Costa Rica's Beaches

Costa Rica
Information

Current Itineraries Endless options of destinations and activities
Where To Go Beaches, National Parks, highlands,or Big Cities
Where To Stay Rustic jungle lodges to beautiful resorts
What To Do Horseback riding, fishing, tour the forest canopy, to name a few
How To Get Around Airplanes, rental cars or horseback?

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The Beaches

Lower Caribbean

Central Pacific

North Pacific

Lower Caribbean Beaches

Lower Caribbean On the Caribbean side more than anywhere else in Costa Rica, an easy-going, laid-back style prevails. The weather is too hot and humid to do anything in a hurry. If you don't like the idea of waiting for everything from buses to meals, this may not be the place for you.

In Cahuita National Park, you can walk along a flat sandy trail between the jungle and the beach. Howler and white-face monkeys cavort along the trail. Metallic blue butterflies flutter through the tall trees.

Snorkeling on the reef at Cahuita point is like dropping into a huge tropical fish tank. The reef provides refuge for coral such as elk antlers, brain coral and sea fans. Sponges, sea urchins, lobsters live in the reef, along with more than 100 species of fish, including globe, angel, porcupine and parrot fish. The reef even has that requisite decoration of every fish tank - a sunken ship. This one is a slave trader that wrecked during the second half of the 18th century. You can go out to the reef in a glass-bottom boat when the water is clear.

Puerto Viejo is about 15 miles south of Cahuita on mostly good road. This beach community is probably the most happening town in the Talamanca region. Which isn't saying much. But you will find some good restaurants, pizza parlors, beach front bars and discos. Several Costa Rican cultures mingle in Puerto Viejo. Afro-Caribbeans, indigenous people and Spanish-speaking immigrants have lived together here for years. It is common to hear conversations in rhythmic Jamaican English mixed with lots of Spanish words. The crescent-shaped beach on the northern edge of town has sand as black as coal and fine as powdered sugar. You can swim, snorkel, sunbathe and surf on the beach.

A few miles south of Punta Uva is the fishing village of Manzanillo and the Manzanillo-Gandoca Wildlife Refuge. Four species of sea turtles lay their eggs here. The refuge includes swamps, a forest and coral reefs. Brightly colored fish and sea creatures lie in the reefs. Brilliant birds live in the forest and swamps. Vivid red and yellow heliconia blossoms peep out from the forest greenery. Along the beach, deep blue water laps the cream-colored sand. It's all part of a world of color that makes the Atlantic coast such an amazing place.

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Central Pacific Beaches

The beaches of Costa Rica's Central Pacific coast are some of the most beautiful in the country.

Playa Tambor, located on the Nicoya Peninsula is a quiet, isolated area with pristine beaches and forest preserves. Although more difficult to get to than some of the other beach areas of the country, it is well worth the extra trouble to find a beach paradise with a first class resort and numerous activities. You can eat in gourmet restaurants, play golf at an eight hole course, ride horses, sail, snorkel, wind surf, deep sea fish, or just lie in a hammock enjoying the ocean breezes.

The Manuel Antonio/Quepos area, southwest of San Jose, on the southern Pacific Coast, is perhaps one of the most visited beach areas in Costa Rica, and for good reason. In addition to magnificent wildlife, the Manuel Antonio National Park offers three beautiful palm lined beaches within its borders that contain no commercialism and have postcard perfect sunsets. Swim, snorkel, or surf either in the park or on several public beaches that dot the coast from Manuel Antonio to Quepos. Deep sea fishing, hiking, kayaking and white water rafting are activities also available in this tourist area.

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North Pacific Beaches

The northwest province of Guanacaste offers culture, nature and miles of stunning beaches. Separated from the rest of the country by two volcanic mountain ranges and the Nicoya Peninsula this region contains a wide central plain which is dry and hot, almost a desert in the summer time.

Maps of the area can be very deceptive. Driving along the coast to perhaps explore several beach areas might look an easy day’s journey. It's not. The main highways that serve the area are paved but once you leave these for the coast the roads become gravel or dirt, some not much more than rutted trails. Rainy season is sometimes difficult on some roads. The beach areas of the province offer activities galore. Pick one destination and enjoy it for several days.

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