It’s so quiet at El Silencio Lodge & Spa that turning on a bathroom tap or closing a door seem like rude intrusions. That’s what happens when you create a tiny retreat (just 16 suites) on a 500 acre chunk of land. Of those 500 acres only two acres have been impacted in order to develop the lodge. The rest is protected as a private nature preserve.

As a child, El Silencio owner Karin Zurcher used to visit this chunk of land when it was still a cattle farm. Now she owns it and is committed to letting the jungle reclaim as much of the land as possible. Karin is also committed to making the lodge as low impact as possible—values shared by Punta Islita, the lodge’s sister hotel on the beach.

El Silencio is...