Tamarindo

Tamarindo is the most developed beach town in Guanacaste — which cuts both ways. You trade some quiet for walkability: dozens of restaurants, surf schools on the sand, boats anchored off the beach, and tour pickups at your door. As a base for doing things rather than just lying on a towel, nothing else on this coast matches it.

The beach itself is a long, sandy crescent with gentle waves close to shore — the reason it's one of the world's most popular places to learn to surf. The estuary at the north end borders Las Baulas National Marine Park and its mangroves; the rocky point south leads around to Playa Langosta.

A common shape for a Tamarindo week: one boat day (usually the sunset sail), one inland day (Rincón de la Vieja or Río Celeste), surf lessons in the mornings, and the rest left unplanned. Most visitors overplan; the town rewards slack in the schedule.