Playa Conchal

Conchal is named for what it is made of: instead of sand, the beach is a deep layer of crushed shell fragments, white and pink and coarse underfoot, deposited over centuries and unlike anything else on the coast. The bay behind it is sheltered enough that the water is calm and clearer than the Pacific usually manages, which makes the snorkelling around the rocky ends worthwhile. Access is deliberately awkward: the easiest route is a twenty-minute walk south along the beach from the village of Brasilito, which keeps the numbers down compared with the resort that sits behind the northern end.

What you actually see

• The shell beach - crushed shell instead of sand, white and pink.
• The clear water - unusually so for the Pacific side.
• Snorkelling - around the rocky headlands at either end.
• The walk from Brasilito - the twenty-minute approach along the shore.

When to go

December to April is the dry season and the water clearest. Weekday mornings are quietest. Vendors and boat tours arrive through the middle of the day. The walk from Brasilito is easier at lower tide.

Honest expectations

The shell surface is coarse and sharp on bare feet and reflects heat fiercely; shoes help. Shell removal is prohibited and enforced, and the beach has visibly thinned where people have taken it anyway. Day boats and vendors crowd the northern end. The resort behind it restricts land access, so the beach walk is the practical route.

Nearby

Brasilito is twenty minutes' walk north; Tamarindo is half an hour south.