite awareness through observation, La Estancia offers grounding through emotion.
Your equine experience begins on a hillside path through untouched tropical dry forest, opening toward sweeping ocean views. From there, you descend toward Playa Pan de Azúcar, a quiet stretch of coast where the land meets the sea without ceremony.
At La Estancia, interaction with horses unfolds gently. This is not about performance or riding skill. It’s about presence. About learning to communicate without words. Horses respond to calm, intention, and emotional state, reflecting back what you bring into the moment.
As you meet Canela, Luna, Palomo, Lucero, and the others, the pace slows naturally. You learn about their care, their routines, and the philosophy behind the experience. Touch becomes intentional. Breath steadies. Attention deepens.
You’ll find this experience unexpectedly moving. Not because it’s dramatic, but because it requires you to arrive fully. You notice how you stand. How you listen. How you respond to subtle cues. Shared vulnerability replaces distraction, creating space for trust and quiet connection.
The experience closes with a locally sourced refreshment, shoes kicked off, bodies relaxed, conversation softer than when you arrived. It’s grounding in the truest sense of the word.
Why These Experiences Belong Together
Water and land offer different kinds of presence.
Mangrove exploration invites observation and shared stillness in motion. La Estancia brings emotional grounding and non-verbal connection. Together, they create balance.
Because you don’t remember trips by what you did in sequence, you remember the contrasts. How the different moments made you feel together. How the silence turned into conversation. How movement gave way to stillness.
This pairing works because it mirrors what many long-term couples crave: Novelty without chaos. Depth without pressure. Experiences that feel meaningful without being heavy.
Santarena as Your Quiet Anchor
At Santarena, these experiences aren’t stacked back to back. They’re shaped into a rhythm that feels natural.
Mornings begin calmly. Afternoons leave room to rest or wander. Evenings arrive without urgency. We don’t schedule your time; we help design its flow.
Whether you’re exploring mangroves one day and walking forest trails the next, Santarena remains your constant throughout. A walkable base. A place to return, reflect, and reconnect without effort. This is where we quietly excel. We help make your travel meaningful and seamless.
Let the Season Guide You
If you’re considering a late-April or May escape in Costa Rica, let it be one shaped by intention rather than momentum. Let water slow you down. Let land and horses ground you. Let Santarena help you experience both, together.
Ask our concierge to help shape a May itinerary designed for connection, and discover how exploring more can actually bring you closer.
