Surf and sun are the names of the game at Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, where can be found the indulgent Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve just up the road.

Along with surfing at Santa Teresa, there are canopy tours, horseback riding tours, hiking, kayaking and more. There is plenty for all pleasure seekers to participate in, and the beach is there for you to unwind in the sand with the pleasant sound of ocean waves and the surrounding wildlife. Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve, which is about five kilometers away, is also the first nature reserve of Costa Rica and boasts over seven thousand acres of marine and terrestrial protected areas.

If surf is on your agenda for Santa Teresa, you can check the daily report here. The waves break well here all year, but the best time to surf is in the rainy season which lasts from May to the end of November. The waves can be dangerously large in the rainy months, so it isn’t advised that beginning surfers venture out in the big surf.

Accommodations in the Santa Teresa area range from budget friendly hostels to slightly higher priced hotels and bed and breakfasts. There are also apartments available in the area for extended stays. Some of the area lodgings include Canaima Chill House, Blue Jay Lodge, Florblanca and Funky Monkey Lodge.

Being that Playa Santa Teresa offers a lot of recreation activities, you may want to bring a swimsuit, a surfboard, snorkeling gear, a camera, hiking boots, sun screen and a water bottle. It won’t be hard to head for the rainforest one day, and then hit the beach the next in this spot on the Nicoya Peninsula. There are also more than two dozen other beaches within a short distance of Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

Santa Teresa can be reached on the road in two ways from San Jose and the international airport in the central valley. Either via the Naviera ferry from Paquera or Puntarenas to Tambor, or around the Gulf of Nicoya. Going around the gulf, San Jose is seven hours and one minute away, but across the gulf it is six hours and fifty minutes away. The international airport in Alajuela is around five hours both ways, but it is a little bit longer around the gulf, too. Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia is three hours and thirty nine minutes from Santa Teresa.
Location: Playa Santa Teresa, Guanacaste.
Items to bring: swimsuit, surfboard, snorkeling gear, camera, hiking boots, sun screen, water bottle
Distance from San Jose: 7 hrs 1 min, 6 hrs 50 mins (ferry)
Distance from Liberia: 3 hrs 39 mins
Hotels nearby: Canaima Chill House, Blue Jay Lodge, Florblanca and Funky Monkey Lodge
Ways to get here: bus, private shuttle, rental car, plane, ferry