Jacó and Playa Hermosa

Jacó is the beach nearest to San José and has been the capital's weekend coast for decades, which made it the most developed and least tranquil town on the central Pacific: a long grey-sand beach, a strip of hotels, restaurants and nightlife behind it, and a beginner-friendly break that fills with surf schools. Five kilometres south, Playa Hermosa is the opposite: a fast, heavy, hollow beach break over a steep shore, one of the most serious waves in the country, host to international contests and no place to learn. The forested hills behind both hold scarlet macaws, and Carara is twenty minutes north.

What you actually see

• The Jacó break - forgiving beach waves and a wall of surf schools.
• Playa Hermosa - fast and heavy, for experienced surfers only.
• The macaws - flying between Carara and the coast at dawn and dusk.
• The hills behind - forest running down to the coastal strip.

When to go

Surf runs year-round with the biggest swells from May to November, which is also the wet season. December to April is dry and busiest with Costa Rican visitors. Weekends are considerably busier than weekdays.

Honest expectations

Jacó has a reputation for nightlife that includes an open and widely reported sex trade, and the town after dark is not to everyone's taste. Petty theft on the beach is common. Riptides are strong and drownings occur. Playa Hermosa is genuinely dangerous for anyone not already a strong surfer, with a heavy shore break.

Nearby

Carara is twenty minutes north; Manuel Antonio is an hour south.