6 Day Vegan Cooking Holiday in the Rainforest of Dominical, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Vegan Culinary Vacation in Costa Rica
Eating well is a form of loving yourself, and organic vegan cooking is the new medicine for humanity. Through a proper balance of fruits, vegetables, and grains, anyone can become healthy. The Waterfall Villas promotes healthy lifestyles for a happy world. They believe that what people eat is the key to achieving sustainability in the planet, and is crucial to what saving the rainforest is all about.
Meet the instructors
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Highlights
- 3 days of cooking classes
- Led by a top vegan and raw foods chef and the owner of the Waterfall Villas
- Learn vegan recipes and secret tips from a seasoned vegan chef
- Customized depending on which of the many styles you would like to learn about
- Visit to local organic market on Tuesday for the best all-organic market in Costa Rica
- Plenty of free time to explore and discover the southern region of Costa Rica
- 5 nights accommodation in an eco-luxurious suite
- Enjoy wonderful, healthy, and fresh vegan food daily
Juan Santamaría International Airport (US$ 190 per person)
Quepos La Managua Airport (US$ 60 per person)
Accommodation
Facilities
- Hot tub / Jacuzzi
- Spa
- Air-conditioned rooms
- Concierge desk
- Dining area
- Environmentally friendly
- Garden
- Lobby
- Lounge
- Luggage room / storage
- Meditation garden
- Multilingual staff
- Smoke-free property
- Special menu request
- Yoga deck
- Yoga shala
- Car rental
- Free parking
- Free Wi-Fi
- Internet access
- Laundry
- Parking lot
- Tour assistance
- Wedding
Waterfall Villas is a boutique Balinese-style hotel with private waterfalls next to the villas in the Baru Rainforest of Costa Rica, three miles from the beach in Dominical. Located in the South Pacific of Costa Rica, they are committed to saving the rainforest and promoting a vegan lifestyle.
Eating next to the sounds of the waterfalls at their open-air covered pavilion is a truly wonderful dining experience!
Waterfall Villas has six eco-luxurious suites that flank the hypnotizing rhythms of a sacred stream fed by an underground spring as it carves its way through a verdant rainforest gorge flowing into waterfalls. Suites feature large glass doors to enter an open veranda exposed to the swirling waters, bringing mind, body, and spirit in unison with nature.
Experience an exclusive stay with exemplary personalized service. The Waterfall Villas can hold up to 15 persons in three villas, where each villa has two suites, for a total of six suites.
Configuration:
All suites have sliding glass doors out to a balcony that views the steam at the top of the falls and the rainforest. Waterfall Villas offers a setting in nature among giant bamboo and exotic rainforest with a private waterfall next to the villas, specializing in a personalized and more intimate group retreat.
Program
At the Waterfall Villas, they have been blessed by a few culinary wizards who have added richness to their vegan menu and their team. The two local chefs have been hand-trained as part of their sustainability program and have now been with Waterfall Villas for five years, making mouth-watering delights.
The chef is a top vegan and raw foods chef and the owner of the Waterfall Villas. You may find her in the kitchen if she's not teaching yoga! She has had a passion for cooking since adolescence.
She has also traveled all over the world and made it a special mission to learn ethnic cooking by learning family secrets with locals in all the countries she visited. World cuisine is her forte.
She spent five years training her local Costa Rican cooks about the magic of cooked vegan and raw vegan after a lifetime of international experience in the kitchen, a volume of classes, and converting her experience to her now vegan lifestyle. When you visit Waterfall Villas, your meals will be created with love and heart, and they will care for your every allergy or sensitivity.
You will discover how wonderful healthy, live foods and fresh foods can taste! You will also have the opportunity to try many tropical delights from Waterfall Villas' rainforest. The produce is hand-picked from highland organic farms - they buy only from local organic farmers where a unique microclimate facilitates the most tasty veggies and fruits imaginable.
This is a healing journey, and you will experience tropical flavors and textures that you are sure to treasure...tasting is believing!
Waterfall Villas specializes in vegan meals. All the kitchen staff is very passionate about promoting a plant-based diet and introducing people to the most wonderful meals so that they would consider adopting a greater portion of vegan meals in their life. Enjoy the freshest variety of organic foods that Costa Rica has to offer!
Waterfall Villas is famous for its vegan cuisine, and they are now offering a special vegan cooking / raw vegan retreat package during select days when they can offer the kitchen. If you visit in July, then you will participate during the peak of the exotic tropical fruit season to learn some of their most secret recipes and techniques for tropical cooking preparations.
This vegan cooking retreat package includes a luxury suite and all the meals for the five nights, with three cooking classes crafted to give you a full spectrum of Waterfall Villas' vegan specialties, and giving you one free day to explore the beaches or see animals at the national park.
Each day, you will learn how easy it is to get on the path to health as a vegan, as well as to save the planet!
Becoming vegan is a sure way to become healthier, lose unwanted pounds, reduce stress, and experience more energy in your daily life. You will love every minute of your new vegan lifestyle when you learn how to cook in the Waterfall Villas way - featuring their world fusion cuisine using all fresh ingredients.
Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, and local Costa Rican meals will be featured. The class will also be taught by their top chefs. The class meals can include incredible deserts, gluten-free cooking, Keto Vegan...you just tell them what you want to learn and they will customize for you!
Waterfall Villas does not use sugar there, and learning about healthy sweeteners will be a part of the class. Everything will be demonstrated in the classes, and you will have a chance to pitch in as much as you want to.
The three classes included will be held in the mornings, and the lunches will be an assortment of what you have made. Classes can be customized as well. For example, if Italian is your thing, just let Waterfall Villas know, and they will customize the classes for you! The class will be customized depending on which of the many styles you would like to learn about.
In the afternoons, you will be free to enjoy the spa offerings, discover the palm-lined beaches of southern Costa Rica, or go on one of the many adventure tours. The southern region of Costa Rica has everything that the country has to offer in one place.
Included excursions
During this retreat, you will also have an included trip to the local all-organic market, where all fresh ingredients for the classes will be picked. This means that you will need to include a Tuesday, preferably at the beginning of the retreat. So, try arriving on the Sunday or Monday of the week that you will be visiting Waterfall Villas.
Instructors
Fateh Bolivar
Fateh Bolivar, a top vegan and raw foods chef and the owner of the Waterfall Villas, has owned a vegan retreat center for 18 years and has been experimenting with a great variety of fruits and vegetables grown locally. She also has traveled to over 60 countries (many of which were cooking course destinations) before settling here in Costa Rica. The accumulation of this great knowledge is the source of this amazing organic vegan cooking holiday!
Location
The retreat will take place in Costa Rica. The villas are 500 meters above sea level, where the mountains rise very quickly, and are only a five-minute drive from the beaches, yet they are far enough into the rainforest that their plant and animal diversity is stunning and exotic. Also, the mosquito count is much lower than on the beach.
Cascadas Farallas Waterfalls are three miles on a paved road from Dominical's famous surf beach, yet secluded and also close to a wide variety of restaurants and nightlife. The exotic southern Pacific beaches extend all the way to the Osa Peninsula and are within easy reach by the Pan-American highway.
This area is called the Costa Ballena or Whale Coast for the large number of migratory whales spotted there. It is close to five national parks. The Corcovado National Park and Cano Island are only day trips away. If the Osa Peninsula or Manuel Antonio and Quepos are in your itinerary, then the villa is a perfect base.
Nearby places
- Dominical beach town - 5 minutes
- Uvita - 15 minutes
- Quepos and Manuel Antonio Beach - 30 minutes
Food
Waterfall Villas' meal service is an important part of your healing journey! Delicious gourmet meals with the freshest and purest ingredients are offered to guests in a bistro style (one set of daily menu that is changed every day).
In this retreat, your meals are included, and every allergy or sensitivity will be cared for. You will discover how wonderful the healthy, live foods, fresh foods, and cooked vegan foods can taste.
You will also have the opportunity to try many tropical delights from Waterfall Villas' rainforest and a highland organic farm, where a unique microclimate facilitates the tastiest veggies and fruits imaginable. Fresh foods are delicious, and Waterfall Villas is dedicated to proving this to even the most skeptical guest.
The restaurant has a meal service that allows them to prepare fresh daily meals when there are requests for meals. They do not store foods or prepare them in advance.
Please let Waterfall Villas know your dietary requirements, as they have a personalized chef service. Offered on request or as part of their specialty packages are gluten-free, macrobiotic, keto vegan, and Ayurvedic dosha-balancing meals (with personalized analysis), as well as detox, sugar-free, and salt-free meals.
Other meals
If you wish to order outside of the special package offers, the prices are as follows:
Vegan lunch is 30 USD per person with a freshly made beverage. Please indicate in advance if you would like a raw gourmet meal or gluten-free.
Vegan dinner at Waterfall Villas, unless you are on a detox program, is a three-course gourmet meal with an entree, main course, and a healthy dessert with a freshly made beverage included. Dinners are 48 USD per person (exclusive of tax and service charge).
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
- Coffee
- Tea
- Detox juices
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Lacto-ovo Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten Free
- Organic
- Raw food
- Lactose Free
- Whole food
- Yogic
- Ayurvedic
Things to do (optional)
Since classes will be held in the mornings and lunchtimes, in the afternoons, you will be free to enjoy spa offerings, discover the palm-lined beaches of southern Costa Rica, or join one of the many adventure tours. The southern region of Costa Rica has everything that the country has to offer in one place.
There will be one free day for excursions, such as visiting the National Park in Manuel Antonio.
Available optional activities
- Hatha yoga classes - 45 USD per class
- Enjoy a canopy zipline tour
- Enjoy the giant Nauyaca waterfall tour
- Enjoy a sunset sail
- Go birdwatching
- Go white water rafting
- Visit the beach nearby
- Visit national parks nearby
Spa treatments
Waterfall Villas' spa
- 2 treatment rooms
- Offers traditional massage, Asian massage, couples massage, Ayurveda treatments, and also the services of healers and shamans in the area
Spa treatments are available at an additional cost:
- Deluxe detox treatment with hot lava stones
- Waterfall therapeutic massage next to the waterfalls on one of the many waterfall decks
- Waterfall couple massage
- Deep tissue
- Detox treatment
- Myofascial
- Lymphatic drainage
- Pressure point
- Reiki
- Facials
- Manicute / pedicure
- Scrub and body mask
- Traditional Shirodhara treatment
What's included
- 3 cooking classes
- 1 visit to the local organic market
- 5 nights accommodation
- All daily vegan meals
What's not included
- Airfare
- Airport transfers
- Additional activities
- Shamanic treatments
- Spa treatments
- Energy healing
- Coaching
- Personal expenses
- Tips
- Travel insurance
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Juan Santamaría International Airport
89 km
Transfer available for additional US$ 190 per person
Quepos La Managua Airport
36 km
Transfer available for additional US$ 60 per person
Arrival by shuttle
Private transfer can be arranged from both airports above. The cost mentioned is for one one-way transfer for one or two persons. If you are a first-time traveler to Costa Rica, it is highly recommended that you use this pick-up service, especially if you will be arriving late in the evening.
If you will be coming from Puerto Jimenez, the transfer is 150 USD each way and will take up to three and a half hours, as the road requires a four-wheel drive in that area from Puerto Jimenez in the Osa and Matopalo.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 16% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 3 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through Tripaneer.com. All major credit cards supported.