Beaches of Costa Rica: Driving the Coast

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After 2 weeks near San Jose in a burb called Escazu, I decided it was time to head to the beach to pick a possible base to travel from while I explore Central America. Here are the major choices I found along the way:

Playa de Coco: Gorgeous countryside and beaches. Medium in terms of human development; small in size, walkable, quaint. A few people going late into the night, but more relaxed in general.

Playa de Tamarinda: Gorgeous countryside and beaches. More developed, more restaurant choices, more first world visitors. Suitable for people who want to dance all night, and maybe skinny dip to cool off after.

Jaco: Eww. Big rocky, littered beaches. Major human development. Some obvious prostitution, major foreign influences, higher crime, less quaint. The crowd approaches what we would call “trailer park” in the USA (they may in fact have imported many of these people from trailer parks in the USA). It does have more centralized walkable night life as you would expect.

Montezuma: Gorgeous countryside; smaller beaches. Small, quaint, hippy-ville? Young and fun? Amazing stretches of camping areas west of town. Smell of ganja in the air. Ya man. Some night life but more likely to be small gatherings. Not many restaurant choices but organic food is around. The Rastafarians have landed. Very nice peaceful place.

Manuel Antonio/Quepos: Gorgeous and amazing countryside, beautiful smaller beaches, only a few hours from the International airport. Great restaurants and nightlife. Right now I think I would pick this place to live, if push came to shove, although Tamarinda is a very close second, or first; still on the fence.

Now I head to the airport to pick up some friends, Matt and Brina.

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Comments

[Mom]

It all looks wonderful and very relaxing. I hope you are enjoying South America. I guess you will probable not be in Costa Rica when Deb and I arrive in March. W e'll track you and maybe we can still hook up. Love ya, MOM osta