{"id":1421070,"date":"2026-09-30T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifestylehotels.net\/story\/esh-hotel-spa-warum-beginnt-diese-reise-mit-feuer\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:57:34","slug":"esh-hotel-spa-warum-beginnt-diese-reise-mit-feuer","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.lifestylehotels.net\/en\/story\/esh-hotel-spa-warum-beginnt-diese-reise-mit-feuer\/","title":{"rendered":"Esh Hotel & Spa \u2013 Why Does This Journey Begin with Fire?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We arrive in Nosara and are handed a cool towel, a charcoal lemonade and a small piece of paper. On the latter, we write down something we hope to get from this journey. Then we walk over to the fire pit in the lobby \u2013 and burn it. No, that\u2019s not how we usually check in either. But at Esh Hotel & Spa, it quickly becomes clear that it\u2019s worth looking at things a little differently.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coming Home After Six Years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jaime Bravo grew up in Costa Rica before the world of hospitality took him far from home. <\/strong>He worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong and later at boutique hotels in Tulum, spending six years abroad before deciding it was time to return to Costa Rica. Not simply to open another hotel. He wanted to create his first one of his own. Together with his wife Miri, who is from Mexico City, he began working on what would eventually become Esh<\/a>. In collaboration with Costa Rican architecture studio FAMM Arquitectura <\/strong>and Mexico City-based Sulkin Askenazi,<\/strong> they envisioned a place where architecture would not separate people from what was happening outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEsh\u201d means fire in Hebrew. Here, it stands for change \u2013 and slowly we begin to understand why our journey started with a burning piece of paper. There was, however, one small problem. The site didn\u2019t have a sweeping panoramic view. For a hotel in Costa Rica, where endless views of the Pacific almost automatically come to mind, that might not sound like much of an advantage. At Esh, it became exactly that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When There\u2019s No View, Create a World of Your Own<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rather than trying to direct attention outward, the architects turned the hotel inward. The existing trees stayed. So did the natural stream. Buildings, courtyards, pools of water and shaded passageways were then created around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving from one part of the hotel to another therefore doesn\u2019t simply mean walking down a corridor. Sometimes there\u2019s a tree in the way, sometimes water appears, then jungle, light or shadow. Plants grow alongside raw concrete, while between the clean lines there is something that could never be completely planned: nature.<\/strong> Perhaps that is why two worlds that initially seem so different work so well together here: the raw architecture of Brutalism and the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi, which doesn\u2019t necessarily try to hide traces of time, imperfection or the natural. In the end, Esh<\/a> didn\u2019t get one grand view. Instead, it got countless smaller ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Nosara, We Don\u2019t Stay Still for Long<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, of course, we leave the hotel too. Nosara lies on the Nicoya Peninsula and is one of Costa Rica\u2019s best-known surfing destinations.<\/strong> The long stretch of Playa Guiones and its year-round waves attract beginners and experienced surfers alike. But there is another reason why the Nicoya Peninsula keeps appearing in conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region is counted among the world\u2019s so-called Blue Zones \u2013 areas known for an unusually high number of people living to an advanced age.<\/strong> The explanation isn\u2019t sought in one secret ingredient, but rather in a way of life: natural movement, strong family and social connections, a simple diet and the idea of plan de vida<\/em> \u2013 a reason to get up in the morning. There\u2019s certainly no shortage of ways to move in Nosara. We can surf, ride horses, kayak, hop on a mountain bike or practise yoga. And Esh even has Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on its programme. Apparently, there is more than one interpretation of what unwinding in Costa Rica can look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What We Burn \u2013 and What We Plant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps that is why it feels fitting that the story of Esh doesn\u2019t end with that small piece of paper in the lobby. The hotel works with Costas Verdes<\/strong>, an organisation dedicated to reforesting Costa Rica\u2019s coastal regions. Guests can take part too: through a private tree-planting experience, they can plant a tree themselves.<\/strong> A rather beautiful way to frame a journey. When we arrive, we write something on a piece of paper and throw it into the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between, we discover that a hotel doesn\u2019t need a view of the Pacific to give us plenty to look at. We learn a new idea about life. Perhaps we manage to stand up on a surfboard. Perhaps we fall off again five seconds later. And if we\u2019re feeling particularly adventurous, someone might even take us to the ground during Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Then, before we head home, we plant something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One becomes ash. The other, if all goes well, will one day become a tree.<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Fire, jungle and architecture without the usual panoramic view: discover Esh Hotel & Spa in Nosara and a different side of Costa Rica.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1421065,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[3659],"tags":[7936,7957,7960,7955,7953,7954,7941,7942,7943,7944,7945,7946,7947,7956,7948,7949,7961,7958,7959],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEsh Hotel & Spa \u2013 Why Does This Journey Begin with Fire? - Lifestylehotels\u2122<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fire, jungle and architecture without the usual panoramic view: discover Esh Hotel & Spa in Nosara and a different side of Costa Rica.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifestylehotels.net\/en\/story\/esh-hotel-spa-warum-beginnt-diese-reise-mit-feuer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esh Hotel & Spa \u2013 Why Does This Journey Begin with Fire? 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