Nicoya Travel Guide

Tamarindo Beach is the most popular, vibrant beach resort in northwest Guanacaste, on Costa Rica's sunny North Pacific coast and one of the country's best-known surf and seaside towns. Its golden, wide beach stretches for kilometers with warm water and moderate, steady waves, set in the country's driest, sunniest region (clear dry-season skies almost every day), making Tamarindo ideal for beach holidays, surfing, sunbathing and sunsets. Once a quiet fishing village, it is now a well-equipped, international town—hotels, restaurants, bars, surf shops, souvenir stores and agencies line the beach and streets, lively and convenient. By day, people surf, swim and paddleboard, sunbathe and stroll; at dusk, Tamarindo's west-facing beach is perfect for Pacific sunsets as the sky and sea turn gold and red; by night, restaurants and bars bring lively beach nightlife. With golden sand, good waves, bright sun and a festive mood, Tamarindo is a vibrant Pacific beach getaway.

Playa Tambor lies on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula and is a relatively quiet beach with darker sand and a broad shoreline, good for walking and views. Less developed than the peninsula's busier resorts, it is ringed mainly by lodges and small restaurants in a slow rhythm. The beach runs long at both ends, so at low tide you can walk a long way, and the light softens at sunset — a common local time to be out. Not far from other natural and coastal sights on the Nicoya Peninsula, it suits a relaxed stop on a peninsula itinerary and is convenient for snorkelling and fishing.