How to Plan a Retreat in Nosara: Rooms, Meals, Movement, and Downtime
A retreat in Nosara can be deeply restorative, but the best ones are not over-scheduled. They leave room for the things that make this place special: slow mornings, ocean swims, jungle sounds, long meals, meaningful movement, and the feeling that there is nowhere else to be.
At Naya, we help retreat leaders create intimate, well-supported experiences for groups who want to practice, rest, connect, and enjoy time together in a beautiful natural setting. We have put together a practical guide to planning the essentials, from room assignments and meals to transfers, daily rhythm, and optional adventures.
Start With Your Group Size
The first decision shapes nearly everything else: how many people are coming, and what kind of experience do you want them to have?
For an intimate retreat at Naya, 8–10 guests is often the sweet spot. It creates a feeling of closeness without making the group feel crowded, leaves room for individual attention in classes and shared meals, and allows guests to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the property. Naya can accommodate groups in six standalone units, each with an ensuite bathroom, air conditioning, and a private veranda.
When confirming your group size, consider:
Your minimum number of participants needed to make the retreat financially viable
Your ideal number for the atmosphere you want to create
Whether guests are likely to come alone, share rooms with a friend, or arrive as couples
Whether you want to reserve one room for yourself, a co-teacher, a chef, or support staff
Whether you would like to leave space for last-minute bookings or special guests
A smaller retreat often creates more ease. You can remember everyone’s name, adjust the schedule to the group’s energy, linger after class, and let personal conversations unfold naturally.
Plan the Room Mix
One of the gifts of hosting at Naya is that guests can be part of a group while still having their own private place to retreat to.
Rather than staying in one large shared house, guests sleep in standalone rooms spread throughout the garden. Each has an ensuite bathroom, air conditioning, and a private veranda, while the pool, kitchen, outdoor dining space, and yoga shala create natural places to gather.
Before opening registration, decide exactly how you will sell the rooms.
Common Room Options
Private room: One guest has their own room and ensuite bathroom.
Shared room: Two friends or paired retreat guests share one room.
Couples room: A room reserved for partners traveling together.
Host room: A room held for you, a co-teacher, or another member of your retreat team.
Single supplement: An optional added rate for a guest who prefers a private room.
Be very clear in your retreat information about what each guest is booking. Include room photos, bed configurations, pricing, whether bathrooms are private, and how far rooms are from the common spaces.
A clear room plan prevents awkward conversations later and lets participants choose the level of privacy that feels right for them.
Make Meals Part of the Experience
Meals are often where retreats become memorable. They give guests time to settle, talk, digest the day, and feel cared for without needing to make decisions or clean up.
At Naya, catered meals can be arranged at approximately $85 per guest per day, depending on participant number and the final meal plan.
Consider the overall feeling you would like meals to create:
Do guests prefer three full meals daily, or a lighter rhythm with two generous meals and snacks in between?
Will guests want coffee, tea, fruit, snacks, smoothies, or fresh juices available between meals?
Is alcohol part of the retreat, or would you prefer a mostly alcohol-free experience?
Do you want one celebratory dinner, a beach picnic, or a special final-night meal?
Before confirming food service, ask your group:
Are there vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or other dietary needs?
Are there severe allergies that require separate preparation?
Are there ingredients or foods your group particularly loves or prefers to avoid?
You may also want to include a cooking class as one of the retreat highlights. It gives guests a hands-on connection to local ingredients, creates a joyful shared activity, and can naturally become one evening’s meal.
Build a Sustainable Daily Rhythm
A Nosara retreat does not need to fill every hour to feel valuable. In fact, too much programming can keep guests from accessing the rest, spontaneity, and quiet that they traveled for.
Naya is close to Playa Pelada, surrounded by jungle, and offers an on-site yoga shala, infinity pool, outdoor dining area, and shared spaces for rest and gathering. Let the setting do some of the work.
A Balanced Sample Retreat Day
7:00 am
Coffee, tea, fruit, and quiet personal time
8:00 am
Morning yoga, meditation, breathwork, or movement practice in the shala
9:30 am
Breakfast together
11:00 am–2:00 pm
Open time for the beach, surf, massage, journaling, a nap, pool time, reading, or individual exploration
2:00 pm
Lunch
3:00–5:30 pm
Unstructured downtime, an optional workshop, or an excursion
5:30 pm
Sunset walk at the beach
7:30 pm
Dinner and relaxed connection time
8:30 pm
Optional circle, gentle restorative practice, music, storytelling, or early bedtime
The schedule should match the intention of your retreat. A yoga-intensive week may have more practice. A transformational or medicinal retreat may include more sharing circles and integration sessions. A writing, creativity, or wellness retreat may need larger blocks of quiet, unstructured time. The goal is not to fill the day. It is to create a container that feels intentional, supportive and spacious enough for each guest to have their own experience.
Organize Airport Transfers Early
Transportation is one of the least glamorous parts of retreat planning, but it has a huge effect on how supported guests feel as they arrive to the experience.
Ask participants to send their flight details well in advance. You can send that information to us, and we will organize arrival and departure transfers in clusters whenever possible.
Your transfer planning should include:
Recommended arrival airport and suggested flight window
Whether guests will fly into Liberia, San José, or take a domestic flight into Nosara
Arrival date, flight number, airline, and landing time
Number of people traveling together
Whether guests have large luggage, surfboards, or special equipment
Contact information in case of delays
Departure timing and airport check-in requirements
Whether transfers are included in the retreat price or billed separately
Naya can help coordinate transportation as part of the wider group-planning process, along with catering and activities.
Choose Excursions Carefully
Nosara has many beautiful options, but you do not need to turn your retreat into a packed itinerary. Usually, one or two optional group activities are enough.
The most successful excursions fit the retreat’s pace and intention rather than competing with it.
Optional Experiences to Consider
A guided surf lesson or surf coaching session
A sunset beach gathering or picnic
A horseback ride
A waterfall or nature outing
A guided jungle or wildlife walk
A sweat lodge or temazcal
A breathwork session
Massage and bodywork appointments
A cacao, sound, or meditation experience
A market visit
A cooking class at Naya
If you include an excursion, clearly communicate whether it is included in the retreat price or offered as an optional add-on. We will help you understand and communicate the physical level, transportation time and what participants should bring.
For many groups, the most powerful excursion is simply walking down to the beach together for sunset and returning to a beautiful dinner already prepared.
Ways Naya Sets You Up
Hosting a retreat is not just about having a beautiful place to stay. It’s about feeling supported before your group arrives, while you are filling the retreat, and throughout the experience itself.
After hosting 25+ retreats and trainings at Naya, we have a strong sense of what tends to work for different group sizes, retreat themes, schedules, and participant needs. We are here to talk through the possibilities with you, share what we have learned, and help you create an experience that feels aligned with your work and your community.
Support With Planning and Promotion
We are here for your planning process from the beginning. Whether you are hosting your first retreat or returning with an established community, we can conference with you about room arrangements, meals, activities, transportation, schedule rhythm, and the many small choices that shape the guest experience.
We provide the promotional materials you need to share your retreat clearly and beautifully. This may include property photos, room images, descriptions of Naya and the surrounding area, logistical information, and content that helps your guests understand what to expect.
Naya supports retreat leaders through cross-promotion. We are happy to share and collaborate on social media content, feature your retreat on our website, include it in our newsletters, and share it through stories and other channels. The goal is to help the right people hear about your offering while creating a cohesive message between your work and the Naya experience.
A WhatsApp Group for Your Retreat
Before arrival, we usually create a WhatsApp group for you and your retreat participants. This becomes a simple virtual gathering place where guests can introduce themselves, ask practical questions, coordinate travel, and begin to feel connected before they arrive.
Once guests begin landing in Costa Rica, everyone is already in communication. We can help make sure drivers and guests reconnect smoothly, especially if flights are delayed, arrivals are staggered, or someone needs assistance finding the meeting point.
During the retreat, the group also provides an easy way for guests to ask questions or communicate concerns. If someone’s air conditioning is not turning off at 3:00 am, for example, we will be alerted, send the security guard to help, and make sure that guest feels cared for and can get back to sleep. You do not need to personally manage every logistical detail while trying to hold the larger retreat experience.
Documents for Your Group
Clear information before arrival helps guests feel relaxed, prepared, and excited rather than overwhelmed by travel logistics.
We provide useful documents for your retreat group, including:
A packing and preparation list
An arrival guide with important information for flying into Costa Rica
Transfer details and travel-day instructions
Driver contact information and meeting-point guidance
Suggestions for what to bring for the beach, jungle, movement practices, and changing weather
Important property information and practical arrival reminders
These materials can be customized around your retreat and shared with your group in advance, making it easier for everyone to arrive feeling informed and ready to settle in.
Let the Retreat Breathe
The most memorable retreats are rarely the ones with the fullest schedules. They are the ones where people feel welcomed, well-fed, safely held, and free enough to have their own experience.
At Naya, guests can gather for meals, practice in the shala, relax by the pool, walk to the beach, and then return to the privacy of their own standalone room. That balance of connection and personal space is what makes intimate retreats feel both supportive and spacious.
When you plan thoughtfully around rooms, meals, movement, transfers, and downtime, and have the right support behind the scenes, the logistics become almost invisible. You and your guests can arrive, exhale and let Nosara do what it does best.
