Going to be in costa rica 12/1-12/10 with 5 others - all late 20-somethings guys and girls. First time for all but one of us. Renting a big suv and 2 of us plan to surf as much as possible between other activities. Flights booked in SJO but havent decided exactly where we want to stay. Thinking pit stop for a night at Arenal then split the rest of the trip between Tamarindo area and ST/Malpais area. Want to keep the nightly rate under 150/nt but dont want to stay in a dump. Been scanning VRBO, flipkey, etc but have been having trouble finding much. I know I know noob question but figured Id try - any recommendations from the regulars? Thanks guys!
Consider Nosara. Harbor Reef is ok. Lots of houses on VRBO. Good to Great Surfing and beach with some nightlife. Very easy place to hang out.
thanks waytooold - nice! i didnt notice all the places available in nosara area. where is whatever nightlife exists? also where are the best breaks in the area this time of year and how many bros do i have to deal with?
Tamarindo will be your biggest party scene of all the beach towns you'll be around. Check out the hostels around town there. Some places are dumps others are decent but the nightly prices tends to range between $10-$25 per person. Board rental in Tamerindo will run between $10-$20 per day. Since you've got a car I would recommend travelling 30 minutes south of Tamerindo to Avellana. That place is my alltime favorite beach to surf. It's a beach break with with plenty of peaks to jump on and best part is it's rarely ever crowded. This beach has peaks that work at both tides but its best to be out there on the incoming tide. Have fun on your trip.
thanks mtatham. were leaning on tamarindo for the first half of the trip so we can get the partying out of our system, then south most likely st/malpais area for the remainder. im bringing a couple boards and heard great things about avellanas so im definitely planning to check it out. would staying in avellana or playa grande be too much of a hike getting into the fun area of tamarindo at night?
you may want to consider flying into Liberia, it is much closer to the areas that you are planning to go to. My friends and I stayed in Grande and it only takes about 15 minutes to get to Tamarindo...if you know the shortcut
There is very little nightlife in Nosara. Your crew would be bored after sundown. Much better places in CR, as mentioned by others, than there for a trip like yours. Second the notion on flying into LIR.
There are over 50 places listed in the Costa Rica Surf Trip rentals: http://www.swellinfo.com/rentals/costa-rica
not a bad idea! but im not so sure the girls will be into that. we already booked into SJO as we were originally planning to spend some time in jaco. after some research on the area and consistency of surf in the northern part of guanacaste we decided to move the trip north so were stuck with those flights. bummer. we found a sick place in playa grande for the tamarindo half of the trip. might stop in nosara on our way south but dont plan to stay there anymore. still undecided on where to stay in ST/malpais area. any more recommendations?
blackfish was just in MP/ST. maybe he'll have some. I gave him a couple of names of my friends that may or may not still be there. as for cheap, this time of year is like coming to VB in July/August. Iffin you wanted cheap, 2 weeks after Easter is the beginning of cheap time
If you do decide on staying in Playa Grande the nice thing is its relatively close to everything so you could actually stay there the entire time and then just do day trips or whatever. If you decide to go further south than Guanacaste then I would stay down south somewhere. Avoid Jaco at all costs! Actually there's a little town south of Jaco about 30-45 minutes called Quepos. Its a killer little town that is spread up and down the mountain along the coast. When you first get there you have the actual little town and jettys. Then you wind up the mountain/hill and there's some really cool hotels and restaurants/bars. The view is insane up there! Then you wind down the hill and that's where the beach is. Just past the little stip of beach is Manuel Antonio National Park. They have some really cool birds, lizards, monkey's and even sloths that you can check out.
thanks wavehog1. thats pretty much reinforces my impression of playa grande so i think were settled there. if we decide to go further south of guanacaste then quepos will be our spot. im pretty convinced were going to stay north at this point though for simplicity and wrap up in st/mp area. chicharrone - i feel ya but we didnt really have a choice on time of year this time around with the groups vacation availability and conflicts with work. id def go a different time of year in an ideal world. im gonna look into zaneidas. thanks!
