SJO - Juan Santamaria Int. Airport → Tamarindo (Guanacaste)

Tamarindo is the best-known beach town in Guanacaste: a long, gentle surf beach with lessons every morning, a walkable centre full of restaurants, cafés and surf shops, and sunsets watched from the sand by the whole town. Playa Langosta to the south and Playa Grande across the estuary offer quieter options a few minutes away.

It suits first-time visitors and groups who want everything within walking distance, and it is the base most travellers pick for a first Costa Rica beach week.

Liberia Airport to Tamarindo is about 65 km and 50 to 70 minutes on paved roads via Belén and Huacas. Your driver takes Route 21 south, then west through cattle country before the first glimpse of the Pacific at Villarreal. From Flamingo or Conchal it is 25 minutes; from Playas del Coco about an hour. Drop-off is at your hotel or condo door, including the villas up the hill in Tamarindo Heights and Playa Langosta.

• The estuary boat to Playa Grande costs a couple of dollars and runs on demand from the north end of the beach.
• Surf lessons are best at mid to low tide in the morning, when the wind is calm.
• Tamarindo is walkable end to end in 15 minutes; a rental car mostly sits in a paid parking lot.
• Book dinner on Saturday nights in high season; the good places fill up.