Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

Costa Rica and her beaches are an excellent travel destination for North Americans and also Europeans. It has two coastlines, the Caribbean and the Pacific, only separated by a dominating mountain ridge and plateau.

Costa Rica's tropical climate with two seasons lets you enjoy a year-round boardshort water temperatures at all beaches.The wet season lasts from May to October with clear mornings and late afternoon showers, the dry season from November to April.

Besides all kind of water sports you will find many other adventures like white-water rafting, bungee jumping, mountain biking and jungle canopy tours.

Costa Rica is full of national parks that protect the famous rain forests and their animal kingdom but as well as the marine life.

For surfers and wanna-be's, I created other hubs with information about surfing in Costa Rica and surfing spots for beginners.

Santa Teresa lies directly at the pacific shore between Manzanillo and Mal Pais, 20 min away (by car) from Cobano or roughly 150 km west of the capital city. This is at the west coast of the Nicoya Peninsula.

Santa Teresa can be described as an unpaved, bumpy road, along with scattered family homes, some small and medium sized hotels and hostels and a few bigger buildings. During the dry season, the road gets very dusty.

In Santa Teresa, you’ll find an internet access, a supermarket, a bus station, a surf shop and some restaurants. Some hotels will rent you surf gear too, but the only true surf camp with all surf services is at Zopilote Surf Camp, two miles north along the coast. A few luxurious homes for rental can be found around Santa Teresa, most of them a little bit outside in a quiet and very private environment (like recommended Casas Pura Vida).

Soon, a bank will open their services in Santa Teresa too. Still now you’ll have to go to Cobano for any bank services. There is also a first aid station close to the beach, but not always occupied. The next medical help is in Cobano. Santa Teresa means also a nice beach with a few bars, and good surf spots. The night life is quite active here.

If you need, you can also rent Quads in Santa Teresa. A day costs around US$ 50.

The playa is a long strech of white sand with steady swell all year. Further north it is more remote and even less crowded. See here for a picture gallery of the playa of Santa Teresa and close by beaches.

Costa Rica is considered a safe country for woman travellers. But beware of pickpockets in public spaces and busses! If you travel through the country, you can use public busses or private shuttles.

You will use also one of the ferries when crossing the golfo (except you fly in to Tambor). This is not too time consuming. More about the trip from San José to Santa Teresa read here...

A pretty good overview of the surrounding area of Santa Teresa gives you this site. It shows some landmarks, hotels, and other interesting information.