Surf jaunt
Somos, Nob Hill Spa, Eau Resort & Spa Palm Beach, Lac D’Annecy, favorite LA restaurants for seafood, MORE
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GETAWAYS • Costa Rica
Blue crush
From the sandy Costa Rican roadside, Somos could be any of its neighbors, another tropical-brutalist, indoor-outdoor eco hotel, bar, and restaurant with surfboards lined up out front. But then you step inside, and the property’s unique energy comes into full view.
I was here in Santa Teresa, right on the western tip of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, because it’s a hot surfing destination and I was on a surf trip. Quick note on surf destinations: They lie on a very certain spectrum. On one end, the traditional, far-flung, off-the-radar situations. Multiple flights, overnight layovers, maybe a boat, and always a satellite-GPS-led drive to some mattress on the floor, never-working shower, limited electricity setup with a reeling, uncrowded, dreamy wave right out front. On the other end, there are the Balis, Bajas, and Portugals: places that popped up after surfers and yogis caught word, came over, and went full Jesuit missionary by embedding themselves in the local population. Only, the good word in these cases is more focused on the sanctity of third-wave coffee, remote work, and hot pilates.
Santa Teresa sits about 20 to 30 percent off the center, toward the Bali end: more built-up, busy, and in with the 30-plus crowd. It’s crowded, but it’s not Rio or Barcelona. And there’s always either a yoga studio or an acai bowl somewhere nearby. The surf’s fantastic, and an empty, perfect beach with a wave is only a jungle drive away. But it’s not the easiest to get to, with a flight into San José or Liberia Guanacaste International, then a roughly four-hour drive from there. Or, you can hop on a very short, very small plane with a firm weight limit instead of getting a rental. I opted for the direct flight to Liberia from LAX and the drive.
The Nicoya Peninsula is also one of the world’s seven “blue zones,” those places reportedly laden with people living longer, healthier lives on account of the local lifestyle. Clever international tourism initiative or not, the place is very much an agreeable, low-stress spot. Which is exactly how a Somos stay feels.
Somos’s collection of rooms includes two-story lofts and family-style camper suites with a full kitchen, multiple living spaces, and multiple pools. They’re all fixed with local artwork, handmade rugs, modern edges, and howling air conditioning. All the toiletries are organic, the soap in the shower is lemongrass-scented, and there’s plenty of space. It’s all lovely.
In the main courtyard, the morning cafe that later turns into a restaurant and bar is everything you want from a hotel restaurant. Coffees are organic, locally sourced, roasted by friends and neighbors, and excellent. There’s a healthy selection of smoothies with eggs, toasts, and bowls as well. Lunch is salads, sandwiches, and wraps, and dinner goes grilled with great cocktails.
Out front, there’s an incredibly fun surf break right there, maybe a two-minute walk away from where coffee is served. If you didn’t come prepared for it, there’s an entire surfboard shaping bay on the second story. The rental rack is always well-stocked. Also on the second story, more rooms, plus a fully stocked gym with yoga, pilates, movement classes, and personal training options, surfing-specific or otherwise. They were putting the finishing touches on a steam room and cold plunge fixtures when I was there as well.
The staff will also connect you to options for boat trips, fishing, horseback riding, and waterfall and national park exploration opportunities. We were really itching for our own beach and the hotel manager, with staff, escorted us across two rivers, multiple miles of off-road jungle, and sand to our own private break. The waves ended up only being fine. But even with fine waves, it was an above-and-beyond experience.
The waves out front and all around read remote surf jaunt. But Somos’ unique, relaxed, and comfortably lux digs are a welcome contrast to the usual setup. My best advice? Get there before everyone else does. –James Royce
→ Somos (Santa Teresa, Costa Rica) • Frente a Lora Maravilla, 25 m al sur, lote • Rates from $285/night.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
5 for-sale waterfront properties that came to market in the last 30 days asking ~$10M.
807 Esplanade (Redondo Beach, CA) • 4BR/5BA, 3525 SF house on Pacific Ocean • Ask: $9M • Cari Corbalis, Sotheby’s.
24 W Salisbury St (Wrightsville Beach, NC) • 4BR/7BA, 5406 SF house on Lees Cut • Ask: $9M (reduced $900K 06/29) • Barbara Pugh, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage.
518 Blue Mountain Rd (Santa Rosa Beach, FL) • 4BR/2BA, 1760 SF house on Gulf of Mexico • Ask: $9.5M • Bridgett Hall-Cotton & Wade Cotton, A List Beach Realty.
109 Eel River Rd (Osterville, MA, above) • 7BR/5.1BA, 6368 SF house on West Bay • Ask: $10.5M • Paul Grover & Matthew De Groot, Berkshire Hathaway.
41 Ocean Rd (Narragansett, RI) • 5BR/4BA, 5099 SF house on Atlantic Ocean • Ask: $10.95M • John Hodnett, Hopewell Real Estate.
GOODS & SERVICES • San Francisco
Spa vista
During a late April stay at the Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill, I was struck by how the hotel’s upgraded lobby and rooms felt newly luxurious in a pleasingly understated way, drawing a comparison in my mind with LA’s Sunset Tower, one of my favorite hotels in the world. The Huntington’s restaurant, The Big Four (intel), reopened over just a month at that point, didn’t have an empty seat in the house the two nights I stopped in.
But what I consider the Huntington’s grandest comeback, I didn’t experience until my final afternoon in town, when I descended a set of stairs from the lobby down into the three-level Nob Hill Spa, which like the hotel and restaurant had been shuttered since the pandemic. I’d last set foot in the spa over a decade ago, but the impact of the stairwell’s intricate mashrabiya screens — slyly revealing the view across the pool atrium to the floor-to-ceiling windows framing the San Francisco skyline — hit me hard: surely, this is one of the great spa settings at any hotel in the country.
After a deep-tissue massage, I unwound in the pool atrium, reclining in one of the lounges that flank the room’s small dipping pool, off of which sits an outdoor terrace with another set of lounges grandly overlooking the city. I cycled between the (very pleasingly hot) steam room and sauna in the men’s room several times, returning to my perch in between; at poolside, bites are available from the Big Four along with a menu of tonics and teas. Spa day passes are available Mon-Thu, $125 per.
Shout it from the hilltops: the Nob Hill Spa, like the Huntington Hotel itself, is so very back. –Lockhart Steele
GETAWAYS • Palm Beach
Eau-asis
At Eau Resort & Spa Palm Beach, two expansive pool decks (one for adults, the other for families) are perched on a retaining wall above the Atlantic Ocean. With a front row of cushy lounge chairs looking straight out to sea and an uncrowded, unhurried air, it’s as idyllic a place as any to while away an afternoon swimming and sunbathing in South Florida. A poolside bar and restaurant with an attentive staff, a lobster Cobb, and ample Champagne and rosé on the menu adds to the sense of ease.
Situated in Manalapan — part of the southern stretch of Palm Beach’s narrow barrier island — the sand here is a little darker, and the beach has the feeling of an unspoiled nature preserve (albeit with a stretch lined with multimillion-dollar private estates). I shared a morning walk only with a white heron playing in the surf.
A long weekend at Eau has a cumulative effect: with each passing moment, you can’t help but surrender to the resort’s tranquil environs and Palm Beach’s natural beauty, all aided by a warm and gracious staff at every turn. –Shayne Benowitz
AROUND FOUND • Other Notable Intel & Recs
→ LDN: For part two of Water Week, FOUND LDN went deep on two watery neighborhoods, Little Venice and Hackney Wick.
→ PARIS: FOUND Paris paid a visit to Lac D’Annecy, the cleanest lake in Europe with water so pure you can officially drink its waters (above).
→ LA: On a visit to the restaurant Gwen, meet Martin Riese, the most well-known (and perhaps only) water sommelier in Los Angeles. Here, even a complete teetotaler can feel like the finest gourmand.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Seafood restaurants, Los Angeles
Little Fish (Melrose Hill, above), sources from variety of local, small-scale fishing crews and dry-ages vermilion rockfish, yellowtail, ocean tilefish, more in-house