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History of Hacienda Guachipelin

Guanacaste’s rich traditions of ranching and cowboy life are deeply rooted at Hacienda Guachipelin. Dating all the way back to 1880, our land has been a flourishing ranch, spreading across the golden savanna and dry tropical forest at the base of the magnificent Rincon de la Vieja Volcano.

Since 1975, two generations of the Batalla family have loved and worked this ranch land, keeping its legacy alive.

How Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin Began


Our ranch added a hotel because of our exceptional location bordering the Las Pailas section of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1982, a writer from the Lonely Planet travel guide noted that Rincon de la Vieja Volcano was a place people should visit for its hot springs and volcanic mud, volcanic activity, waterfalls, forest, and wildlife. Pretty soon, people started coming.

Back then, the roads were difficult and nearly non-existent. Tourists coming from Liberia wouldn’t arrive at our ranch until the late afternoon. They would ask if they could stay overnight to visit the national park and volcano the next day. This started happening a lot. Our family prepared a few guest rooms, and then built a few more. Finally, in 1985, we opened Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.

More than 70,000 people visited Rincon de la Vieja National Park in 2015. And we’ve expanded over the years to continue accommodating our guests.

Hacienda Guachipelin Today


We offer 79 comfortable ranch-style rooms with views of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano and our hacienda gardens.

Our family’s ranch covers 3,460 acres (1,400 hectares), with conservation areas for the tropical dry forest that we are reforesting with native tree species. Three rivers crisscross our land – Rio Blanco, Rio Colorado, and Rio Negro – creating waterfalls, natural hot springs, and fun places for adventure tours.

We raise horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys and grow our own fruit trees along with vegetables and herbs in our gardens, greenhouse, and farmland. You can enjoy fresh, homegrown meals from our ranch in our hotel restaurant. We have 90 Costa Rican horses for ranch work and our horseback riding tours, as well as 12 Spanish breeding mares and stallions. And we keep about 220 heads of Brahman cattle and related breeds for beef and milk.

We do our best to operate our hotel and ranch as sustainably and eco-friendly as possible. And we are proud that Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin holds the third level of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) program by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT).

We welcome you to experience the beauty and traditions of Rincon de la Vieja Volcano and Hacienda Guachipelin.

hotel hacienda guachipelin rock wall