Category: Tamarindo & Sámara

We departed Tamarindo on February 26th after a five night stay and then made our way to Samara, another beach resort on the Nicoya peninsula. It was about a two hour drive and we arrived at 1:30 pm at our apartment that we rented in advance for the next three nights and we were happy we arrived when we did. What we found was not what we expected.

The place we rented was named Casa La Guaria, advertised as being a 6 minute walk/200 metres to the beach. The photos of course were very eye pleasing and the price was about $115 CAD per night. Most accommodation in and around Samara were sold out so this looked good, it was a whole apartment with a lovely terrace so we booked it.

Without going on and on about the place and it’s location suffice to say it didn’t fit the Booking.com description and we really couldn’t stay there. It was far from town and the road to the trail to the beach was a narrow, no shoulder winding hilly road that did not seem safe in the best of times.

Fortunately the owner who we had met at the apartment was very reasonable and waived the 50% cancellation fee, charging us only $20 US for the cleaning service he brought in before our arrival. He also gave us the wifi password and exit lock code so we could sit in the shade on his property and try to find a place to stay in Samara. It was extremely hot and humid outside so we were grateful we could sit in the shade and try to find another place to stay with a better location.

We came across Blue Iguana. A hostel that also had private rooms with bathroom, included breakfast, had a pool and a bar, was close to the beach and cost $90 USD per night. We gave them a call and they held a room for us. We breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The Blue Iguana was a little run down. It was primarily a hostel style place with some rooms with private shower and bathroom.

Our room had two beds, AC and a bathroom with shower and was well, quite basic and we’re guessing clean but didn’t really look very clean. Still overall it was kind of funky and we made it work for three nights.

Samara was not what we were expecting.

I think we expected something similar to Tamarindo, a built up tourist destination but fortunately it was much smaller and laid back.

This was a good thing however in the town centre there were many places that were permanently closed so drinking and dining options were limited although the places that were open and we ate at were excellent.

The beach in Samara was similar to Tamarindo in that when the tide is out there is a very large expanse of beach to walk to get to the water and the water is very shallow for quite far out. Because of this both Tamarindo and Samara are good places to learn to surf because the shallow water allows for small waves to form. The biggest difference though was the water in Tamarindo was clearer due to less sediment in the sand as compared to Samara.

We were getting restless in Samara so three nights and two days were plenty. We had a lot of sun and were looking forward to our last stop, Monteverde, before heading back to San Jose.

It was frequently very windy in Nuevo Arenal and also much cooler than the coast so it was a nice reprieve from the heat but it was also time to head back to the coast, specifically the Nicoya Peninsula for some more beach time.

Like most of our drives the distance was around 130 km and it typically took about 2 1/2- 3 hours to drive.

Our original plan was to try to get a place to stay in Brasalito. We were told it was beautiful and more laid back than Tamarindo. We also didn’t have any reservations anywhere so we were a little anxious about where we would end up staying.

We arrived in Brasilito wondering if this was Brasilito. We couldn’t see any redeeming features in the area so it took us about two minutes to decide to continue on to Tamarindo. We saved a couple of names of places to stay in Tamarindo just in case so we set our maps to our first choice, Tamarindo Sunshine. Earlier in the morning we checked and they still had one room left so we were really hoping it would still be available when we arrived into town.

It was a short 15 minute or so drive and we arrived into the well developed, traffic jammed town of Tamarindo. Yikes!

The place looked really busy so our fingers were crossed when we pulled off of the main road onto a gravel road, past a run down looking hotel we first thought was our destination and then around the corner to a nice looking place that was our destination. It looked more like a compound with only one large locked door to enter the fortification.

We parked the car, Joyce stayed behind to protect the gear and I proceeded to the door and rang the bell. And knocked. And rang the bell. And knocked a little harder. This wasn’t looking very promising.

There was a tiny space between the door slats that I was squinting through when finally I could see a person approaching the door. That was definitely a relief.

After a short period of time the lady who opened the door figured out what I was trying to say, sweat dripping off of me like I was in a sauna (it was very hot outside and a little stressful) and got the room-booking ball rolling and we were in luck.

They had one apartment available for four days and possibly extendable to five. It was a bit on the expensive side but the grounds were really nice, we had a small kitchen so we could have breakfast, coffee and keep the beer cold, a nice outdoor sitting area and it was a 5 minute walk to a beautiful uncrowded beach and only about 10 minutes walk to the south end of town and there were howler monkeys in the area to boot.

We ended up taking the extra night that was available and had four really good days on the beach, lots of fun at a nearby bar with live music and great lunches and dinners.

The wind did get quite strong the last two days so on our final beach day we walked the length of Tamarindo beach and around a point to Playa Langosta. The area was completely protected from the wind and when the tide was out large pools formed in the surrounding rocks. They were shallow but really nice and refreshing.

It certainly wasn’t the cheapest 5 days. Our rental car sat parked the whole time at $90 USD per day, the accommodation was $180 USD per night, lunches averaged about $25 USD for two and bar drinks and dinner for two about $150 USD. Bottom line about $2,100 USD for 5 nights. Don’t forget we use CAD currency.!

We ran out of money so this is the end of our blog!

Kidding aside we did have a great time but when we discuss Costa Rica with others we now call it:

COSTLY RICA!

We departed the morning of February 26th and made our way further south to the beach resort town of Samara, not sure what to expect but we did have accommodation organized.