We have just returned from a two week stay at Casa Banda. The clothing optional web site is here http://www.cocr.info/ We saw the add in the AANR Bulletin and found it to be everything as advertised, even better. The owners have rented the units since 2004 as a traditional textile facility using this site http://www.casa-banda.com/. As you can see by the reviews on their web sites or even if you look up Casa Banda on VRBO and FlipKey, people who stay here absolutely love it. What they did, was block out an initial 6 weeks beginning Feb 10 for C/O, and on the Casa Banda (textile) site, it will show fully booked while the cocr.info site will show the true availability for C/O. The C/O dates will be expanded as the interest and traffic grows. The owners, Bibi and Arne, are the perfect hosts. They go out of their way to make sure everything is to your liking and have great knowledge of where to go or what to do in the area. We found it simply too relaxing to go too far and stayed home and enjoyed the pool most days.

Arne retired a few weeks ago and he and Bibi are moving to Costa Rica full time. They are nudists themselves, which is why they are transitioning the facility into clothing optional. They have made a huge investment in creating a great place to stay with spacious and comfortable rooms and lush gardens for the comfort of their guests. If you contact them via the web site, they can provide the dates when the facility will be C/O and/or notify you via email when a block of dates will be available.

We took the 10am flight out of Dallas and landed in Liberia at 1:50pm. We paid $100 for the 2/12 hour drive to the door of Casa Banda. We could have rented a car at the airport and driven there but opted to rent the car in Nosara. It was a good decision for our first trip and may even do it that way again.

The town of Nosara is fairly remote, away from the hi-rise hotels and tourist activity, although there are touristy things to do such as zip lines, horse back riding, boat tours and other activities, including some of the best surfing in Costa Rica. There are about 18 miles of gravel, dusty, bumpy roads to get there, but in the end, we viewed that as a major plus in that it kept the majority of tourists away and really helped to create the laid back, this is the real Costa Rica, atmosphere.

We cooked many of our meals in our apartment (there are full kitchens) but there are nice restaurants nearby, including Lagarta Lodge, http://www.lagarta.com/ with great sunset views, about a 5 minute walk away. One of our favorites was La Luna, right on the beach with great food and a great atmosphere and great sunset views. I couldn’t find a web site for La Luna, but here is their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-LUNA/187210908478 You can also catch the sunset from the facility without having to put your clothes on. The closest beach is a short 10 minute walk away, although we did rent a car, which gave us the flexibility to explore several of the other nearby beaches. The beaches are really beautiful, some white sand and others black volcanic. Wildlife abounds; you’re in the jungle.

All in all, this was a really great trip, a great place to relax and enjoy the weather and we’ll definitely be back.

I kind of hate to share great secrets like this, for fear that it will be booked when we want to go back. They only have 6 apartments and Arne and Bibi are now living in one of them. (My wife still blames me for the popularity of Happy Bay on St Maarten because I wrote a post about it many years ago after we had the entire beach to ourselves for over 4 hours. More people are there each year when we returned, and of course, it was all my fault for telling the world about it <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />) I’m sharing this, because Arne and Bibi are such neat people, and I really want them to succeed. Also because we will return, and when we do, I’d rather stay there naked than clothed. Plus, it’s in the spirit of this board that we will share new C/O opportunities as we find them…so here you go.