Costa Rica (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Matthew Firestone [232]
Liberia ₡1200; 2½ hours; departs 13 times per day from 4:30am to 6:30pm.
San José ₡4860; six hours; departs 3:30am and 5:30am. Alternatively, take a bus to Liberia and change for frequent buses to the capital.
Santa Cruz ₡300; 1½ hours; departs 6am, 9am, noon, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm.
CAR & TAXI
By car from Liberia, take Hwy 21 to Belén, then Hwy 155 via Huacas to Tamarindo. If you’re coming from the southern peninsula, drive just past Santa Cruz, turn left on the paved road to 27 de Abril, then northwest on a decent dirt road for 19km to Tamarindo. These routes are well signed.
A taxi to or from Santa Cruz costs about ₡11,000, and ₡22,000 to or from Liberia. Alternatively, consider a minibus shuttle service. Tropical Tours (2640-1900) offers door-to-door service to Montezuma and Mal País (US$40 per person, 4½ hours). Tamarindo Shuttle (2653-2727; www.tamarindoshuttle.com) services Liberia (US$18 per person, 1½ hours).
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Getting Around
Boats on the northern end of the beach can be hired to cross the estuary for daytime visits to the beach at Playa Grande. The ride is roughly ₡690 per person, depending on the number of people.
Many visitors arrive in rental cars. If you get here by air or bus, you can rent bicycles and dirt bikes in town (Click here). There’s no gas station, but you can buy expensive gas from drums at the hardware store near the entrance to town. (It’s cheaper to fill up in Santa Cruz or at the gas station in Huacas.) Cars can be rented from Alamo (2653-0727) or Economy Rent-a-Car (2653-0752).
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PLAYAS AVELLANAS & NEGRA
These popular surfing beaches have some of the best, most consistent waves in the area, made famous in the surf classic Endless Summer II (one of the breaks off Avellanas is known as ‘Pequeño Hawaii’). The beaches begin 15km south of Tamarindo. To get there from Tamarindo, backtrack 5km to the village of Villareal, and turn right onto the dirt road. This road gets progressively worse and requires a 4WD most times of the year (in the wet season there are three rivers to cross). Though the difficult access keeps the area refreshingly uncrowded, development here is inevitable. But concerned locals have taken steps to create a plan for sustainable growth before development has a chance to get out of hand, forming the Association of Playa Avellanas to that end.
Playa Avellanas is a long stretch of white sand backed by mangroves, and Playa Negra, a few kilometers further south, is a darker, caramel-color beach broken up by rocky outcrops. At Avellanas, Little Hawaii is a powerful and open-faced right at medium tide, while Beach Break barrels at low tide (though the surfing is good any time of day). Playa Negra has a world-class right that barrels, especially with a moderate offshore wind. In between is the community of Playa Lagartillo, with a few cabinas and sodas scattered along the road.
If you’re not coming from Tamarindo, head west on the paved highway from Santa Cruz, through 27 de Abril to Paraíso, then follow the signs or ask locals. (This is a confusing area to drive through as road signs sometimes face only one direction.)
While you’re at the beach, be absolutely certain that nothing is visible in your car as professional thieves operate in this area, and they will remove your window even for a broken flip-flop or moldy sarong.
The recommended Avellanas Surf School (2652-9042; www.avellanassurfschool.com), near the southern entrance of the beach, has surfboard lessons (US$35) and board rentals (US$15 per day). Café Playa Negra (2652-9351; www.playanegracafe.com; 7am-9pm) has a laundry service (₡3500 per load) and internet access (₡1000 per hour).
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Sleeping & Eating
PLAYA AVELLANAS
The following places to stay and eat are very spread out around Playa Avellanas.
Rancho