For most of modern hotel history, luxury was measured in scale. The largest lobby, the grandest ballroom, the biggest pool. That logic has shifted. High-end travelers now value space, seclusion, and control: their own entrance, their own deck, and water they do not share with strangers.
A Forbes article framed it bluntly: privacy is “the new luxury” of travel. A similar study by McKinsey confirms that high-net-worth guests are more likely to travel to disconnect, enjoy privacy and exclusivity, while also preferring nature-rich, less crowded destinations.
Enter private villas with their own plunge pools set in the Costa Rican Rainforest.
Not only do they remove the social calculation that comes with a shared pool: where to sit, who is watching, how noisy it is, whether you feel on display in a swimsuit, but privacy becomes a spatial and psychological condition, not just an architectural detail.
Now, imagine stepping into your own natural hot springs plunge pool fed by the same Arenal Volcano that frames your view. This is not simply “a nicer pool,” it is a different category of stay.
This isn't fiction. It's what defines nature-based wellness at Nayara Springs and Nayara Tented Camp.
How Settled Life Invented Privacy
Private hot spring plunge pools sit at the crossroads of geology, history, and modern wellness science, combining volcanic heat, environmental seclusion, and behavioral privacy, and the history is just as fascinating as the science.
Long before homes and fences, early hunter-gatherers lived as mobile bands beneath open skies. Privacy then came from distance instead of doors. As groups grew, families camped farther apart, creating personal space without walls.
With farming, everything changed. Permanent villages, storage, and land ownership pushed people closer together. Bricks, thatch, and early fences started to mark thresholds between public and private life. Courtyards and enclosed rooms appeared, and shared rituals such as communal bathing began to carry new social meaning.
Jared Diamond’s work on the shift from nomadic bands to sedentary villages helps explain why private plunge pools feel so instinctively restorative today. In Guns, Germs, and Steell, he describes how early farming communities, no longer mobile, were forced into closer and more permanent proximity. Storage, fields, and domesticated animals tied families to fixed locations, and with immobility came crowding. What once had been natural privacy created by distance now required walls, thresholds, and architectural boundaries.
When mobility disappears, societies invent norms and built spaces to regulate social contact. Privacy emerges as a response to density, not an indulgence. The enclosed bath, the personal room, and eventually the private retreat all stem from the same need: a protected zone where an individual can withdraw from the group.
When guests enter a private plunge pool in a rainforest setting, they experience a reversal of the pattern Diamond describes. Landscape and water no longer force communal gathering; instead, they restore the autonomy early humans once had.
From Roman Baths to Rainforest Springs
For most of recorded history, water was a shared experience. Roman thermae, Ottoman hammams, and Mesoamerican temazcales treated bathing as civic or ritual acts. Bodies gathered, steam circulated, conversations flowed. Privacy was neither expected nor structurally possible; community was built into the architecture.
In Roman Britain, the city now called Bath (yes, it should sound familiar) grew around a natural hot spring. The Romans built a major bathing complex, Aquae Sulis, there in the first century, combining temple, pools, and social spaces around it. It remains one of the clearest examples of how architecture and geothermal water fused into a civic and religious center.
The rise of private bathing unfolded slowly. Early modern Europe introduced enclosed “bathing cabinets” for nobility, early indicators that bathing could be personal rather than public. By the nineteenth century, wealthy spa travelers increasingly requested rooms with individual tubs, separating the curative role of water from its social one. By the nineteenth century, “taking the waters” at a spa was both a health prescription and a status symbol.
Contemporary hospitality inherits these dual lineages. Large resorts recreate the grandeur of ancient complexes with open pools and shared spaces. Villa-based and nature-based properties follow the quieter lineage, designing water around solitude. The private plunge pool is the culmination of that second tradition: a self-contained environment where warmth, silence, and nature create a personal sanctuary.
Costa Rica represents the next evolution in this story. Here, geothermal water emerges not in classical cities or European spa towns but in dense rainforest beneath an active volcano. The setting reframes the experience entirely. A private plunge pool fed by volcanic hot springs becomes not simply an amenity but a direct encounter with geology, heat, and landscape. It takes the ancient communal impulse to seek healing in warm mineral waters—and reinterprets it as an individual immersive experience.
Japan’s Onsen Culture and Iceland’s Blue Lagoon
The global picture of thermal waters today is shaped as much by Asia and the North Atlantic as by Roman Europe. Two of the clearest contemporary examples are Japan’s onsen culture and Iceland’s Blue Lagoon.
In Japan, onsen, or hot springs, are deeply embedded in domestic travel and daily life. Traditional ryokan inns often center their design around communal or private baths fed by geothermal sources, with an emphasis on quiet, ritual, and respect for surroundings. The Japanese Hot Springs Law defines onsen by mineral content and temperature, and many resorts classify their waters by chemical profile, with cultural narratives around which springs are thought to soothe particular ailments .
In Iceland, the Blue Lagoon represents a different model. Set in a lava field on the Reykjanes Peninsula, it is filled with geothermal seawater rich in silica, which gives the lagoon its milky blue color. Originally formed from water discharged from a nearby power plant, it evolved into a wellness and tourism destination after visitors reported improved symptoms of skin conditions such as psoriasis.
Not all Hot Springs are Created Equal
Arenal’s geothermal water differs from many historic bathing regions. Roman springs such as Bath are calcium- and sulfate-rich and fed by deep limestone aquifers; Iceland’s Blue Lagoon is silica-dominant because its water originates from geothermal seawater; Japan’s onsen vary by region but often carry high sulfur, sodium chloride, or bicarbonate content.
Arenal’s springs are heated by magmatic systems beneath an active stratovolcano, producing naturally warm water with moderate mineralization, typically containing calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and silica. The result is a profile that is gentle on the skin, comfortably warm, and well-suited for prolonged soaking in private pools.
Privacy at Nayara Springs and Tented Camp is engineered. Villas and tents are oriented using controlled sightlines so no terrace overlooks another. Dense rainforest vegetation acts as living screening, while elevation changes and setbacks eliminate cross-visibility. Recessed decks, angled railings, and careful pool placement ensure that when a guest steps into warm water, no one else can see.
This combination of topography, landscaping, and spatial orientation is considered one of the strongest architectural mechanisms for behavioral privacy.
The Water Remembers
From roaming tribes to resort villas, the story of bathing mirrors the human journey from communal life to individualized comfort. Yet even in private plunge pools, the spirit of those ancient hot springs survives: we still seek warmth, relaxation, and maybe a little magic from the earth beneath our feet.
Taken together, the picture is consistent. Warm water can ease pain and promote relaxation. Green and blue environments support psychological restoration. Private, controllable spaces increase the sense of safety needed for deep rest. A private villa or luxury tent with its own plunge pool in a rainforest setting is, in effect, a small, purpose-built environment where all three elements intersect.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are hot-spring plunge pools medical treatments?
Hot-Spring and warm-water pools are best understood as supportive wellness experiences, not stand-alone medical treatments. Clinical reviews on balneotherapy show benefits for pain and quality of life when used alongside standard care, but protocols, mineral compositions, and durations vary. Guests with specific conditions should follow medical advice, especially regarding water temperature, time in the pool, and cardiovascular limits.
How long should a typical soak last?
Many spa and balneotherapy guidelines suggest moderate sessions of around 10 to 20 minutes in comfortably warm water, with breaks to cool down and rehydrate, especially in hotter pools. The right duration depends on health status, temperature, and personal tolerance. People with cardiovascular or blood pressure issues should be cautious and consult a clinician.
Do private pools use more water or energy than shared ones?
Private plunge pools hold less water than large shared pools, but they are more numerous. Their environmental impact depends on design choices: water treatment systems, insulation, heating methods, and refill practices. Some resorts reduce impact by using gravity-fed hot springs, efficient circulation, solar energy, and careful pool sizing. Frameworks and certifications focused on sustainable tourism provide guidance on how properties manage this balance.
Is there evidence that nature views matter if you are already in warm water?
Studies on hospital recovery and restorative environments suggest that views of nature can reduce stress and improve outcomes even when people are relatively inactive, such as post-surgery patients. Experiments with both virtual and real nature views show consistent gains in mood and perceived restoration compared with urban or no-view conditions. Combining warm-water immersion with such views would, based on current evidence, be expected to support relaxation and perceived well-being, even though specific research on this exact combination is still limited.
How does privacy factor into wellness beyond comfort or preference?
Privacy affects how free people feel to let their guard down. Environmental psychology studies indicate that when individuals feel they are not being watched or evaluated, they are more willing to rest, reflect, and engage in self-care. In hotels, designs that minimize unwanted social exposure and give guests control over interaction tend to be rated as more relaxing and restorative, even when other amenities are similar. In this sense, private villas and plunge pools act as structural support for psychological recovery, not only as amenities.
The Science
- Systematic reviews of balneotherapy for musculoskeletal pain suggest that repeated immersion in warm, mineral-rich baths can reduce pain and improve function in conditions such as osteoarthritis and chronic low back pain, although protocols and mineral compositions vary
- Reviews of balneotherapy mechanisms highlight three broad levers: heat (improved circulation and muscle relaxation), hydrostatic pressure (joint support and venous return), and mineral content (possible local or systemic effects depending on composition), although the role of specific minerals remains under study
- Luxury Daily connects the rise in villa demand directly to a desire for fewer shared spaces, higher control over social contact, and the ability togather with loved ones in seclusion
- Work in environmental and hospitality psychology suggests that perceived control over one’s environment, including the ability to withdraw from others and control visibility, plays a significant role in how restorative a space feels. Private rooms with views of nature are consistently rated as more restorative than shared or windowless spaces, even when floor area is similar.
Further Reading and Sources
On luxury travel, privacy, and villas
• McKinsey & Company, “Updating perceptions about today’s luxury traveler
• Forbes, “Hotels, Travel: How Privacy Will Be The New Luxury This Summer”
• Travel Market Report, “Why Villas Are the Future of Luxury Travel Accommodations”
On thermal waters, balneotherapy, and hot springs history
• “Balneotherapy in chronic low back pain: a systematic review” (SpringerOpen, 2025)
• NIH / PMC review on balneotherapy mechanisms
• Roman Baths, Bath, official history
On Japan’s onsen and Iceland’s Blue Lagoon
• Japan National Tourism Organization, onsen overview
• Japan-Guide, “Onsen bathing rules and etiquette”
• Clinical and historical work on Blue Lagoon and psoriasis
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