Mountain Home in San Jose

In the mountains outside San José, the land folds into green valleys that run all the way to the sea. On clear mornings you can see both from the same window. This is a working farmhouse, modern in its lines and rural in its rhythm, set on a hillside where the day starts with birdsong and ends around a fire.

The house is quiet in its architecture. A black facade, exposed concrete, and wide panes of glass that let the landscape into almost every room. Inside, mosaic and terrazzo floors meet warm wood, much of it from the Osa Peninsula, shaped into furniture by local craftsmen. Light moves through the rooms slowly over the course of the day. Nothing competes with the view.

The owners have planted more than three hundred trees across the property, and the birds have noticed. Goats and chickens wander the grounds, along with a small donkey, a pony named Caramelo, and a loft of messenger pigeons. Mornings can begin with collecting eggs for breakfast and cutting lettuce from the kitchen garden, then a walk through the small coffee plantation before the mist lifts. Children have their own playhouse and a network of private forest trails to explore, and the yard is fully fenced, so they can roam without anyone hovering.

Evenings belong to the fire pit and the wood-fired pizza oven. At this altitude, far from city light, the stars come out in earnest. Guests who want more can book through a private page for the property, arranging a personal chef, in-house massage, cooking classes, or guided hikes into the surrounding hills. Arrival is by self check-in. Three security cameras monitor the exterior of the property; there are none inside the home and none record audio. The farm is also a work in progress by design, with the owners continually adding to it, so a return visit tends to reveal something new.