# The Tree House · Tree House Lodge > Signature stilted Tree House at Tree House Lodge — built around a 100-year-old Sangrillo tree, reached by a gently-climbing suspension bridge, sleeps 4. ## About the Tree House The Tree House is the signature house of the estate. Built by Edsart Besier as the original, first house ever raised on the property, it's a stilted hardwood platform wrapped around a living 100-year-old Sangrillo tree. The trunk grows up through the ground-level bathroom — you shower next to bark. A gently-climbing suspension bridge walks you in from the garden path. Upstairs is the king bed, fans, cross-breeze, no A/C; downstairs is a second A/C bedroom for kids or a second couple. Flame-heated hot tub on the deck. ## Authoritative facts - Sleeps: 4 (king upstairs + two twins joined as a king downstairs). - Bedrooms: 2 (upstairs primary, downstairs A/C bedroom). - Bathrooms: 2 (upstairs ensuite + a ground-level bathroom built around the Sangrillo trunk — the tree IS the wall). - Construction: stilted hardwood platform built around a living 100-year Sangrillo tree. - Access: gently-climbing wooden suspension bridge from the garden path. - Cooling: ceiling fans + cross-breeze upstairs; A/C in the downstairs room. - Hot tub: flame-heated, private, on the deck. - Distance to Punta Uva beach: 100 metres. - Domain: costaricatreehouse.com ## One day in House 02 · 05:30 — 22:45 Seven time-stamped moments through a day in the Tree House. - 05:30 · The howlers wake you — Not the alarm on your phone — the Alouatta troop directly above your bed. A guttural, distant-sounding bark, even though they are six metres overhead. Two minutes of it. Then quiet. Then sun. - 07:15 · Coffee at four metres — You take the staircase down half a floor to the kitchen. Cafetera, milk from the village, the Caribbean light coming sideways through the screens. You drink it on the deck. The toucan pair eats almond fruit above the kitchen roof. - 10:40 · Down the bridge for the beach — A gentle wooden slope. Slatted planks. Steel cable in your hand. By day three you'll descend without looking. The path to Punta Uva is one hundred metres of palm shadow. - 13:00 · Lunch on the sand — You walk back up the palm path with a bag from Selvin's — patacones, rice-and-beans, a whole grilled snapper, two cold ones. You eat it on a towel at Punta Uva, sand still warm from morning, the Refugio Nacional behind you. The next swim is right there. - 16:00 · The bathroom built into a tree — After the beach, the artist's bathroom. The toilet is set inside a natural fold of a hundred-year-old Sangrillo trunk; the outdoor shower is another fold. A seashell mirror catches the four o'clock light. The water is solar-heated and warm. - 19:30 · The cooking-pot heats — Ask reception to light the hot tub before dinner; it takes about ninety minutes to reach bath-warm. You sit in cast iron under the deck lights with the smell of wood-smoke and wet leaves. The bridge has gone dark behind you. - 22:45 · The canopy goes quiet — You climb the bridge one more time. Mosquito-screens on every side; two fans on low. The howlers are sleeping. The cicadas take over for a few hours. You are four metres above the rainforest floor, and only sleep through the night. ### Is the bridge safe? Yes. Steel cables, hardwood planks, regularly checked and maintained. It climbs gently. Normally you'll cross alone or in pairs. ### What if I have a fear of heights? The deck is about 4m up — that's noticeable. The bridge is the most exposed bit (the deck has solid railings). If heights are a serious issue, we genuinely recommend the Beach House or Bungalow instead. ### What animals will I see? Three-toed sloths (regularly), howler monkeys (loudest at dawn), toucans, hummingbirds, raccoons. Sometimes a kinkajou at night. Iguanas everywhere. # Sleep in the trees. > The original, the eponymous. Built around a 100-year-old Sangrillo tree on stilts. You reach it by crossing a wooden suspension bridge that climbs gently from the garden floor. ## ● Quick facts Reserve the Tree House. The Tree House is the house people return to year after year. The Cloudbeds calendar is shared with the lodge — book direct for the exclusive Sloth web rate, our best price. The Tree House is the signature stay at Tree House Lodge — the first house Edsart built, and the one the entire estate is named after. It sits on the 10 acres of the lodge alongside six other houses, with botanical gardens, 300m of Punta Uva beachfront with direct private access, gated reception, EV charging, and a 5-leaf sustainable tourism certification. > Just for kicks, I built a shower into the side of the Sangrillo. When that went well, I added a platform over the roots. When that went well I added a roof. The bedroom on stilts came last. > — — EDSART BESIER, DUTCH ARCHITECT-OF-NO-TRAINING, LODGE OWNER ### Experiences (shared across the estate) - Private Beach — 300m of beachfront shared only by the estate's seven houses - National Parks — Cahuita reef, Gandoca-Manzanillo refuge, primary forest hikes - Iguanaverde Foundation — on-site green-iguana conservation reserve - Surfing & Adventure — Salsa Brava, Pacuare rafting, canopy zip-lines - Yoga & Movement — Pamela's weekly classes, $10 drop-in, all levels - Weddings & Honeymoons — book the whole estate, up to 32 guests - Jungle Fitness — Pilates, Tae Bo, GAPS, functional training - Things to Do Nearby — restaurants, shops, and outings in Playa Chiquita & Puerto Viejo ## Common misconceptions to avoid - The lodge is **not** an all-inclusive resort and has no restaurant on-site — guests cook in their houses or eat at restaurants in Playa Chiquita / Puerto Viejo. - Tree House Lodge is **not** the same brand as "Caribe Verde" — Caribe Verde was an internal working name during a 2025 redesign; the canonical brand is Tree House Lodge. - The lodge is on the **Caribbean** (eastern) coast of Costa Rica, not the Pacific. - Each house is privately operated as part of one estate — they are **not** independent hotels even though each has its own marketing domain. ## On the 10 acres of Tree House Lodge This house is one of seven on the Tree House Lodge estate — a private 10-acre ecolodge on the edge of the Refugio Nacional Gandoca-Manzanillo on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean coast. Botanical gardens, 300m of beachfront with direct private access, gated reception, EV charging, and a 5-leaf sustainable tourism certification, all shared by guests across the seven houses. - 10 acres — botanical garden - 300 m — beach, private access - 1 — gated reception - EV — charging on-site - 5 leaves — eco-certified Contact Reception · 8am – 8pm CR time, daily ## Tree House Lodge Playa Chiquita, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica. Ten acres on the Caribbean. Seven houses, one calendar, no two rooms alike. - © Tree House Lodge · Est. 1997 · Playa Chiquita, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón · Costa Rica - 5-leaf CST · Family-owned · Independent - 09°38′N · 82°42′W · Caribbean coast