There’s something undeniably romantic about midnight on New Year’s Eve: the countdown, the celebration, and that first kiss of the year with your favorite person. In fact, an old New Year’s tradition with roots in English and German folklore holds that the person beside you as one year becomes the next can help set the tone for the year ahead.
We love the idea. Start the year close, welcome it together, and set the tone for the months ahead.
Of course, the concept works just as well if you’re spending time together before or after midnight. After all, it’s not the tradition, but the intention. And for 2027, that intention can be as simple as giving yourselves time to reconnect, share something new, and step into experiences that you’ll both remember long after the New Year’s sparkle has faded.
Here at Santarena, a boutique beachfront hotel in Las Catalinas, Costa Rica, that might mean heading onto the Pacific together in a kayak, trying paddle boarding for the first time, taking a surf lesson, or following a trail into the tropical dry forest. It might also mean afternoon coffee, a slow walk through Las Catalinas, a rooftop swim, or watching the light change over the ocean.
The point is that a new year gives you a lovely excuse to begin with new memories. And we give you so many ways to make them.
Why Is a Couples Trip Such a Good Way to Begin the Year?
There’s actual research behind the feeling that travel can bring couples closer.
A 2024 study published in Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights looked at what researchers call “self-expanding” vacation experiences: the new, interesting, exciting, and sometimes challenging things couples experience together while traveling.
The researchers found that couples who traveled together and had more of those shared experiences reported higher romantic passion and relationship satisfaction after their vacations. It wasn’t simply the fact that they had gone somewhere; what was deemed especially valuable was doing things together that felt fresh and engaging.
We know the feeling well. Because there’s a particular kind of connection that happens when the two of you are figuring something out side by side. Maybe you’re finding your balance on a paddle board (and laughing every time it doesn’t go to plan). Maybe you’re choosing a route through the trails (and enjoying the wonder of discovery). Maybe one of you spots something beneath the water while snorkeling (and immediately waves the other over).
You’re sharing the experience as it happens, and again later, as you laugh and reminisce about it. What a lovely way to begin a year together.
Start With Something New on the Water
The Pacific gives you so many ways to add a little novelty to your first days of the year.
Playa Danta is just steps from Santarena, putting warm water and beach time right at your doorstep. From here, you can head out on a paddleboard, explore the coastline by kayak, swim, or spend time together snorkeling at sunset.
Each experience has its own pace, which you can match to your mood and daily adventure quotient. Paddle boarding asks you to find your balance, settle into the movement of the water, and look around once you’ve got your footing. Kayaking lets the two of you move along the coast together, with Las Catalinas rising behind you and stretches of Guanacaste unfolding from a completely different perspective.
Sunset snorkeling changes your view again. Mask on, face beneath the surface, and suddenly you’re both looking into another part of Costa Rica entirely, as the world above the surface glows into pinks, peaches, and purples. And if surfing has been sitting somewhere on your travel wish list, we can help arrange a lesson. Because the point is to learn something new together, to give the day a little extra spark, especially when you’re both willing to laugh at the learning curve.
Our concierge team can help you choose and arrange the water experiences that fit your stay, so those first days of the year can have as much movement and adventure as you’d like.
Take the New Year Into the Trails
Moving from water to land, there’s something satisfying about beginning a morning by heading into the hills with your person. Las Catalinas has more than 42 kilometers (26+ miles) of trails through the tropical dry forest, giving you plenty of room for hiking and trail running, as well as mountain biking together.
The landscape asks for your attention. The trails move through forest, climb toward viewpoints and scenic platforms, and give you changing perspectives over the coast and surrounding countryside. On a bike, there’s the added energy of navigating terrain together. On foot, the pace naturally leaves more room for conversation, noticing what’s around you, and enjoying the simple pleasure of moving through a beautiful place side by side.
Those experiences fit naturally into the idea of creating connection. They’re active. They’re shared. They give you something new to experience together. And when you return to Santarena, the rest of the day can take on a completely different pace.
Give the Year a Few Slower Rituals, Too
We know that many memories begin with adventure, but we also know that others begin with Costa Rican coffee.
An afternoon cafecito is one of those Costa Rican rituals that’s easy to make your own while you’re here. Sit down together, order coffee, add something sweet or savory, and give yourselves a little time to simply talk.
Then take a leisurely afternoon stroll. Part of the pleasure of staying here, in the heart of Las Catalinas, is that Beach Town rewards wandering. Colorful facades, fountains, balconies, doorways, plazas, and little architectural details reveal themselves as you move through the pedestrian streets. There’s always another corner worth looking down or another place that makes you want to stop for a minute.
Back at Santarena, you might head upstairs for a swim in our ocean-view rooftop pool, find side-by-side loungers for the afternoon, or settle into one of our quieter nooks together. Coffee can turn into a long conversation. Happy hour can turn into sunset. A walk can lead naturally into dinner at Ponciana.
The day has room to hold both kinds of experience: the things that get your heart beating a little faster and the moments that let the two of you simply enjoy being together.
Let Santarena Be Your Starting Point
That’s really how we think about a New Year’s stay at Santarena: flexible enough, sunny enough, warm enough to accommodate any plans you can dream up.
Our beachfront location puts Playa Danta just outside. Las Catalinas gives you trails, town, dining, coffee, sport, and experiences all around us. Our rooftop gives you somewhere to return for a swim, a drink, a view, or sunset across the Pacific. Ponciana gives the evening a natural gathering place.
And our team can help you connect those pieces around the kind of trip the two of you want to have. That’s the spirit we love about beginning a new year here. You’re making memories together from the start.
Planning a New Year’s Escape for Two?
If a few days together in Costa Rica sound like the way you’d like to begin the year, email our team. We can help with availability, experiences, dining, and the details that bring your stay together.
Prefer WhatsApp? Send us a message and we’ll help you get started.
