Today, Guanacaste is one of the most popular real estate and tourist sites in Costa Rica. It is with good reason that this province — which occupies 20% of Costa Rica’s national territory — has become the number one real estate  development region in the country; here you can find ten national parks or biological reserves, vast open green fields, hip beach towns, luxurious beach resorts, and several of the most beautiful beaches in the country, including some of the world’s best spots for surfing, scuba-diving, and sport fishing.
Located in the Nicoya Peninsula, situated at an altitude of 472 feet, Guanacaste has a population of about 270,000 inhabitants, an average climatic temperature of 80˚F, and about 57-79 inches of annual rainfall. Its main and only city is Liberia, an old town, with a quaint downtown and locally run shops and restaurants. With the opening of the Liberia International Airport (Daniel Oduber Airport) in 1995, Liberia has become a gateway to the sunny Guanacaste beaches. With hundreds to thousands of tourists flying into the area on a weekly basis, the city has begun to grow and bloom commercially. An initial example of this growth is Solarium, a large commercial center, which recently inaugurated the opening of its first stage right across the Daniel Oduber Airport. This commercial center consists of 116 venues suited for warehouses and businesses; the following, and second stage will be the Hilton Garden Inn. Upon its completion, approximately in 7 years, the project will consist of six stages that will include a shopping mall, industrial and residential estates, movie theaters and restaurants. This project foreshadows the future of this city, which already counts with a mall and all the amenities required to lead a comfortable, non-rural, lifestyle.
Liberia is the focal point from which you choose the direction you want to take; that is either towards the Tamarindo, Flamingo or Playas del Coco area, or towards Rincon de la Vieja Volcano and other national parks. Today, these regions comprise the Guanacaste province and account for the largest percentage of real estate growth in the country. Hotels such as the Four Season in Papagayo, and JW Marriot in Hacienda Pinilla, near Avellanas Beach, in addition to a $15 million dollar investment in the Papagayo Marina, are examples of the quality of investments being developed in the area. Overall, Guanacaste is a fun, relaxed, “pura vida”, and go with the flow and where the wave’s are kind of region. There is plenty to do: scuba diving, canopy rides, hiking, biking, surfing, fishing, white-water rafting, windsurfing, bird watching, water skiing, and much more. For those of you who are beach bums there is no place you would rather be, Tamarindo is an entertaining, medium-size town, with fashionable boutiques, fine dining, and an active nightlife. There are four other relatively close beaches worth visiting or staying in while in the area: Flamingo, Playa del Coco (Coco Beach), Avellanas Beach, and Playa Grande. No vacation or permanent stay could ever go wrong on any of these areas, their glistening waters and shiny beaches melt your troubles away the minute you get off the plane, and completely disappear once you feel the sand below your feet.
DEVELOPMENT AND BEACH DESCRIPTIONS:
Tamarindo:
Once a small, secluded surf town, today Tamarindo is one of the most popular beach towns in Costa Rica. Its surrounding areas are growing just as much as the town itself, which now includes all the amenities of city life, yet you get hear the waves crashing in as you walk down its streets. With towering condominiums rising throughout and new shopping centers replacing old torn down places, this ideally located town is undergoing a slow but real metamorphosis. An active nightlife, beautiful accommodations and wonderful food make this area not only a fun place to visit, but also a  great place to live for those of you who want to be near amazing waves, fishing, hiking, or simply co-existing with nature without the chaos of the city or the absolute exclusion of human contact or comfort.
Tamarindo Beach is a bay formed by a cape, Cabo Velas, which if not separated by a natural water estuary (Estero Tamarindo) would extend on to the north into what is known as Playa Grande, a national reserve and turtle nesting beach. To the south, there is also another estuary that separates Tamarindo from Playa Langosta, also a protected nesting area for the giant Leatherback sea turtle. Tamarindo beach is a great place for beginning surfers, and for where many sailing boats and fishing boats are parked. Several of the town’s restaurants, clubs and hotels face the beach while others are found throughout its main streets. Here you may find great cuisine, an Auto Mercado Restaurant, luxurious rising developments such as Tamarindo Heights and Tamarindo Preserve, and not too far away from the town La Meridiana Condominium Development. Furthermore, you can also find numerous fashionable and local boutiques that carry local jewelry, beautiful embroidered and patterned dresses, hand-made hammocks and unusual artifacts for home décor among others.
Places to Stay:
Tamarindo Vista Villas
El Jardin del Eden
Tamarindo Village
La Colina
Barcelo, Playa Langosta
Pueblo Dorado
Cala Luna
Tamarindo Diria Beach and Golf Resort
Capitan Suizo
Villa Alegre (Playa Langosta)
Luna Llena
Best Western Tamarindo
NightLife:
La Barra
Monkey Bar (Friday Nights)
Rey Sol
Yucca Bar (Hotel Pasatiempo, Tuesday Nights)
Babylon Bar
Mambo
Food and Dining:
Great Cigar Lounge & Factory
Pachanga Restaurant
Stella’s
Restaurant Maria Bonita
Tia Maria
Restaurant in Laguna del Cocodrilo Hotel
Gecko Restaurant
Taco Stop
Panaderia de Paris
Pedro’s (beachfront)
Copacabana
El Jardin del Eden: Catch of the Day (Hotel Rest.)
Brunos: Pizza
Kahiki
Playa Avellanas:
Hotels:
Hacienda Pinilla Resort
Cabinas Las Olas
Cabina Mauna Loa
Las Avellanas Villas
Food and Dining:
Hacienda Pinilla Restaurant
Lola’s Beach Bar and Restaurant
Mono Congo Lodge (in Playa Negra, about 5km away)
Playa Grande:
By far one of the most beautiful and popular beaches in the northern Pacific coast, Playa Grande is a long stretch of coral-white to coral grey sand-beach, with clear water, and consistent surfing. The entire shoreline is protected within the 445-hectare Las Baulas Marine National Park which guards the prime nesting site of the leatherback turtle on the Pacific coast, including 22,000 hectares out to sea. The beach was incorporated into the national park system in May 1990 after a 15-year battle between developers and conservationists. At issue is the fate of the leatherback turtle—and the amazing fact that humankind stands on the brink of terminating forever a miracle that has played itself out annually at Playa Grande for the past several million years. With not much trees to hide under, many waves to surf, an estuary to explore and a vast lengthy beach to walk on, this is one of the most spectacular beaches you will ever see. Neither too private nor too public, just in the tipping point, at night this beach is deserted and quiet.
Hotels:
Senorita Casas
Hotel Bula Bula
Hotel Villa Baula
RipJack Inn
Palm Beach Rentals
Hotel El Manglar
Hotel Las Tortugas
Food and Dining:
Pura Vida Café
Hotel and Restaurant Bula Bula
GUANACASTE WILDLIFE AND CULTURE:
· Museums:
- Museo del Sabanero (Cowboy Museum)
Located three blocks south and one block east of the Municipal Building in Liberia, the Cowboy Museum is a tribute to the hard-working, traditional pioneer or farmer of the Guanacaste region. The museum showcases different sorts of memorabilia—photographs, chaps, branding irons—and provides a historical outline and insight into the hardships of the traditional “hacienda life” of what Guanacaste was years ago. The site is an adobe house, originally built over 100 year ago.
Visiting hours- 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Monday through Sunday.
- Museo de Arte y Religioso de la Ermita de Nuestro Señor de Agonia (Religious Art Museum)
Located 550 meters east from the Government of Liberia building, the museum resides in the old Ermita de la Agonia (chapel) that was built in 1852. It was inaugurated in 1991 to honor religious symbols such as wooden sculptures,rosaries, stamps, births, furniture of the time and other artifacts.
- Museo Histórico La Casona, Santa Rosa (Historical Museum)
Located in Santa Rosa Nacional Park, north of Liberia, it is comprised of various historical rooms that allow you to understand the historical battle that took place there on March 20, 1856.
- Ecomuseo de las Minas de Abangares (Ecological Museum)
Located in the La Sierra de Abangares near Liberia, Guanacaste, this museum was founded in 1991 with the incentive to remind people of the an old mining era in this part of the country, in addition to promote the recovery of a natural and cultural patrimony that reaffirms the identity of the abangareño (the miners of the Abangares regions). The exhibit explains the use of the mine and displays artifacts used at the time to extract gold.
Open Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
- Museo Regional de Arte Chorotega (Regional Archaeology Museum)
Located in San Vicente de Nicoya, the museum displays regional art done by peoples of Chorotega Indian descent.
· National Parks:
- Guanacaste Conservation Area.
Created in 1989, this extensive conservation was created to connect Santa Rosa National Park with the high elevation cloud forest of Orosi and Cacao volcanoes and across the continental divide to the Caribbean rainforest of Northern Costa Rica. Its purpose is to bring these two parks and further ensure the protection of the land and its large habitats for wide-ranging species such as jaguars and mountain lions, while simultaneously creating a biological corridor for birds and insects to make local seasonal migrations between the dry forest and the evergreen cloud and rain forests. The large range of elevations result in trails that cross several ecosystems as you climb from the dry Pacific forests near the border with Santa Rosa National Park to the high elevation cloud forests near the peaks of Orosi and Cacao volcanoes. You can cross the continental divide and climb down to rainforest typical of the Caribbean side of Northern Costa Rica.
- Barra Honda National Park
Located 22 km north-east of Liberia, the parks covers 2,295 acres of land, designed to protect intricate and extensive cave system located underground. Today, 19 caves, ranging from 21 to 240 meters in depth, have been discovered and explored along the limestone ridge that makes the Barra Honda formation. Provided that you the caves entrances are vertical, ropes and climbing equipment are necessary in order to explore the subterranean world. Scientific study shows that these caves have formed over the course of 70 million years, making this caves remarkable site and discovery!
In order to visit the caves you must contact the Park Service office in San Jose, get permission, and arrange a visit date with a guide.
- Las Baulas Marine National Park (Parque Marino Las Baulas)
Located in Playa Grande, about 15-20 km from Tamarindo, this beach was declared a national park given its popularity as a nesting beach for the giant Leatherback Sea Turtle. Leatherbacks, or baulas, are the largest sea turtle out of seven existing species, averaging 350 kg, and more than a meter and half in length. This particular turtle primarily nest in Playa Grande (Big Beach) and Playa Langosta (Lobster Beach), and both beaches form part of Las Baulas Marine National Park.
All visitors on the beach at night must be accompanied by a certified local guide (available at the entrance to the beach during the nesting season).
- Palo Verde National Park and Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve:
Located in Guanacaste, it is approximately 30 kms west from the town of Canas, between the Bebedero and Tempisque rivers. Overall this park extends over 16,804 acres of land subjected to seasonal floods that on occasion make transform the area into an immense lake. The Palo Verde sector comprises 13,058 acres of varied habitats in the lower Tempisque River basin. Along with Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, it is considered one of the sites with the greatest ecological diversity in Costa Rica, encompassing more than 15 different kinds of habitats. Palo Verde and Lomas Barbudal comprise one of the few protected areas in Costa Rica where rocky formations and lowlands forests interact with extensive seasonal wetlands.
Lomas Barbudal, with foothills of volcanic origin, is covered by savannas, deciduous and riparian forests, oak forests (Quercus oleides) and extremely dry sites dominated by cacti. Of the mangrove forests, dry forests, evergreen forests, old pasture land, and other habitats protected here, the habitat that is primarily responsible for the creation of the park and refuge lands is the extensive marsh area. It also provides an important wintering ground to many species of migrant North American waterfowl, as well as resident tropical species such as the Jabiru, the largest stork in the North America. In sum there about 279 bird species, you can also find red macaws, congo and carablanca monkeys, deer and others.
- Parque Nacional y Volcán Rincón de la Vieja (National Park and Volcano Rincón de la Vieja)
Located 27 kilometers north-east from Liberia, it extends over 14,083 acres situated on the Guanacaste Mountain Range. Highlights of this park include six different life zones, abundant wildlife, gorgeous waterfalls, fascinating geothermal features, and an active volcano with nine eruptive points, though only once remains active today. One of the parks main attractions is an area know as Las Pailas, a small sector south of the volcano where you can find numerous kinds of geothermal activity: bubbling, boiling hot mud springs, sulfur springs, steam vents, and fumaroles. You may also find monkeys, armadillos and beautiful butterflies throughout the park.
- Santa Rosa National Park
One of the first national parks to be declared, Santa Rosa is important for its history, geology, and ecology. The old hacienda building has been preserved as a cultural and historical museum, commemorating the Battle of Santa Rosa in 1856. The forested portions of the park comprise a large percentage of what remains of the tropical dry forest habitat throughout all of Central America. In addition to providing refuge to the many plants and animals adapted to dry forest conditions, Santa Rosa protects two important sea turtle nesting beaches, Naranjo and Nancite. The latter is one of two beaches in Costa Rica where the Pacific Ridley Sea Turtles come ashore each year in large concentrations to lay their eggs.
- Ex-Hacienda Murciélago National Park
Located in the northern sector of the Santa Rosa National Park, this area is open 24 hours a day, with park-guards on site from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Categorized as a dry forest, the park counts with a series hikes that allow you reach a series of bays and beaches that you may explore: El Hachal, Coquito, Danta, Santa Elena and Playa Blanca. Make sure to call and find out how weather conditions have been around the area, during the rainy season many of its beaches are inaccessible.
· Wildlife Refuge
- Ostional Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de Fauna Silvestre Ostional)
This refuge is a 200 meter sector of the beach between Punta India (India Point) and the estuary of the Nosara River, including the Ostional populace. This fraction of the beach was converted into a private refure in order to protect a major nesting are for Pacific Ridley Sea Turtles, as well as offshore waters. Several times a year, female turtles come ashore in such numbers that the sandy beach begins to resemble a stretch of rocky coastline. Other sea turtles come to nest here as well, along with a variety of sea birds and reptiles that rely on this area as their natural habitat.
- Bahía Junquillal Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de vida silvestre Bahia Junquillal)
Open 24 hours a day, with park-guards on site from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, it was donated in 1988 and is located 46 kilometers north of Liberia. The park occupies 2km of beach and covers 505 acres that include an original dry forest and numerous tree species and a mangrove. There is a camping area and series of trails.
- Bosque Diria Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de vida silvestre Bosque Diria)
Created in 1991, this refuge extends over 13,402 acres, south of Liberia 9 km from Santa Cruz. It protects tropical forest in the central highlands of the Nicoya Peninsula, including the watersheds and river basins of Rio Diriá, Rio Enmedio, and Rio Tigre. There are two hiking trails, El Venado and El Escabel; these scenic trails lead to the Brasil waterfall and other natural attractions. Camping is allowed and park rangers are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4 pm for guidance.
- Bahía Camaronal Wildlife Refuge
- La Pacifica Private Biological Reserve (Reserva Biológica Privada La Pacífica)
- Isla Pájaros Biological Reserve (Reserva Biológica Isla de Pájaros)
|