Slow down, properly.
These are our personal recommendations — the spa, massage and yoga we send our own family and friends to when they visit Playa Avellanas.
Family owned
Sandari Skin Care Spa
Natasha's spa, and the reason we know as much about skin care as we do about carts.
Skin care built for sun, salt and travel
Sandari Skin Care Spa is owned and run by Natasha — co-owner of The Lazy Coconut and the person in our family who actually understands what a week in the Costa Rican sun does to your skin. Treatments are personal and unhurried: a real consultation first, then a facial built around what your skin needs that day rather than a menu item.
If you're on a longer stay, the sweet spot is one treatment early in the trip and one near the end — the first repairs the flight and the first few beach days, the second sends you home looking like you rested. Ask us and we'll help you get on the books.
What to book
Four ways to actually unwind here
Nothing on this list needs to be planned weeks out. A day or two of notice is usually plenty.
Facials & skin care
Sun, salt and wind are hard on skin down here. A proper cleanse, hydration and repair facial mid-trip changes how the rest of your week feels — and looks in the photos.
Massage after the water
Deep tissue for surfers' shoulders and paddlers' backs, or something gentler if you just spent the day walking the beach. Many therapists here will come to your villa.
Yoga & movement
Morning flows before the heat arrives and sunset sessions when the light goes gold. Drop-in classes are the norm around Avellanas and Playa Negra — no membership, no pressure.
Quiet reset
Sound baths, breathwork and small-group meditation pop up seasonally at the yoga shalas. Ask us what's running the week you're here and we'll find out for you.
Our recommendation
How we'd shape the day
Wellness here isn't a schedule, it's a rhythm. This is the one we keep coming back to.
Morning
Yoga at 7 or 8am while it's still cool, then coffee and a swim. Take the cart — the shalas are minutes away on the back roads.
Afternoon
Surf, paddle or nap. This is the hottest stretch of the day and the locals do very little on purpose.
Late day
Facial or massage around 4pm, sunset on the sand at 5:30, dinner after. That's the perfect Avellanas day, in our opinion.
Getting there is the easy part
Spas, shalas and villas around Avellanas are spread out along sand roads. A cart makes a 4pm massage and a 5:30 sunset the same plan instead of two.