Costa Rica is certainly known for its beaches. Heck, even Christopher Columbus noticed that, which is why he gave the land its name, Costa Rica, or “Rich Coast.”
Perhaps three of the most well-known and popular Costa Rica beaches are Jaco, Manuel Antonio and Dominical, albeit for different reasons.
Part of that is their proximity and ease of access from the nation’s capital, San Jose. The only true coastal highway in the country is the “Costanera”, which spans the distance from the Port of Caldera to where it intersects with the Pan American highway in Palmer Norte, a distance of approximately 223 kilometers (139 miles). The condition of this highway has improved greatly over the last decade or so and now ranks as one of Costa Rica’s best infrastructural achievements. Since all three of the beaches in this tale of three are located along the Costanera, they rank as some of the most accessible in the country.
Jaco Beach
This beach has long been one of Costa Rica’s most active ones, due to its close proximity to San Jose. It’s a place where locals from the big city can flock for sunshine and waves on the weekends. Tourists go there in droves as well.
There was once a time when to get there you had to go up and over the Monte de Aguacate, which was a perilous and usually traffic congested route. However, since the construction of the new Caldera Highway, the drive time to get from San Jose to Jaco has been cut down to under two hours. That has certainly helped to increase Jaco’s popularity, as well as the other beaches a bit further south.
Jaco is the beach town that never sleeps. It’s a continuous party. For some that is appealing. For others, not so much. But if you’re looking to party, Jaco will certainly deliver.
Jaco also has some decent waves and the beach of Playa Hermosa just next door, offers some of Costa Rica’s best barrels.
Jaco has become more and more commercialized over the years. These days it’s basically a city in itself, which you cannot really say about the other two beaches in our tale. Jaco offers an wide array of shopping, dining and nightlife attractions for all ages. There are also some interesting natural attractions nearby, like the Tarcoles National Park, with its enormous salt-water crocodiles.
Manuel Antonio
A little less than an hour south of Jaco is the town of Quepos and just past that little fishing village is the beach of Manuel Antonio, with the most popular and oft visited National Park in the country.
Quepos has historically been a place most beach-goers would quickly bypass on their way to the beautiful white sand of Manuel Antonio. However, that is changing a bit these days with the continuing development of the new Pez Vela Marina, which is really transforming downtown Quepos into a tourist destination in its own right.
Manuel Antonio is a much more family friendly atmosphere than the hard-core party that prevails in Jaco. Also, the thing that really draws folks to this area is the natural beauty of it. In Manuel Antonio you are literally surrounded by dense tropical jungle, teaming with monkeys and other forms of Costa Rican wildlife that millions come every year to experience.
The National Park is the smallest in the country, but also the most visited. The small area is full of many forms of wildlife and you’re almost guaranteed to see a couple of different species of monkeys and perhaps a sloth, or other adorable (or not so) jungle critter. The park also has several gorgeous white sand beaches with crystal blue waters.
Manuel Antonio is a small area and it has become quite commercialized. It still retains that super tropical ambiance, but there you can find almost as much in the way of variety, in terms of great boutique hotels, international and local cuisine, shopping and nightlife, as in Jaco.
Manuel Antonio is a great family-friendly option if you’re looking for an experience of Costa Rica’s natural wonders without getting too far off the beaten path.
Dominical
For many years there was one unfinished section of the Costanera Highway. And that was the part between Quepos and Dominical. Before it was finally paved several years ago it ranked as one of the worst stretches of “highway” in the country, with rain-water filled potholes you could literally disappear in. Well, all that is no more. These days the drive time has been cut down from as much as two hours, to about 25 minutes. I like to call this newest stretch of the Costanera the Costa Rica version of the Autobahn.
Dominical is a far less commercialized beach than either Jaco or Manuel Antonio. In fact, despite the improvement to the Costanera that drastically cut down the drive time to get there, it still retains its bohemian surfer beach feel. Many predicted a development boom, but it really hasn’t arrived yet.
One really cool aspect of this part of Costa Rica’s coast, which is now technically the “southern zone“, is that the mountains virtually hug the coastline. That makes it a breathtakingly scenic stretch of coastline, which I sometimes refer to as Costa Rica’s “Big Sur.”
If you’re a surfer, well then you’re going to love Dominical. It has some of the most consistently good waves in the country, that can at times get very big and powerful. But if Dominical is too big and hairy for you, then there’s a beach close by, like Dominicalito or Playa Hermosa, that could be just the right size. Like I said, this area of Costa Rica is a surfer’s dream.
Dominical is a tiny little beach town, which still has only a dirt road running through the main part of it. Nevertheless, in recent years it has developed a bit more and now there are quite a few really cool and bohemian restaurants, bars and shops. Dominical prides itself on being super sustainable and hip and most of what you will find there has sort of a counter-cultural ambiance.
A little further south there are attractions like the Whale’s Tail of the Marino Ballena National Park. There are also several little “secret” hideaway beaches, like Playa Ventanas, that are real gems.
If you’re looking for a great beach experience of Costa Rica, you might want to try one, or all three, of these Costa Rica beaches. They are easy to get to and offer a whole lot of fun for every interest and age group.
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