Full-service Real Estate

Secret View Real Estate Is a full-service real estate company specializing in Costa Rica’s world-renowned South Caribbean marketplace, identified by Lonely Planet as one of 2016’s top global destinations:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/best-value-destinations-for-2016

Our skill sets cover the whole spectrum of Costa Rica real estate: homes, building lots, vacation homes, hotels, beach land, commercial, farm land, conservation land, development land and condos, including gated communities that offer some of the best health and retirement lifestyle options in the whole world.

Our aim is to have every single client recognize and directly benefit from over 20 combined years of experience in Costa Rica’s Caribbean real estate market.  We are very proud to maintain our position as the top two active professionals in the local market. It’s for that reason that we focus all our efforts on making the process of buying, selling, and renting real estate as relaxed and convenient for residents and potential residents as well as investors, especially in a spot famous not only for its natural beauty but also for all sorts of regulations and restrictions!

The Caribbean coast has once again become a hot spot…

For a lot of people arriving in Costa Rica to invest in real estate for retirement, relocation or vacation purposes, as well as those interested in rental homes and condos, building lots in prime locations, all kinds of turn-key businesses (especially small B&B’s), raw development land and even farmland.

We have first-hand knowledge and experience with the nature of the decision-making process for those considering relocating to a different country. Reliable, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and well-networked with other top-knots professionals all over Costa Rica:  One of them is Mr. Scott Oliver from, www.welovecostarica.com/

Costa Rica’s South Caribbean:  Three Ways to Fall in Love:

Diversity  

The South Caribbean spot is different from the rest of the country, unique in so many ways.  Blessed with an incredible wealth of cultural and biological diversity, it is only natural we share our country’s exceptional level of tolerance and green living. Very simply, everyone does their best to live in harmony with Mother Nature. Just beyond the garden is a real rainforest inhabited by troops of monkeys, legións of tiny lizards, and countless bird species…  A real-life Garden of Eden.

Gastronomy

The South Caribbean dinner table starts with its traditional Creole cuisine, which is based on the ingredients from Mother Nature herself supplemented by coconut palms, yuca, plantain, fruits, and other crops Caribbean pioneers planted to supplement fresh seafood and animals raised in their lush potreros (pastures).

Coconut milk is a basic ingredient for cooking delicious fish and seafood with Rice and Beans or-or our famous Rondon, a strong soup made with products that were available like cassava tubers, yams, ñampí or tiquisque, bananas, plantain with whatever is fresh from the sea:  Snapper, mackerel, horse mackerel, lobster, crab, king crab and more.  Yummy!

More recently, new arrivals have brought with them an incredibly rich global menu: Argentinean parrilla (barbecue), Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican. Outstanding gourmet dining experiences stand out in the beach setting.  Perhaps inspired by local culinary skills and traditions, newcomers vie to deliver customers great food and service.  It’s all here and modestly priced by world standards.

Beaches and Climate 

Our beaches are deservedly world-famous:

Warm seas, cool nights; Our coast welcomes visitors to one of the greatest varieties of beaches anywhere on earth.  Right after sunset, cool mountain air descends setting off the vibrant nightlife of our main town, Puerto Viejo, usually accompanied by night rains.  Wild or tame, large or small and gentle enough for toddlers, every kind of beach is within biking distance along a well-maintained paved coastal highway (#256)…

Picture postcard beaches frame classic tropical scenes. Unlike the rest of Costa Rica, our seasons are measured by wave action.  In the low season (May-October), the ocean is normally flat, perfect for exploring our extensive coral reefs using snorkel and fins or full scuba gear or boating expeditions to observe marine life eg. the manatees in Gandoca’s lagoon.

The high season brings the big waves.  Although there are still plenty of safe beaches protected by the coral reefs, this is the time surfers take over. If you want the calmest water of all, take a day trip up the coast to the Tortuguero canals, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In addition, guides can take visitors down the beach at night from June to October, for the unforgettable experience of watching a sea turtle nest.

Some local highlights:

Cahuita and its National Park:

Created to protect Costa Rica’s biggest coastal coral reef, its forests, and beaches offer unique biological diversity.

The National Park is home to an extraordinary Tropical Rain Forest where big tree species like the sangrillo and golden fruit, almond, and coconut mangroves or on the coast. Cahuita is your destination if you want to see wild animals, the park is home to 3 species of monkeys, two sloths, raccoons, amphibians, reptiles, exotic birds such as toucans and parrots, and a reef that hides a colorful underwater world made up 35 species of coral, 128 algae, 44 crustaceans, sponges, anemones, starfish and countless tropical fish and sea turtles, stingrays, and harmless sharks.

With its path of 7 km, it runs parallel to the coast until another access in the southern sector, Puerto Vargas, a journey that will take you to exotic places like Playa Blanca Suarez River, Punta Cahuita, and Punta Vargas.

Playa Cocles

The favorite one for the surfers!!!  Here is where you will find the highest density of beach bums and bikinis on any given day.

Across the street from Playa Cocles (also known as Playa Grande or Playa Pirripli – Pelican Beach), you’ll find some good bars and restaurants, supplemented with great food from traditional street carts.  When the sea is calm, after a leisurely swim you can enjoy your food and drink overlooking the classic aquamarine vista or you can watch world-class surfers practice their sport (or is it a craft?) on the long surf breaks.

Playa Chiquita

This area of beaches starts with a peaceful, half-tame ribbon of golden sand, Further down the coast, past Little Bay, Playa Chiquita changes character.  Countless small beaches (Playas Chiquita is) are accessed by the coconut trail and hidden paths through the coastal jungle.  The coral shoreline of this underpopulated part of the coast keeps waves to a minimum almost all year around.

Punta Uva

This is my favorite beach, I am not going to say much about this… Come and discover it by yourself!!!   Too many superlatives, even the best photo doesn’t really do justice to Punta Uva’s three very different beaches.

On December 10, 2015, Outside Magazine rated Punta Uva one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.

Manzanillo and the Refugio

Are you seek solitude, try taking the coastal road south to the very end.  The little village of Manzanillo is located at the entry point to Costa Rica’s newest eco-tourism destination, the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge.  The Refugio is home to some of the best white-sand beaches the Caribbean side has to offer.  Well-maintained trails lead down the coast to Monkey Point (Punta Mona).

Beyond Monkey Point (also known as Miss May Point) you need a boat to get to the only red mangrove forest on Costa Rica’s eastern coast, home to our manatees and dolphins.  Inland, two palm wetlands protect tapirs and a host of other birds and wildlife.  The Refuge has one of the world’s richest bird and butterfly populations, more than 300 species of birds alone, including the reclusive harpy eagle.  Marine turtles – leatherback, hawksbill, green sea – frequently nest on these southern beaches.  You’ll need a guide and a pair of rubber boots (sometimes called Costa Rican running shoes!) to get the best from your visit to the Refuge.

In addition to turtles and manatees, the vast array of fauna in the Refugio includes crocodiles, alligators, howler monkeys, white-faced capuchin, spider monkeys, anteater, raccoon, snakes, lizards, and big iguanas, coati, armadillo, sloth (both three-toes and golden), tapir, deer, Agouti Paca (tepezcuintle), squirrel skunk (zorro hediondo) and big cats like the margay, coatimundi, and even the elusive jaguar.  Yes, the fishing is good but that, of course, mainly takes place outside the Refuge.  Local people are proud to tell you how they protect and interact with nature.  So well that any one of the Refuge’s inhabitants could well turn up in your own garden.

Welcome, friends to your very own Garden of Eden. We hope you will stay awhile and learn our ways.