santa teresa, CR
Santa Teresa is a pretty hot point of contention for me. I personally really don't like Santa Teresa, but that is just me and based on the way I travel. If anyone reads this that loves it or lives there, it's not all bad below. Santa Teresa has absolutely exploded in the last 5 years, especially since Covid. It's one of the places that has seen a substantial boom in recent years like Tulum. The Tulumification is surely in full force here. Let me preface everything with what I am about to say with, there are certain people, traveling in a certain manner, looking for certain things, where Santa Teresa is the perfect destination. For me, that was not the case. I went with my family on a trip to Costa Rica in 2008. Santa Teresa was a scarcely populated little surf town. With no ATM's, it was very very hard to get to, there were a handful of restaurants, some little family run hotels and beautiful beaches. That was it. The Santa Teresa today looks more like Bali. With fancy luxury beach clubs, high end restaurants, every bit of beach front is developed along the one dirt road that runs along the beach, and there are high end hotels, boutiques and hostels all over the place. Dust covers the road with traffic from the tourists driving around their rented Airbnbs. Santa Teresa has become overrun with foreigners looking for a vacation or a rustic-seeming place to live. It's full of digital nomads with nearly no budget, and a lot of people who have no interest in the culture of the place that they are. Well, to be totally honest, the majority of the culture has long been sucked out of this place anyways. As a result of all of this, the place is ludicrously expensive. I went to a simple breakfast place and on the menu was a rice and chicken bowl for $18 USD. I wasn't on the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel or anything, — just simply in a normal restaurant in Santa Teresa. The prices and over-tourism have all but driven the locals from the area. My local friends who have been there forever (both expat and Tico) have been forced to move about 15 minutes away from town, as a result of rising rent prices. They are now electing to leave Santa Teresa all together. This is what's happening here. All while it becomes more and more popular with Instagram influencer types, and eventually, spring breakers. Santa Teresa 10 years ago, was paradise. A surf destination with chill people, beautiful beaches, warm water year round, and a relatively free lifestyle. Today that has totally changed. It's a comfortable little oasis for people looking to travel and post on their Instagrams that they are riding ATV's around in paradise while also working for their marketing company in the States. I am being harsh on this place. Yes. I just think that if you are traveling for a long time, there is no reason to spend time in Santa Teresa. It's expensive, it lacks the culture and uniqueness it once had and that other places in say, Nicaragua, still have. You can do better with your time. However, as I said earlier, this place is perfect for some people. What might come as a surprise based on the ramblings above, I frequently recommend this place to friends from home, who are looking for a place to go for a week or two. Santa Teresa is easy. You don't need to speak Spanish. It's going to be interesting from a nature perspective, and you will certainly feel like you are not at home anymore. But at the same time, you have almost all the same comforts as home. There's lots of places to stay, beautiful villas, hotels, and Airbnbs that have air-conditioning and will be super comfortable. The wifi is great. The food will look and taste just like you are used to. So if you are looking for a place to come for a few weeks, feel free, and live in a beautiful place, and have relatively no budget, then Santa Teresa is perfect for you. You will have a great time. All that being said, the people visiting and living in Santa Teresa are cool. I have lots of friends who live there, and spend lots of time there. It's just not the place for me. 10 years ago, sign me up. But today, it's more reminiscent of Tulum than the slowed-down surf paradise of past.
Considering its booming popularity, Santa Teresa is actually extremely hard to get to. Well, by land that is. Most people these days are just flying into the nearby regional airport which has lots of daily service to San Jose. The other way is to get a car, or take a bus. If you are driving in yourself, read the driving section. I had a massive problem driving through a deep river, which effectively killed my car for a week. So there's an easy way, and a hard way.
BY AIR - The most common and certainly easiest way to get here is by plane. The airport you need to fly into is called 'Cobano' and is located here. It's about a 30-minute drive from the entrance to Santa Teresa Beach. The flight will cost $130 one way to San Jose, and take 30 minutes. You can buy flights here.
BY BUS -
1. The easiest method is just going to be taking the shuttle. You can book it here, and it costs $50.
2. The public bus option is pretty easy as well, but it will not take you directly to Santa Teresa. This company here will take you from San Jose to Cobano. The same city where the airport is. It's about a 30-minute taxi ride from Cobano to Santa Teresa Beach. The bus from San Jose to Cobano is $15, and will take about 6 hours. To get from Cobano to Santa Teresa, the taxi will be about $25. So, you are still spending $40 to get here with the public bus option. Just take the direct shuttle.
BY CAR -
1. From San Jose - Getting here by car is not the easiest thing in the world. There are two ways in. If you are coming from San Jose, you will need to get to a town called Puntarenas. It's about a 1 hour 40 minute drive. Here you will catch a ferry to Naranjo that takes you over to the Nicoya Peninsula. The schedule is here. It costs $24 one way, and you should plan on an hour-and-a-half. From Naranjo it's an easy hour-and-a-half drive around the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula into Santa Teresa. It's almost all paved, and easy. The road is called 'Ruta Nacional 160'. All said and done, the trip can be done in as little as 5 hours.
2. From the North of the Nicoya Peninsula - This is the one where it gets pretty tricky. If you are already up north in the Nicoya Peninsula, like Nosara or Samara or something, there are two ways in. There is the long one, and the short one. Let's just say that you have gotten yourself to Samara. The bottom of highway 160 before cutting inland. The photo below is your options. I highly recommend taking the long way, the one that goes inland and around. It's an extra ~100kms, and about 20 minutes, but the shortcut Google tells you to take requires two EXTREMELY large river crossings. Unless you have a snorkel and a big 4x4, I would not recommend it. My car ended up like below, and I was stuck in no man's land for hours. — Just take the long way, it's paved, easy, and there's plenty of off-road exploring to do around Santa Teresa.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
There are housing options everywhere. At this point the entire beach is just short-term or long-term housing options. Most of the locals don't even live by the beach anymore.
A lot of people who come here for a week or so with a group of people will elect to get an Airbnb in the form of a villa, or something like that.
There's lots of really nice little boutique hotels and stuff like that which will cost about a million dollars. There still exist some hostels and stuff for the backpackers though. I will get into those below. The hostels will be expensive though. Almost everything will be over $20. Unfortunately, there aren't even that many hostel options left.
Everything here is along one stretch of road, so it's all close to the beach and well located enough.
I know people who have stayed here and apparently the vibe is really nice. The people around are super cool and all that. Surf vibe. But it's expensive. $33 for a dorm. If you want a really good vibe from a hostel, but don't have a budget this is a good choice.
Another really good option where you will find cool people but again, it's going to be very expensive. At $34 a night for a dorm, it's one of the reasons I never spent much time here.
So this is probably my favorite spot in Santa Teresa. They are a surf shop, hotel and hostel, and a really good restaurant. The inside is done extremely well, and they really do everything well to be honest. But it's going to be very very expensive. $60 for a dorm. Whoa. If you have no budget come stay here, — the vibes are excellent, but if you are a backpacker, best to just come here and get a drink or some lunch.
One of the cheaper options in town that's going to be a nice environment as well. $20 for a dorm here. It won't be as nice as the others, but it's a place to sleep, and it's about as cheap as you can find in town.
This is a great option. It's right next to Somos, which is kind of a gathering place for cool people so you are right in it. It's all the way at the northern part of the beach which I prefer, because I think it's more chill than the other parts. This one also won't be that expensive. — Around $23 for a dorm.
EATS
There is good international food all over the place. You can find Tico food still as well, but international food places have come to take over this place.
You can find good food from pretty much anywhere in the world, but it's not going to be priced all that different from a country like the US or Australia.
There are so many more options than I am listing here. Like I have said, the whole beach is pretty much restaurants and hotels.
Restaurants
Really good food and vibes here. It was one of my favorite places to just come hang out and grab some food.
The most famous place in the city. It's a little breakfast spot that is packed every morning with people, and the food is really good. — Lots of healthy options as well.
My favorite restaurant in Santa Teresa. It's a tiny cute little cafe with outdoor seating and couches. They have an outstanding breakfast burrito. It's also in the more chill northern part of the beach. — A must.
Chill place to grab some tacos or other Mexican food. Prices are good, and they are open late.
A really expensive but nice place right on the beach. Feels more like you are in Bali. I spent like 3 days' budget at this place. Food was good though.
Great place to get local food. The local places here are called 'Sodas'.
Good Asian food that's not crazy-expensive for the area either.
Fancy spot for expensive seafood. If you want to go on a nice date or something, this is a good place. They looked at me weird for not having shoes on.
Another great option for local food. A great way to support the locals that are still here working as well.
NIGHTLIFE
I didn't go out too much in Santa Teresa. Drinks are expensive, and it would have very quickly depleted my money. So I elected no to go out a whole lot, but there is certainly a very big nightlife scene here.
It's a place that has big beach clubs, as well as smaller little bars. One of the biggest social activities here is also just going down to the beach with beers at sunset, and just hanging out. Below are some of the bars and stuff that I went to.
A huge thing here too is the jungle parties. So keep an eye out for those.
Bars and Clubs
One of the main beach clubs that people go to during the day and at night. It's really popular around sunset. They have little artisan stalls set up with people selling clothes, occasionally fire dancers, music, and it's right on the beach. A nice place to check out.
A bar on the non-beach side of the road. It's pretty crowded with people every night, and it's a fine place to come and get drunk and meet people.
They usually have DJs on the weekends and things get pretty fun and vibey here. One of the places you will find a cooler group of people, just given what Somos is.
Santa Teresa is known for this one — every Saturday night there is a jungle party that goes pretty much all night, and almost everyone goes. You have to buy tickets, and they are linked here.
This is a place to come and have some drinks in Mal Pais. They also have good pizza, and Mal Pais is an area worth checking out anyways.
This isn't really anywhere near Santa Teresa but it's in the area. It's an awesome brewery near the Montezuma Waterfall. Definitely make a stop here for some beers while you are over there. Tucked right up into the jungle.
SIGHTS
Santa Teresa is in a beautiful part of Costa Rica. This is undeniable. The town is really crowded though. There's a few other little towns or parts of the area that I would recommend checking out while you are in town.
There's plenty here to keep you really busy but if I can recommend anything, it's going to check out the other, maybe slightly less crowded parts of the region.
Mal Pais is a smaller little village to the South of Santa Teresa. I found that it had an entirely different vibe to Santa Teresa. Much more down to earth, slow, and most importantly less crowded. If I was to stay here for a long time, this is probably where I would live.
In recent years this has become the luxury home area of Santa Teresa. Like Tom Brady and Tom Cruise have houses there. But it's a lot quieter, and it's a good place to go and escape the dust in Santa Teresa.
Another beautiful and very quiet beach to the north. It's even past Playa Hermosa, so it's not going to be crowded or anything like that. — Easy to take an ATV up here. Not really anything except for some hotels nearby going on here.
The Montezuma Waterfall is an awesome day-trip here. It's not far from Santa Teresa, — especially if you have an ATV, and it's an easy little hike down to a stunning waterfall and swimming hole.
— Not sure what it used to be, but now it is a cool abandoned building covered in graffiti on your way to a really quiet and beautiful beach called 'Playa Cuavas'. It's just a cool thing to check out and take some pictures of.
A really mellow little beach to the north of Playa Malpais. It's tranquil, and there will never really be anyone there. — Good spot to come and escape the crowds.
SURF
Santa Teresa is a huge destination for people to come and learn how to surf or to just surf in general. It's a really forgiving beach break, so beginners and intermediate surfers love it. More on that below.
SURFING
Santa Teresa area is essentially just a bunch of beach breaks. At least the places that are well-known and close to Santa Teresa are. There's a few beach breaks within spitting distance of downtown Santa Teresa, and none of them are all that different from one another.
The best thing that the surfing in Santa Teresa is for, I would say, is for people who are learning or who want to get better. The wave is really forgiving, and it's frankly just easy to learn on and get better while surfing. None of my actual surfer friends would tell you that they are heading to Santa Teresa for a surf trip. The waves here just aren't good enough to warrant that. They can certainly be good, but they won't be performance, 'blow-you-away' kind of stuff. Just like any beach break it can certainly have its days, but if you are an advanced surfer looking for amazing A frame barrels or point breaks, this probably isn't the place for you.
No matter who you are essentially, you can have fun surfing in Santa Teresa. It's almost always manageable, and there are pretty much waves year round. Like the rest of the Central American Pacific, the season here is April through September. That's when the waves will be bigger and better for your more advanced people out there. During season, waves can get really big and barrel. So if you want big waves here, then season is the time to come.
RENT AN ATV
It's pretty much what everyone does, but it really opens up the things that you can do here. They can be expensive, but it's pretty life-changing to have transportation here.
