Some places are wonderful to visit once. Others give us a reason to return.

Costa Rica seems to have a particular talent for the latter.

A recent visitor offers an interesting example. In August, Ivanka Trump returned to Costa Rica for another family trip, spending part of her visit surfing and horseback riding along the Pacific coast. It was hardly her first introduction to the country. She has returned several times since 2022, with visits connected to Santa Teresa, Playa Hermosa, Nosara and the Nicoya Peninsula.

Surfing has appeared more than once in those travels. On an earlier visit, she also shared moments from days spent around the rainforest and waterfalls, along with reading, family time and plenty of rest.

The fact that she keeps returning brings up a broader question, one that is more interesting than the celebrity angle itself:

What is it about Costa Rica that makes people want to come back?

Part of the answer may lie in the way wellness travel is changing.

When Wellness Doesn’t Look Like a Spa

For years, wellness tourism was closely associated with spas, treatments and organized retreats. Those experiences still have their place, but they are no longer the only way people think about traveling to feel better.

Sometimes what a traveler wants is much simpler: time outdoors, movement, good food, real rest and a break from the routines left at home.

Costa Rica lends itself naturally to that kind of trip.

A day here does not necessarily have to begin with a treatment appointment. It might start by carrying a surfboard toward the Pacific before breakfast. Another morning might mean walking through the forest, swimming near a waterfall or stopping for fruit along the road.

None of these experiences were created for the wellness industry. They were here long before the term became fashionable.

Surfing Finds Its Place in Wellness

Surfing deserves a place in Costa Rica’s wellness story.

There is a physical side to the sport, but anyone who has spent time watching surfers knows there is also a lot of waiting. You have to pay attention to the water, find your balance and work with the ocean rather than against it.

The sea sets the pace.

That helps explain why surfing sits so comfortably alongside yoga, outdoor movement and nature-based experiences in places such as Santa Teresa and Nosara.

Costa Rica’s Pacific coast has long attracted serious surfers, but visitors do not need years of experience to enjoy that relationship with the ocean. Surf lessons, swimming, walking the beach or simply spending more time outside all change the way a traveler experiences a coastal destination.

Instead of only seeing the landscape, you become part of what is happening around you.

Read about: Costa Rica Consolidates Position as a World Leader in Ecotourism and Safe Destinations

The Pacific Pull

Santa Teresa, Playa Hermosa and Nosara reveal another side of Costa Rica.

The waves and beaches are the obvious attraction, but over time a lifestyle has grown around them. Yoga studios, outdoor dining, fresh ingredients and an emphasis on spending much of the day outside have become part of the experience.

Then there is the wider Nicoya Peninsula.

Nicoya is internationally known for its association with longevity, yet there is more to the region than the Blue Zone label. Food, family, movement, community and outdoor life are all part of a much larger story.

For travelers, the combination can be appealing. There is plenty to do without feeling that every hour needs to be filled.

And Costa Rica’s wellness map stretches far beyond the Pacific beaches.

From Ocean to Volcano

Travel inland and the experience changes quickly.

Around Arenal and the Northern Plains, volcanic landscapes, hot springs and forest trails create an entirely different setting. A morning can be spent walking outdoors and the afternoon in warm thermal waters.

Higher elevations bring another change. In the cloud forests, the air cools, mist settles between the trees and trails invite a slower pace.

Farther south, rainforest and coastline meet in a landscape that feels different again, with biodiversity becoming as memorable as the beach itself.

This variety is one of Costa Rica’s greatest advantages as a wellness destination. A traveler does not have to follow one particular formula. Surf and ocean may be right for one person; forests, mountains or thermal water may be right for another.

Wellness You Can Taste

Food belongs in this story too.

A papaya at breakfast, Costa Rican coffee, a visit to a feria del agricultor, tropical fruit bought along the road or a meal prepared with ingredients grown nearby can become part of the experience of a place.

Farm-to-table is often discussed as a modern culinary philosophy, but in many Costa Rican communities the distance between the farm and the kitchen has traditionally been quite short.

That relationship between agriculture, landscape and food deserves a place in the country’s wellness identity.

It is easy to focus on what is on the plate and forget the story behind it. Traveling gives us an opportunity to notice both.

The Costa Rica Beyond the Wellness Brochure

Some of the most memorable parts of Costa Rica are harder to package.

There is cafecito in the afternoon, the neighborhood feria, fruit trees growing around a home and conversations that last longer than expected.

There are families sitting around the table and people who still know who grows some of the food they eat.

These are not wellness products, nor should they become ones. They are simply pieces of everyday Costa Rican life.

As I explored in The Wellness Costa Rica Never Had to Name, many ideas that now appear in the international wellness vocabulary existed here without a special label.

People simply lived them.

Visitors may notice that more than we realize.

Read about: Guanacaste Drives Two-Thirds of Costa Rica’s Tourism Growth in 2026

Why We Return

A first trip to Costa Rica is usually about discovery. Returning is different.

Once someone chooses the same country again, there is already familiarity. Something about the previous experience was worth finding a second time.

Ivanka Trump’s repeated visits are one very visible example, but the more interesting story is what lies behind that desire to return.

Costa Rica certainly has beautiful hotels, spas and sophisticated wellness retreats. Yet much of what makes the country restorative cannot be constructed inside a resort.

The ocean, forests and volcanic landscapes are already here. So are farms, tropical foods, wildlife, small communities and an extraordinary concentration of biodiversity.

There are places to move and places where doing very little feels perfectly reasonable.

Maybe that is why wellness in Costa Rica can mean so many different things. For one traveler, it might be catching a wave in the Pacific. For another, walking beneath the trees, soaking in thermal water, eating something grown nearby or spending an afternoon without a schedule.

None of those experiences requires a complicated definition of wellness.

And maybe the strongest sign that a destination has given us something worthwhile is very simple:

After we go home, we want to come back.

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