There are two kinds of first days in Costa Rica. In one, you land, clear customs, and then sit in a shuttle for four or five winding hours while your vacation technically ticks away. In the other, you land at Liberia International Airport, drive thirty easy minutes, and you're in the pool before your phone finishes downloading your vacation playlist.
We built our hosting around the second kind.
Liberia International is Guanacaste's own airport, with direct flights from many U.S. and Canadian cities. Choosing LIR over the capital means your beach vacation starts in Guanacaste — no cross-country transfer, no mountain switchbacks in the dark, no “are we there yet” from the back seat.
From the terminal, Cacique Retreat is about 30 minutes down one easy road. Families with small kids feel this most: half an hour is shorter than most naps.
Our advice for arrival day: don't plan anything. Swim in the pool, walk to dinner in Playas del Coco, sleep with the room-darkening shades down. The volcanoes, the snorkeling, the sunset sails — they'll all still be there tomorrow, thirty minutes closer than they would have been anywhere else.