Nosara

Nosara is really several settlements: the Tico town inland, Playa Guiones with the surf and most of the visitors, Playa Pelada with the tide pools, and the Ostional refuge to the north. What distinguishes it is a set of covenants dating from the original 1970s development, which restricted building height and required tree cover, so the forest still runs down almost to the beach and howler monkeys move through the canopy above the hotels. Guiones has a consistent beach break that works most days of the year. The town has become a centre for yoga and wellness to a degree that is now part of its identity.

What you actually see

• Playa Guiones - a consistent beach break along several kilometres.
• The forest cover - kept by building covenants down to the sand.
• Playa Pelada - tide pools and a blowhole at the northern end.
• Howler monkeys - moving through the canopy above the town.

When to go

December to April is the dry season, hot and dusty. May to November brings green, big surf and afternoon rain, and the roads deteriorate. Ostional arribadas occur through the wet season half of the year.

Honest expectations

The access roads are notoriously bad, deeply potholed in the dry season and part-flooded in the wet, and a four-wheel drive is effectively required. Prices are among the highest in the country and the town is heavily foreign. Riptides at Guiones are strong and there is limited lifeguard cover. Water supply has been a recurring problem in the dry season.

Nearby

Ostional is twenty minutes north; Sámara is an hour and a half south.