Most Manuel Antonio venues ask you to choose: the beach or the rainforest, the venue or the hotel, your celebration or somebody else's pool party next door. Makanda is built so you don't have to. The hotel sits on a forested hillside above the Pacific, a few minutes from Manuel Antonio National Park, and it is adults-only: eighteen and over throughout the property, all year round.
In practice, that policy is what a wedding here feels like: quiet pools, unhurried service, and one wedding on the property per day, yours. Everything the weekend needs is on site: the Ocean Club Terrace, Árbol Restaurant and its kitchen, the Shanti Spa and its terrace, and Wild Beach, the secluded beach below the hotel, reached by our own trail through the forest.
Your guests sleep where they celebrate, in thirty-three suites and villas. Nobody drives anywhere after the last toast.
The hillside faces west, which matters more than it sounds: the ceremony hour and the sunset hour are the same hour, and the light arrives over the water exactly where your guests are already looking.
Makanda is selected in the MICHELIN Guide 2026, and The Telegraph (opens in a new tab) placed Makanda first in its 2026 selection of romantic destinations worldwide, describing suites and villas that “appear woven into the forest canopy.”
Two terraces for the ceremony and Árbol for the reception, all on the same hillside above the Pacific. Our team, with your planner if you have one, moves the day between them as the light changes.
An open-air terrace above the forest, with the Pacific in front of it: where most Makanda ceremonies take place. Vows under a flower podium or arch, then cocktails with the same view, planned around your group and timeline.
The spa's open terrace above Biesanz Bay, with the forest on three sides and the ocean in front: the setting for the most intimate vows, for up to ten, and the natural place to begin the wedding day with spa treatments for the bride and her party.
The reception is held at Árbol, the hotel's restaurant: dinner from a set menu built with our Executive Chef, an open bar, and your florals on the tables. If it rains, Árbol is also where the ceremony moves, agreed with you in advance.
Wild Beach, the secluded beach below the hotel, is rocky and kept for portraits: the hotel sets up loungers and drinks, and a golf cart brings you back up. The main pool lounge stays with hotel guests and opens for a wedding only with a full-hotel buyout.
Wedding-day maximum: 32 guests, the two of you included; ceremonies on the Shanti Spa terrace are for up to 10. Larger celebrations require a full-hotel buyout.
Weddings of 33 guests or moreIntimate weddings at Makanda are built as a short stay, not a single evening. And because the venues, the kitchen, the bar, the spa, and the rooms are one property, the whole celebration runs with fewer moving pieces than a typical destination wedding: no rented venue, no outside caterer, no shuttle logistics between locations. Three days is the shape most couples settle on.
Your group lands, settles into suites and villas, and meets for the pre-wedding cocktail as the sun goes down over the Pacific: drinks, canapés, and live music if you want it. The point of the first evening is that everyone who flew in for you is now in one place, drink in hand, with the ocean below, and the wedding has not even started yet.
The morning is for getting ready: the bride's preparation in your villa, with hair and makeup on request, and treatments at the Shanti Spa for the bride and her party. Then the full arc in one place: the ceremony in the late-afternoon light on the Ocean Club Terrace, or the spa terrace for up to ten, cocktails while the photographs happen, then the reception at Árbol: a set menu built with our Executive Chef, an open bar, and florals carried through from the ceremony. No transfers, no shuttles between venues, no schedule slipping away in traffic.
A relaxed breakfast above the ocean and an unhurried goodbye. Many couples stay on after the group leaves and roll the wedding straight into the honeymoon: same villa, same coastline, suddenly very quiet.
Many wedding venues share prices only on request. Here is where a Makanda wedding package starts, so you can plan before you ever write to us.
As a working figure, dinner and a three-hour open bar come to $315+ per guest, before the venue fee, florals, and tax. The pre-wedding cocktail, canapés, and the wedding cake are priced to what you choose. A venue fee applies to every wedding and is quoted for your date; final pricing depends on your guest count and event design.
Every Makanda wedding package includes planning support by email, menu planning with our Executive Chef and F&B team, outdoor parking, and romantic welcome amenities for the couple.
Prices in USD; taxes are added on top. Wedding-day maximum: 32 guests, the two of you included. Email your dates, guest count, and dinner and bar preferences to travel@makanda.com for a formal quote.
One email thread with travel@makanda.com carries the whole wedding. Everything below is planned with you before you fly, and run by our team on the day:
Write to travel@makanda.com and we will put the days together with you.
Makanda has thirty-three accommodations across nine categories: garden and ocean-view suites and lofts, honeymoon pool villas, and two signature homes with private infinity pools. Every one opens onto a private balcony.
Couples usually take a Honeymoon Grand Pool Villa or the Sky Penthouse as their wedding villa: your own pool for the morning of and room for hair and makeup. Guests spread across the suites and villas on the same hillside, with golf carts on call between them.
Every suite and villa has one king bed, except the villa for four, which adds a queen. There are no extra beds, so plan one room per couple; guests traveling solo or as friends take a room each. Rooms are booked separately from the event, directly on makanda.com, with breakfast included and no booking fees. From December to April the hotel fills early, so send us your dates before the save-the-dates go out.
See all room types and ratesAbove thirty-two guests, an intimate wedding becomes a full-hotel celebration. A buyout gives your group all thirty-three keys, so every guest staying at Makanda is yours, and opens the main pool lounge to your wedding. Árbol, the Shanti Spa, and the Ocean Club Terrace are planned around your group, with the details set in your proposal. The hotel sleeps up to 68 guests: thirty-two suites and villas with one king bed, and one villa for four with a king and a queen.
Full-hotel weddings are planned as their own project, with their own timeline and proposal. Tell us your dates and expected guest count and we will take it from there.
Ask about a buyoutEverything below was photographed at real weddings on the property. These ceremonies took place at the main pool during full-hotel buyouts; for weddings of up to 32 guests, the vows move to the Ocean Club Terrace, or to the Shanti Spa terrace for up to ten.
The dry season: reliable sun, sunset ceremonies you can plan around, and the strongest demand, so write to us early for these dates. Year-round, stays over Thanksgiving, the turn of the year, and Easter carry a three-night minimum.
The green season. Mornings are typically clear, rain arrives in the afternoon, and the forest around the terrace is at its greenest, as the photographs on this page show. Rates are lower, dates are easier, and the timeline is simply built around the light and the sky.
The wettest months on the Pacific coast, and the quietest: a considered choice rather than a default. They also fall in the August to November humpback whale season, and a catamaran sail before the wedding, with a good chance of humpbacks alongside, can become the story of the weekend.
It starts with one email. Send your dates, guest count, and dinner and bar preferences to travel@makanda.com and we will reply with a formal quote for the date. From there the same thread carries the menu, the florals, and the timeline.
You do not need to arrive with a planner. We are a hotel, not a wedding planner, and everything on the property is ours to run: the venues, menu, bar, florals, officiant, and timeline. If you bring your own planner or photographer, we work alongside them.
In Costa Rica the ceremony can be made legally binding for visitors: a Costa Rican notary public performs the marriage and registers it with the Civil Registry, and the certificate can then be apostilled for use at home. Many couples find it simpler to do the paperwork at home and hold a symbolic ceremony here.
Write to travel@makanda.com
From two to thirty-two guests on the wedding day, the two of you included; that is the property's maximum for an intimate wedding. Ceremonies on the Shanti Spa terrace are for up to ten. Weddings of more than thirty-two guests require a full-hotel buyout, which makes all thirty-three keys yours.
Makanda is an adults-only boutique hotel, eighteen and over throughout the property all year round, and the policy applies to wedding guests as well, flower girls and ring bearers included. Couples choose Makanda precisely for that: a calm, unhurried celebration where every guest is an adult.
Dinner (set menu) starts at $160 per person and a three-hour open bar at $155 per person, so plan from about $315 per guest before the venue fee, florals, and tax. Floral design starts at $1,500 and the ceremony flower podium or arch at $3,000. The pre-wedding cocktail, canapés, and the wedding cake are priced to what you choose. A venue fee applies to every wedding and is quoted for your date. Email your dates and guest count to travel@makanda.com for a formal quote.
Costa Rica recognizes civil marriages performed by a Costa Rican notary public, who registers the marriage with the national Civil Registry. The registered certificate can then be apostilled for use at home; check with your home authorities how they record a marriage performed abroad. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Costa Rica since 2020. If you prefer, handle the paperwork at home and hold a symbolic ceremony here.
No. Wild Beach, the secluded beach below the hotel reached by our own trail, is rocky, so we keep it for portraits: the hotel sets up loungers and drinks, and a golf cart brings you back up. Ceremonies take place on the Ocean Club Terrace or the Shanti Spa terrace, both above the ocean. Worth knowing: no beach in Costa Rica is private; by law, the coastline is public.
No. We are a hotel, not a wedding planner, and everything on the property is ours to run: the venues, menu, bar, florals, officiant, and timeline, through one email thread with travel@makanda.com. If you want your own planner or photographer, bring them, and we work alongside them through the day.
Mid-December to April is the dry season: reliable sun and the most demand, so those dates go first. May to mid-December is the green season: clear mornings, afternoon rain, the forest at its greenest, and lower rates. September and October are the wettest months, and they fall inside the August to November humpback whale season on this coast.
In the green season the timeline is built around the sky: mornings are usually clear and rain tends to arrive in the afternoon, so ceremonies are planned into the reliable windows. If it rains, the ceremony and reception move into Árbol Restaurant, as agreed with you in advance. Rain here is warm, and it is the reason the hillside is this green.
No, though most couples want everyone close: the point of marrying at Makanda is that the celebration and the stay are the same place. Rooms are booked separately from the event, directly on makanda.com, with breakfast included and no booking fees. The hotel sleeps up to 68 guests in thirty-three suites and villas: every room has one king bed, and the villa for four adds a queen, so most groups plan one room per couple.
Yes. Two is the minimum, and elopements are some of the best weddings we host: vows on the Ocean Club Terrace or the spa terrace, portraits on Wild Beach, a private dinner for two, and the honeymoon already underway by the time dessert arrives.
Fly into San José (SJO), about three hours by road, or take the short domestic hop to the Quepos airstrip (XQP), about fifteen minutes from the hotel. We arrange private transfers for the couple and group transfers for guests, and private air charter and helicopter are also available.
Yes. Proposals, vow renewals, and small celebrations are planned the same way: write to travel@makanda.com with your dates and what you have in mind, and we will plan it with you before you travel.
One terrace above the Pacific, up to thirty people you love, and a team that has done this before, so the day runs without you watching the clock.
Send your dates, guest count, and dinner and bar preferences to travel@makanda.com, and we will reply with a formal quote.
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