Learn to surf in Costa Rica

Beginner surf spots in Costa Rica

Quietest first.

Where to learn, area by area

Tamarindo · Guanacaste

• Playa Grande: Just across the estuary from Tamarindo, Playa Grande is a long, swell-magnet beachbreak that catches more size than its neighbours and rewards a pushing tide with punchy, well-organised peaks. It works across a wide band of swell directions, from south-west groundswell to winter's north-west pulses, and because the beach is long the crowd spreads thin compared to town.
• Tamarindo: Tamarindo is Guanacaste's main surf town, with plenty of places to eat, drink and rent boards. The Estero rivermouth at the north end throws up fast, shifting peaks that are the pick of the bunch when a swell is running, while the main beach offers gentle, straight-handed reforms that make it one of Costa Rica's great learn-to-surf classrooms.

A week here costs from about $822 with flights from Europe, or around $1,596 travelling comfortably. See other surf trips under $1,000 →

Nosara & the south · Guanacaste

• Ostional: Ostional offers fun, lip-smacking walls without the crowds that plague the marquee names, and that easy-going character is the whole draw. The beachbreak peaks are user-friendly and playful, ideal for turning practice and long, relaxed sessions, and the wider area even hides a quality left for those who go looking.
• Nosara (Playa Guiones N): Nosara is a three-kilometre ribbon of consistent, easy-going beachbreak that has become the wellness-and-surf capital of the Nicoya coast. The peaks are forgiving and roll in with metronomic regularity, which makes this one of the most reliable places in the country to learn or to log endless mellow rides between yoga sessions.
• Playa Guiones: Playa Guiones is the punchier end of the Nosara set-up, where the beachbreak finds a bit more shape and shove and draws surfers looking to move beyond the whitewater. The main stretch offers well-organised peaks that hold their form across the tides, and there's a reef-and-sand right at the north end that sharpens things up when the swell has some size.

Mal País & Santa Teresa · Golfo de Nicoya

• Playa Coyote: Playa Coyote is a long, wild beach south of Mal País with a short right point off the headland near the beach hotels. The point is slow and easy, a good place for improvers to practise turns without a crowd.
• Playa Santa Teresa: Santa Teresa has rocketed from sleepy fishing hamlet to mainstream surf-and-yoga hotspot, and the wave is the reason: a white-sand beachbreak that's hollow, consistent and especially good at the lower tides. Peaks stand up all along the strand, offering everything from punchy barrels for the confident to easier reforms for improvers, which is why the line-up is rarely empty.
• Playa Carmen (Mal País): Playa Carmen is where the action concentrates in Mal País, right at the point the Cobano road spills onto the sand. Small to medium peaky south swells hit the triangular sandbars and serve up a bit of everything: the odd tubing section, tapered shoulders and plenty of playful walls that suit a broad range of surfers.

A week here costs from about $822 with flights from Europe, or around $1,631 travelling comfortably. See other surf trips under $1,000 →

Jacó & Playa Hermosa · Golfo de Nicoya

• Playa Jacó: Jacó is Costa Rica's busiest surf town, full of hotels, surf shops and bars, about an hour and a half from San José airport. The beach break in front of town is average, best at high tide, with soft peaks that make it a popular place for lessons.
• Esterillos Oeste: Esterillos Oeste is a long south-facing beach with some lava reef just outside, about 20 minutes south of Jacó. The peaks are soft and usually uncrowded, good for improvers.

Quepos & Manuel Antonio · Central Puntarenas

• Playitas: The tourist magnet of Manuel Antonio National Park has fun but semi-consistent beachbreak options along the 3km of Playa Espadilla, and the north-west corner at Playitas holds the best waves from mid to high tide. There's also an outer reef right-hander that lights up with a solid swell and a high tide, adding a step of quality to the sand-bottom peaks.
• Playa Matapalo: Another quiet stretch of endless peaks with no crowds, Playa Matapalo is a laid-back beachbreak between Quepos and Dominical that rewards surfers who like space over spectacle. The long grey-sand beach throws up user-friendly peaks all along its length, spreading what little crowd there is until you're effectively surfing on your own.

A week here costs from about $794 with flights from Europe, or around $1,712 travelling comfortably. See other surf trips under $1,000 →

Dominical & Uvita · Central Puntarenas

• Dominicalito: Dominicalito is a small bay just south of Dominical, sheltered by the headland. It's smaller and softer than Dominical, so beginners and improvers come here when the main beach is too heavy.
• Punta Dominical: Punta Dominical is the left point at the south end of Dominical. When it's small it's a slow, easy wave that beginners can ride.
• Playa Hermosa (Uvita): Playa Hermosa near Uvita is a long beach backed by jungle hills, with waves that are usually about half the size of Dominical. It's cleaner and softer, which makes it a good place for beginners, improvers and longboarders.
• Punta Uvita: Punta Uvita is in the Marino Ballena national park, next to the sandbar shaped like a whale's tail that you can walk out on at low tide. The point shelters the beach, so the waves stay small and soft.
• Playa Ballena: Playa Ballena, inside the Marino Ballena national park, has slow, long waves and very few people, which makes it one of the best places to learn in the area. It works on a south-west swell.

Cabo Matapalo · Golfo Dulce

• Playa Carate: Playa Carate is the last beach before the Corcovado National Park boundary, at the end of the road past Cabo Matapalo. Its sandbanks near the rivermouth pick up any south or west swell, so it's where to go when the Matapalo points are flat.
• Pan Dulce: Pan Dulce is the easiest of the Cabo Matapalo waves: a long, slow right point over rocks inside the Golfo Dulce. On a decent south swell it often breaks in two sections, with long shoulders that suit longboards and single fins more than power surfing.

A week here costs from about $717 with flights from Europe, or around $1,701 travelling comfortably. See other surf trips under $1,000 →

Pavones & the south · Golfo Dulce

• Playa Zancudo: Playa Zancudo is a long beach deep inside the Golfo Dulce, next to a big rivermouth. The gulf blocks most swell, so it only gets a decent wave when the size and direction are right, and most of the time it's empty.
• Punta Banco: Punta Banco is 3 km south of Pavones, with coral reefs and empty beach-break peaks in front of Tiskita Lodge. It's where people go when Pavones is too small or too crowded.

Limón & the north · Limón

• Westfalia: En route to Cahuita, Westfalia is a 60km stretch of average but consistent beachbreak where the sandbanks are deserted but close out when the swell gets over 4ft. It's a mellow, uncrowded option for smaller days, user-friendly peaks along an empty black-sand beach where you'll rarely see another surfer.

A week here costs from about $738 with flights from Europe, or around $1,536 travelling comfortably. See other surf trips under $1,000 →

Puerto Viejo & the south · Limón

• Playa Negra (Cahuita): Don't expect crowds until close to Cahuita, whose national park attracts more trekkers and divers than surfers and remains uncrowded. The main beachbreak, Playa Negra, occasionally gets good tapering walls and holds a bit more size than the beaches around it, a relaxed, black-sand peak in one of the mellowest corners of the Caribbean coast.
• Playa Cocles: Playa Cocles is the beach just south of Puerto Viejo, with soft beach-break peaks that suit beginners. At the north end, next to a small island, a short left breaks at mid tide and has a bit more push until the swell gets overhead.

When to go

Any month. Learn in Guanacaste and on the Nicoya Peninsula from December to April, and on the central and southern Pacific beaches from May to November.

Best time to surf Costa Rica, month by month →

Months when at least one zone is at its best: January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · December