Why Some Vacations Leave Us Feeling Better Than Others
It can be surprisingly hard to take a vacation. There is always another email to answer, another task to finish, another reason to postpone switching off.
But research into rest, time in nature and taking breaks from work gives us good reason to take our vacations seriously. Time away can help us recover from the demands of everyday life—but simply changing locations isn’t necessarily enough. How we spend that time matters, too.
At Cayuga, we think about travel through four simple ideas: Experience, Learn, Connect and Relax. Together, they create opportunities to spend more time outside, discover something new, connect with people and place, and actually slow down.
Get Outside... Really Outside
Research in environmental psychology has linked time in green spaces, such as forests, and blue spaces, such as oceans and lakes, with lower stress and improved well-being. It helps explain why a walk through the rainforest or time beside the water can feel so different from another day spent moving between screens.
At Cayuga, nature isn’t something to admire through a window. It is part of the day.
Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama
ISLA PALENQUE RESORT
On a 400-acre private island surrounded by seven Pacific beaches, spending less time looking at a screen doesn’t require much discipline. Walk through the forest, find a stretch of beach, swim, and notice how quickly the rest of the world feels farther away.
GRANADA ISLETAS, NICARAGUA
JICARO ISLAND LODGE
At Jicaro, the soundtrack is often simply water against the edge of your casita. Set on a private islet in Lake Nicaragua, the lodge makes slowing down feel less like something you have to accomplish and more like the natural pace of the day.
MANUEL ANTONIO,
COSTA RICA
ARENAS DEL MAR
Here, you can walk through rainforest and end up with your feet in the Pacific. Private trails connect the forest with the beach, replacing at least some of the day’s screen time with monkeys overhead, sand underfoot and a swim in the ocean.
Learn Something You Didn't Know Yesterday
Research also points to the role that learning, new experiences and meaningful social connection can play in our well-being. And rest doesn’t always mean doing nothing. Sometimes a change of perspective comes from paying attention, asking questions and meeting the people who know a place best.
Behind the Scenes at Cayuga Hotels
Step beyond the usual hotel experience to see what happens behind the scenes—from local supply chains and water treatment to waste reduction and the workings of a hotel kitchen. Sustainability becomes less of an abstract promise when you can see the systems, meet the people behind them and ask questions.
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
HOTEL AGUAS CLARAS
Puerto Viejo has a character all its own, shaped in part by the Afro-Caribbean culture of Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Time with local musicians, artists and chefs offers a more personal introduction to the people and traditions behind the place.
Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala
HOTEL BOLONTIKU
On the shores of Lake Petén Itzá, the landscape comes with thousands of years of history. Exploring Maya heritage with local guides and hearing the stories connected to the lake gives you something more lasting than another afternoon beside a pool: a better understanding of where you are.
Make Room for Curiosity
New experiences ask our brains to pay attention. Unfamiliar sights, sounds, flavors and surroundings interrupt our usual routines and invite curiosity—one reason travel can leave us feeling mentally refreshed and creatively recharged.
MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA
SENDA MONTEVERDE
That might mean crossing suspension bridges high in the cloud forest, heading out after dark with a Naturalist Guide to look for nocturnal wildlife, or discovering what grows on farms in the surrounding highlands. Monteverde rewards people who keep looking closely.
UVITA, COSTA RICA
KURA BOUTIQUE HOTEL
At Kurà, the view does much of the work. The rainforest drops toward the South Pacific, with the Whale’s Tail sandbar visible below. Sometimes a change of perspective really is that literal.
Take the Break
A good vacation doesn’t need to promise transformation.
Sometimes its value is much simpler: waking up somewhere different, spending more of the day outside, learning something you didn’t know, having a real conversation and realizing you haven’t checked your phone in hours.
Experience. Learn. Connect. Relax.
Four simple ideas—and a pretty good way to spend some time away.
For more information, contact us at [email protected].
