Green travel guide

Ecovillages in Costa Rica: Meet the Founders and Visit Real Communities

Costa Rica's ecovillages range from established neighborhoods like La Ecovilla in San Mateo and the PachaMama spiritual community near San Juanillo to small permaculture teaching farms and projects still being built. The best way to judge one is to visit through a public program, then check what's operating today: water, wastewater, food, protected land and how decisions get made.

By Pura-Verde.com Editors · Published October 30, 2026 · Last checked October 30, 2026

Best for

People curious about community living, permaculture and long-term moves to Costa Rica

Where

San Mateo de Alajuela, the Guanacaste coast near San Juanillo, the southern Nicoya Peninsula, Talamanca on the Caribbean side

How to visit

Through a course, retreat, guest stay or scheduled tour advertised by the community itself

Good to know

Many projects are still developing, so separate what's built from what's planned

Ask before you go

Who supplies the water, how wastewater is treated, and how decisions are made

What happens when a neighborhood decides that water, food, gardens, friendships and the future of a patch of forest are everybody's business? Across Costa Rica, people are finding out. Some communities are well established, others are still being built, and the honest stories are more interesting than the brochures.

For some people, an ecovillage means planting fruit trees and sharing tools. For others it's a meditation retreat, a natural building course, or neighbors who agree that a stream and a shared garden deserve more thought than a typical subdivision gives them. The Global Ecovillage Network describes an ecovillage as a community where people deliberately design their life together around sustainability, treating social life, culture, economy and ecology as one connected system.

That's a high bar. A property with tropical trees or bamboo houses isn't automatically an ecovillage. What counts is what residents actually do: protect habitat, manage water and waste, make decisions together and keep at it for years. A rendering of a future village can't prove any of that.

Types of ecovillages in Costa Rica

Before you look at specific places, it helps to know the main types:

• Planned eco-neighborhoods with private lots, shared land and a homeowners' association, like La Ecovilla and Alegría Village in San Mateo.
• Spiritual or retreat communities where residents and guests share daily practice, like PachaMama in Guanacaste.
• Permaculture teaching farms with a small resident team and visiting students, like Finca Tierra near Puerto Viejo.
• Looser neighborhoods of experiments, where households share some projects but build in their own way, like Rancho Delicioso on the southern Nicoya Peninsula.
• Projects in development, sold on plans that aren't built yet.

Each one suits a different person. A retreat community isn't a farm school, and a farm school isn't a place to buy a lot.

La Ecovilla: Marcelo Valansi and the land that had to be healed

In San Mateo de Alajuela, in the Central Valley region, Marcelo Valansi founded La Ecovilla Original in 2012, according to the community's own history. It didn't start with untouched jungle. It started with about 42 acres of deforested land that residents turned into food gardens, shared spaces, homes and regrowing forest.

That's a useful correction to the idea that green living means buying pristine forest and building inside it. The harder experiment is restoring damaged land while dozens of families agree on how to use it.

La Ecovilla's overview separates its projects. La Ecovilla Original is the first. Ecovilla San Mateo is a separate, larger community on about 200 hectares, mostly private reserve, with room for 300 families in six neighborhoods; the project says residents come from 43 countries. A third, Ecovilla Cabo Blanco near Santa Teresa, is still in development. If you're weighing a visit or purchase, confirm which community a promise refers to.

The project's FAQ is unusually specific. Each household owns its own lot; residents don't live together. Lots have well water, underground power, fiber internet and a BioNest wastewater plant instead of septic tanks. Owners co-own the reserve, river, gardens, pools, yoga spaces and a community kitchen, and the Village Center hosts a weekly farmers market. The community is set up as a condominium with a homeowners' association and uses a circle-based, consent-driven decision system that La Ecovilla has run since 2012. The Real World School, a learner-led school open to the wider area, sits next door.

The easiest way to visit is a short stay in a resident's home, booked through the project. Use it to ask residents the human questions. Who pays when common areas need repairs? How are food-growing areas protected from future building? How do neighbors settle disagreements about pets, noise or water?

Nearby, Alegría Village describes itself as an ecological neighborhood on about 70 hectares beside the Río Machuca, with a shared organic permaculture farm at its center, spring water and land being reforested. Its site doesn't name its founders, so ask who runs it and what's finished.

PachaMama: Tyohar's meditation village near San Juanillo

On the Guanacaste coast near San Juanillo, a forested valley that was once a cattle farm is home to PachaMama. The community says it was founded in 1999 by Tyohar and a group of fellow travelers. Tyohar's founder profile describes how he met the teachings of the Indian mystic Osho while traveling in the late 1990s, went on to lead satsangs and silent retreats, and envisioned the village. He still leads silent retreats a few times a year.

PachaMama is both a residential spiritual community and a nonprofit retreat center that hosts hundreds of visitors a year. Its own description lists reforestation that brought back native plants and animals, compost toilets, composted food scraps, organic gardens, recycling, water retention and soil work. It says all income is reinvested in the community. Public spaces like the shop and restaurant are kept in silence, and there's a silent sitting every evening. Volunteers can also come for a period of service.

Visitors don't automatically become residents, and a workshop isn't an invitation to explore private homes. These are the community's own descriptions, so ask what environmental work is active now and how guest fees support it.

PachaMama is a reminder that not every ecovillage starts with a farmer or an architect. Some start with people looking for a new way to live together, and only later learn that their choices about food, buildings and waste decide whether the experiment lasts.

Rancho Delicioso: a neighborhood of experiments on the southern Nicoya Peninsula

On the southern Nicoya Peninsula, Rancho Delicioso describes itself as a permaculture eco-village and retreat center. Its community page names Geoff McCabe and Yasmin Tobon as co-founders. Tobon, a journalist and artist from Colombia, built the community's Wonderland restaurant and event space.

The site lists yoga and permaculture retreats, a Permaculture Design Certificate course, farm tours, a volunteer program, a community orchard, more than 100 edible plants and a Wild Sun wildlife rescue section. Lots and homes are also for sale. It feels less like a single planned resort and more like a set of household experiments: one family focuses on gardens, another on art and music, another on a quiet place to work.

That brings both opportunity and complexity. The useful questions are practical: do the water and roads hold up in the rainy season, how is construction governed, and which ecological commitments are shared rather than optional? Like any residential community, its homes aren't public attractions. Book a retreat, tour or volunteer stay through the site rather than dropping by.

Finca Tierra and the Caribbean side: why teaching matters

Near Cocles Beach, outside Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Finca Tierra began in 2008 on worn-out cattle pasture and is now an off-grid permaculture education center. Co-founder Ana Gaspar is a Costa Rican lawyer, environmental activist and permaculture designer who founded the Plan Bioregional de Talamanca. Co-founder Ian Macaulay is a permaculture designer and consultant whose bio says he also co-founded SEED Ecovilla.

That project, the Ecovillage at SEED in the Talamanca foothills of Cahuita district, is listed with the Global Ecovillage Network as a community of privately owned half-hectare lots within a 150-hectare property, with residents living there since 2009, many of them seasonally.

Finca Tierra shows why education is so often the missing piece of an ecovillage. Someone has to teach newcomers why a plant, a drainage ditch, a building material or a maintenance routine works in this climate. Its 15-day Permaculture Design Course and week-long retreats are the way in. For more teaching farms, see our guide to organic and regenerative farms.

What to check before you visit or move

Ecovillage marketing often leaves out the unglamorous parts. Ask about each of these:

• Water: Is there a legal supply, and how does it hold up in the dry season? In September 2026, 74 Costa Rican communities were rationing water.
• Wastewater: Is the system approved and sized for the number of people expected to live there?
• Food: What's grown regularly, how many residents take part, and how much food is bought in?
• Forest: How much land is legally protected or restored, and how much could still be developed? The 2026 fight over hillside clearing near Montezuma's waterfall shows why that matters.
• Ownership: Private titles, shared areas, road easements, association rules and owner dues.
• Governance: Who decides, how disputes get resolved, and what happens if the founders leave.
• Neighbors: Does the project hire, buy from and listen to the surrounding Costa Rican community?

Ask, too, which promises are physically working today and which are still plans. A project can have sincere founders and still face construction delays, water shortages, governance disputes or changes to the original plan. For land or building decisions, rely on permits, title documents and a qualified professional, not a sales tour. Our green building guide covers materials and design questions.

What an ecovillage doesn't automatically prove

A village can plant hundreds of trees while clearing valuable habitat elsewhere. A bamboo roof can be beautiful and still need constant upkeep. Solar panels cut power bills without solving waste or water. A shared garden can feed people or just look good in photos; the difference is who does the work after the first burst of enthusiasm.

Regenerative should start a conversation, not end it. Ask what was measured before and after building, what went wrong, and which improvements depend on volunteer labor or outside income. Costa Rica's wet and dry seasons make water and soil claims worth checking over several years.

There's also a social test: can the community live well alongside the town next door? A project whose neighbors feel shut out of its opportunities still has something to learn. Community-led efforts like Curridabat's pocket forest and Daniela Campos's recycling center show green work that grows out of existing neighborhoods rather than gated ones.

How to visit, volunteer or stay longer

The easiest entry is a public program: a permaculture course, scheduled farm tour, workshop or guest stay advertised by the community. You'll meet staff and residents without wandering into private areas. For a land purchase or long-term move, set up a separate visit focused on documents, governance and infrastructure.

Before you volunteer, get clear answers on housing, workload, meals, insurance and supervision. Volunteering at a residential community isn't the same as a structured conservation internship. Our ethical volunteering guide has a checklist. You can also browse community and village listings on the Pura-Verde map; we show a public meeting point only when a community approves it.

Frequently asked questions

Are there ecovillages in Costa Rica?

Yes. Established examples include La Ecovilla and Ecovilla San Mateo in San Mateo de Alajuela, PachaMama near San Juanillo in Guanacaste, and Alegría Village in San Mateo. Several permaculture farms, like Finca Tierra near Puerto Viejo, also host students and retreats.

Can I visit an ecovillage in Costa Rica without living there?

Usually, through a public program. PachaMama hosts retreats and workshops, La Ecovilla offers short stays in residents' homes, and Finca Tierra runs courses and retreats. Private homes aren't open to drop-in visitors.

How do I join an ecovillage in Costa Rica?

Most planned ecovillages sell private lots inside a shared community with an association and rules. Visit first, read the governing documents, check water and wastewater permits, and talk to current residents before you commit.

Do Costa Rican ecovillages have international residents?

Many do. La Ecovilla says Ecovilla San Mateo has residents from 43 countries, and most lot owners at the Ecovillage at SEED are from North America. Ownership structures vary, so have an independent Costa Rican lawyer review titles, easements and association rules before you buy.

What's the difference between an ecovillage and an eco-development?

An ecovillage is defined by how residents live together: shared decisions, shared land and real environmental practice. An eco-development may just be a subdivision with green features. Ask what's operating today and who decides how it's run.

Sources

1. Global Ecovillage Network: What is an ecovillage?
2. La Ecovilla: Explora nuestras ecovillas
3. La Ecovilla: Explore our ecovillas
4. La Ecovilla: FAQ
5. PachaMama: Community
6. PachaMama: Tyohar
7. Rancho Delicioso: home
8. Rancho Delicioso: Meet the community
9. Finca Tierra: Inicio
10. Global Ecovillage Network: Ecovillage at SEED listing
11. Alegría Village: home

We checked these pages when we last updated this guide. We didn't interview the people named; their roles and words come from the sources above.