OMG, I Want to Rent This House: Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica

OMG, I Want to Rent This House spotlights the most spectacular and unique homes that you can actually stay in. From open-air villas to an adult treehouse, we explore all the places that you should book for an unforgettable getaway.

Villa Fugata, Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica on Vrbo: History is littered with those who have spent their lives seeking paradise. They’ve sailed across oceans, pursued transcendence through visions and adventures, and put their utopian dreams into treatises both fictional and philosophical. After all that blood, sweat, and tears, it’s a shame that all they had to do to find the paradise they craved was visit a cliff overlooking Playa Flamingo in Costa Rica.

Villa Fugata is the ultimate escape from reality. To begin with, it conforms to the cardinal rule of epic tropical vacations: everything from your drinks to your bikinis must take on the neon hues of the coast. Here, the decor is organized around the color of flamingo pink (think exterior walls, kitchen accents, and beach towels) with plenty of tropical hues of blue thrown in to remind you—as if you could forget!—that you’re never far from the sea.

Some people prefer luxurious palaces for their global jaunts. A mansion this is not, but the intimacy of Villa Fugata offers something much more: the option to invite a select few friends or family to join your getaway, or a very good excuse to leave them at home. The two bedrooms are spacious and oriented towards the outdoors, but more important is the gorgeous setting for the circuit you will be making each day: breakfast on the terrace, a dip in the pool followed by a nap in the lounge chair, then happy hour back on the terrace. Rinse, and repeat. 

Perched 100 feet in the air on the top of a cliff with 180-degree views of the surrounding coast, this house is the perfect spot for Instagram content-making (you have to make those you left at home jealous, after all), life contemplating (to permanently Caribbean or not, that is the question), and to check out your Costa Rican coastal neighbors. From here, you might chance into an encounter—rest assured, they’ll mostly be visual—with monkeys and birds, iguanas and butterflies, and, for those lucky enough to stay during the right season, even a pod or two of whales. 

For those days when you want to follow in the footsteps of the original seekers and actually leave the paradise of your cottage grounds, the white sand beaches of Flamingo Bay are just over half a mile away. The waves on this cove of the bay are quite tame, so trade in your surf board for a stand up paddle board and set off to find those elusive whales, or spend your day swimming and snorkeling below the calm seas.

The setting is perfect and the cottage is a paradise. But the best thing about a stay in this land of sunset cruises and marine life is the thought that the most effort you might be required to make during the day is lifting that coconut from the table to your lips (the turtles will thank you for foregoing a straw). According to the reviews, this isn’t a property you only spend a long weekend at. So do yourself a favor and think in weeks when it comes to finding your own paradise. 

Book Your Stay: Villa Fugata in Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica: $380/night via Vrbo