Inside Arenal Hills: A Private Resort-Style Community in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

For buyers searching for Arenal villas or La Fortuna real estate, Arenal Hills offers a different approach to owning in one of Costa Rica’s most iconic destinations.

Arenal Hills is a private resort-style community of villa homes and vacation residences near La Fortuna, Costa Rica. Set across 146 acres of lush rainforest, garden, and mountain landscapes, the community brings together the privacy of your own home with resort-inspired amenities, thoughtful architecture, professional property care, and nature quite literally outside your door.

It’s neither a traditional resort nor simply a collection of homes. Instead, Arenal Hills was created for people who want a private home base in Costa Rica, with room to vacation, return throughout the year, spend longer stretches of time, share the experience with family and friends, or, for some owners, eventually make Arenal a more permanent part of life.

At full build-out, the community will include just 128 villas, giving Arenal Hills the scale to offer meaningful shared amenities while preserving the quieter, more intimate feeling of a residential community.

What Makes Arenal Hills Different?

For international buyers, owning a home in Costa Rica often involves a choice.

 A standalone vacation home can offer privacy, but it can also mean taking on the responsibilities of maintaining a property from another country. A traditional resort offers amenities and service, but without the permanence and personal connection that come with owning your own home. And many conventional residential developments simply aren’t designed around the particular needs of people who may be here for a month, away for three, and back again when Costa Rica calls.

Arenal Hills brings those elements together differently. Here, you own a private villa within a community designed around resort-style living, privacy, nature, and supported ownership. Landscaping, shared spaces, infrastructure, security, property care, and community life are considered as parts of the same whole.

Your villa is your own space. Beyond it, you can take a golf cart to the lake, walk beneath the trees, work out, meet friends at Club Cabana, paddle a kayak, or simply stay home and listen to the rainforest. La Fortuna and the wider Arenal region remain close enough to be part of everyday life.

Private when you want it. Connected when you choose. Surrounded by nature either way.

A Private Community Surrounded by the Arenal Rainforest

Nature isn’t simply the backdrop at Arenal Hills. It shapes the experience of living here.

The Arenal region is defined by dense rainforest, volcanic landscapes, rivers, lakes, wildlife, and the unmistakable presence of Arenal Volcano. It brings together landscapes people often travel across Costa Rica to experience separately: mountains, rainforest, water, wildlife, geothermal hot springs, and the country’s largest lake.

At Arenal Hills, homes and shared spaces are designed to remain connected to that environment rather than separate you from it.

Expansive glass brings natural light and greenery into the home. Covered outdoor living spaces extend daily life beyond the interior. Ferns, heliconias, bromeliads, orchids, and layers of tropical landscaping soften sightlines between villas, creating what we think of as living privacy rather than simply putting walls between neighbors.

Walking trails weave through lush areas around the lake and Burro River. Rainbows appear after tropical rain. Sunlight filters differently through the canopy from one hour to the next. Howler monkeys, toucans, scarlet macaws, sloths, and the countless other residents of the rainforest remind you that nature here isn’t something staged for the view.

It’s all part of the neighborhood.

Close to La Fortuna, With Nature All Around You

Arenal Hills offers another important balance: the peace and privacy of a rainforest setting with La Fortuna approximately 10 minutes away.

La Fortuna has developed into one of Costa Rica’s most established international destinations, with restaurants, grocery stores, cafés, pharmacies, healthcare, banking, wellness experiences, adventure activities, and the everyday services that make longer stays practical.

So you can spend the morning surrounded by nature and still be in town for dinner. You can hike, soak in hot springs, run errands, meet friends for coffee, or pick up groceries without feeling as though everyday life and the destination experience occupy two separate worlds.

That combination becomes increasingly appealing once you’re thinking beyond a short vacation. Because while a beautiful setting may bring you here the first time, a real town makes it much easier to stay. And to return.

Discover the Arenal Hills Signature Villa Designs

Architecture at Arenal Hills is designed to complement both the landscape and the way people actually live in Costa Rica. 

Our Signature Villa Collection includes five distinctive designs:

Villa Torres | Villa Ramírez | Villa Seville | Villa Fleta | Villa Bernabè

Their names draw inspiration from celebrated classical guitar makers and master luthiers, reflecting developer Gerald Baum’s connection to music and a broader appreciation for craftsmanship.

Each design has its own layout and personality, while sharing a common architectural language: natural materials, generous glass, indoor-outdoor living, covered terraces, handcrafted details, warm woods, and a close relationship between the residence and the landscape around it.

The material palette reinforces this sense of place. Native hardwoods, stone, teak, bamboo, laurel, custom woodwork, Peruvian marble, and expansive glass appear throughout the collection, with exact materials and appointments varying by Signature Villa Design and finish level.

There’s also a hospitality influence behind the architecture. Design expertise connected to The Springs Resort & Spa and Nayara Gardens can be seen in the villas’ sense of scale, privacy, materiality, and the way indoor spaces open toward gardens, terraces, and rainforest views.

The result is a quieter expression of luxury: craftsmanship you notice, spaces that feel good to live in, and architecture that belongs in Arenal rather than something that could have been dropped into any tropical destination.

How Can You Buy a Home at Arenal Hills?

There are currently three principal paths to ownership at Arenal Hills, depending on your timeline and what you want from the buying experience.

Arenal Hills Custom Build

Custom Build begins with the Signature Villa Design that best suits your lifestyle and space needs. From there, our team introduces you to the available homesites approved for that design so you can compare setting, orientation, elevation, privacy, topography, and views. You then select the available Silver, Gold, or Platinum finish and furnishing level for your chosen villa.

It’s a guided build process rather than the open-ended experience of buying raw land and starting from scratch with an architect and contractor.

Arenal Hills Immediate Occupancy

For buyers who don’t want to wait for construction, completed residences may provide an opportunity to begin enjoying life at Arenal Hills sooner.

Move-in-ready homes allow buyers to see the finished residence, experience its setting, and make a more immediate transition into ownership.

Arenal Hills Private Resale Collection

Existing Arenal Hills residences may also become available through private resale.

These homes offer another opportunity to enter the community, often with established landscaping, completed interiors, and the individual character that develops once a villa has been lived in and cared for.

Across all three paths, Arenal Hills offers titled ownership within a fully permitted condominium community, with property ownership recorded through Costa Rica’s National Registry.

What Resort-Style Amenities Are Available at Arenal Hills?

A private home is only part of the experience at Arenal Hills.

Our community is designed so life beyond your villa feels just as considered as life within it. Amenities and outdoor spaces create easy reasons to swim, move, gather, paddle, walk, or spend a very unhurried afternoon without leaving home.

Club Cabana serves as one of the social hubs, with a community pool, wet bar, and BBQ and gathering spaces. Owners can also enjoy the gym and sauna, pickleball and basketball, the community lake and kayaks, walking trails, and outdoor spaces that make use of the surrounding landscape.

Dedicated golf-cart pathways are another small but distinctive part of daily life here. A quick ride can take you from your villa to Club Cabana, the gym, the lake, or a friend’s home, with tropical greenery and Arenal scenery along the way.

Behind those lifestyle amenities is infrastructure that owners may think about less often but use every day: internal roads, underground utilities and sewer infrastructure, high-speed fiber-optic internet, an access-controlled entrance, and coordinated community maintenance and operations. Because some of the best details are the ones you barely have to think about.

What Does Supported Ownership Mean at Arenal Hills?

For international homeowners, buying the right property is only one part of the decision.

The next question is often more practical:

What happens when I’m not there?

A second home thousands of miles away can quickly become complicated if every maintenance issue, service appointment, property concern, or arrival needs to be managed personally.

Supported ownership is intended to make that experience easier.

Arenal Hills has an on-site property management and operations team that can help coordinate routine inspections, maintenance, landscaping, pool care, cleaning, and preparation for your return. Hospitality-minded owner services can also help with the practical side of each stay, from housekeeping and grocery stocking to activity planning and other arrangements.

For part-time owners, you get the independence and privacy of your own villa without having to manage every moving part of second-home ownership alone. Additionally, Arenal Hills also offers professionally managed vacation rental support for owners who choose to welcome guests while they’re away, including support with bookings, guest communication, housekeeping, and property care.

The goal isn’t simply to own property in Costa Rica; it’s to make it easier to actually enjoy owning it.

An Additional Owner Benefit at The Springs Resort & Spa

Arenal Hills owners also enjoy membership privileges at The Springs Resort & Spa under defined membership terms. The relationship adds another layer to the lifestyle available beyond the community, including access to natural hot springs and thermal pools along with selected resort amenities and owner benefits.

These privileges are reserved for Arenal Hills owners and don’t extend to vacation-rental guests. Arenal Hills remains its own independently operated private resort-style community.

A Home Base for Life in La Fortuna

La Fortuna is known internationally as the gateway to Arenal Volcano, but actually living in La Fortuna here reveals a different side of the destination.

The waterfalls, hot springs, rainforest trails, rivers, wildlife, and outdoor adventures that attract visitors become part of the environment around you rather than an itinerary you need to complete before going home.

Lake Arenal opens another side of the region, with broad water, forested hills, mountains, and an entirely other way to see Arenal. Restaurants, cafés, local businesses, markets, and services make La Fortuna practical for everyday living.

Life moves between the two naturally. A morning might begin quietly at home before heading into La Fortuna for lunch. Another day might revolve around a rainforest trail, time on the lake, or a visit to the hot springs. Or perhaps the volcano is clear when you wake up, so coffee simply moves outside. Later, you take the golf cart to the lake, run into friends at Club Cabana, and somehow an ordinary afternoon fills itself.

Sometimes the appeal is simply staying home and enjoying the landscape around your villa. Because living here isn’t about filling every hour; it’s about having more ways to enjoy those hours.

Designed for Vacation Homes, Full-Time or Part-Time Living, and Returning Often

There’s no single definition of an Arenal Hills owner. 

For many, a villa begins as a vacation residence or second home: somewhere to escape winter, spend a few weeks at a time, stay for a season, or bring family and friends together in Costa Rica. Others may gradually spend longer periods here as work changes or retirement approaches. And for some, Arenal Hills may eventually become home year-round.

That flexibility is part of the appeal because international ownership often evolves. You don’t necessarily need to decide today what Costa Rica will look like ten years from now. A private home gives you the ability to return, stay longer, and allow your relationship with the destination to develop naturally.

Why Some Buyers Are Looking Beyond Costa Rica's Coast

Luxury homes in Costa Rica are frequently associated with the Pacific Coast, particularly Guanacaste. And for some buyers, the beaches and ocean lifestyle are exactly what they’re looking for.

Arenal offers something different for someone different.

Here, rainforest and mountain landscapes stay green throughout the year. Rivers move through the landscape, waterfalls tumble through tropical forest, geothermal hot springs dot the region, and Arenal Volcano provides a sense of place that is difficult to confuse with anywhere else in Costa Rica.

The inland setting, regular rainfall, cloud cover, elevation, and abundant vegetation also give Arenal a gentler feel than many of Costa Rica’s hotter beach regions. And instead of choosing between mountains, water, wildlife, adventure, or wellness, you find all of them within the same remarkably compact region.

La Fortuna is also an established international destination in its own right. For homeowners, that means the extraordinary nature exists alongside restaurants, healthcare, groceries, banking, services, hospitality, and a mature tourism environment.

The choice between coastal and inland Costa Rica is personal. But if the Costa Rica you picture is deep green rainforest, moving water, mountain air, wildlife, hot springs, and Arenal Volcano appearing through the clouds, you may find that Arenal feels much more like your version of home.

Is Arenal Hills a Gated Community?

Yes. Arenal Hills is a private gated, access-controlled community.

For international buyers, that provides an additional layer of privacy and community oversight, particularly for second-home owners who spend part of the year outside Costa Rica.

But privacy at Arenal Hills is about more than the entrance.

Tropical landscaping softens sightlines between villas, residences have their own outdoor spaces, and the community is deliberately designed to let you move easily between private life at home and the shared experiences beyond it.

You can retreat when you want to, connect when you feel like it, and never lose the rainforest in the process.

More Than a Vacation Home

There’s a point when a place stops feeling like somewhere you visit and starts feeling like somewhere you know. 

You have a favorite place for coffee in La Fortuna. You know the drive home. You recognize the view when Arenal Volcano comes out from behind the clouds. You leave for a while, then return to the same villa, the same terrace, and the same feeling that you’ve arrived somewhere familiar. 

That’s the idea behind Arenal Hills. It’s a private home in the rainforest, but also a connection to a larger community. It gives you the resort-inspired amenities you actually want to use, professional support when you’re away, and one of Costa Rica’s most recognizable destinations just beyond the gates.

Some places are easy to visit; others gradually become part of your life. Arenal Hills was created to be the second kind.

Explore Homes at Arenal Hills

If you’re comparing villas in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, there are several ways to find the right home at Arenal Hills. Choose a Signature Villa Design through our Custom Build process, explore completed villas available for Immediate Occupancy, or discover opportunities within the Arenal Hills Private Resale Collection.

Our team can help you compare the options, understand compatible homesites and finish levels, review current availability, and arrange a visit to experience the community in person.

Explore Arenal Hills real estate and discover the home that fits the way you want to experience Costa Rica.

Frequently Asked Questions About Arenal Hills

What is Arenal Hills?

Arenal Hills is a private, gated resort-style community of 128 planned villas set across 146 acres near La Fortuna, Costa Rica. It combines private villa ownership with rainforest surroundings, resort-inspired amenities, Signature Villa Designs, professional property care, and a supported approach to owning a vacation or second home in the Arenal region.

Where is Arenal Hills located?

Arenal Hills is located in Costa Rica’s Arenal region near La Fortuna, one of the country’s best-known nature and adventure destinations. La Fortuna is approximately 10 minutes away, putting restaurants, supermarkets, healthcare, banking, hot springs, outdoor activities, and everyday services within easy reach.

Is Arenal Hills a gated community?

Yes. Arenal Hills is a private gated, access-controlled community. The community also includes on-site oversight, managed shared spaces, and privacy landscaping around the villas, creating additional support for owners who may spend part of the year outside Costa Rica.

What types of homes are available at Arenal Hills?

Arenal Hills offers three principal paths to ownership: Arenal Hills Custom Build, Arenal Hills Immediate Occupancy, and the Arenal Hills Private Resale Collection. Custom Build buyers begin by selecting one of five Signature Villa Designs: Villa Torres, Villa Ramírez, Villa Seville, Villa Fleta, or Villa Bernabè, followed by a compatible homesite and available finish and furnishing level.

Can I use an Arenal Hills villa as a vacation home?

Yes. Arenal Hills is designed especially well for vacation-home ownership, repeat stays, seasonal living, and longer periods in Costa Rica. Eligible villas may also participate in professionally managed vacation rental support when owners are away. Some owners may eventually choose to make Arenal Hills their primary home.

What amenities are available at Arenal Hills?

Arenal Hills includes resort-inspired community amenities and outdoor recreation such as Club Cabana, the community pool, wet bar and BBQ areas, gym and sauna, pickleball and basketball, lake access and kayaking, walking trails, and dedicated golf-cart pathways. Amenities and development phases can evolve, so buyers should confirm current availability and completion status directly with the Arenal Hills team.

This article is intended to provide a general introduction to Arenal Hills. Home availability, community amenities, construction options, services, and development plans may change. Buyers should confirm current information with the Arenal Hills sales team.