Costa Rica Gets Its First Vegan Hotel

Costa Rica’s first vegan hotel recently opened in the beach town of Tamarindo. Mother Earth Vegan Hotel is a family-run boutique hotel led by Karen and Elwood Salstein Harris, offering 14 guest rooms and a plant-based restaurant, rooftop yoga and healing studio, and natural saltwater pool. “The vegan community is growing and with it the need for a hospitality experience that caters to them. Costa Rica is a predominantly meat-centric country and as vegans, we struggled,” Karen Salstein Harris said. “With such an abundance of fresh ingredients at our doorstep, we were driven to create a plant-based destination for like-minded travelers visiting this beautiful country.”

Its poolside restaurant, Off The Grid, offers a globally inspired, fully vegan all-day menu with dishes such as Mother Earth Burger, Buffalo cauliflower wings, cannelloni primavera, vegan crab cakes, and coconut creme brûlée. Breakfast, bar, and happy hour menus are also available.

Other vegan amenities

Mother Earth Vegan is situated in the owner’s family home which was reinvented to offer a private paradise for guests. Everything at Mother Earth Vegan Hotel is vegan, from the wines served in the bar and restaurant to the furnishings, amenities, and cleaning products. The hotel is also committed to sustainability and is powered by solar energy, a zero-waste pledge in the restaurant, and a water conservation system that recycles greywater into clean water for irrigation. Each of the guest rooms features modern interiors, private terraces, and bespoke energy paintings created by the owner’s son, artist Ambrosius Udael.