This fall we took an amazing trip to Tamarindo, Costa Rica to enjoy la pura vida! Costa Rica is broken up into seven separate regions, with Tamarindo being the largest developed beach town in the Guanacaste province.
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In this blog, I will share some of our travel experiences from this region, what to expect upon arrival, some of our favorite restaurants, and a few adventures you can explore!
The Best Time To Visit Costa Rica
Many travel experts recommend visiting Costa Rica during the dry season (December – April), however our group very much enjoyed visiting during the country’s “green season”, which is late October on into November.
One of our tour guides informed us that their dry season is a very busy time, full of crowds, and the land foliage is not as green. The only downside to visiting during the green season is there may be daily rain showers, but these did not last very long throughout the day. The month with the heaviest amounts of rain in Costa Rica is October. So if you plan to visit during this month, be sure to prepare accordingly.
Since Costa Rica is a tropical destination, mosquitoes are present year round. So I definitely recommend purchasing a good brand of bug spray. We ordered the Repel 100 Insect Repellent and it effectively lasted us all day during our excursions and outdoor adventures.
packing checklist
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What To Expect When Visiting Tamarindo
Tamarindo is the more touristy part of Guanacaste. So much so, that locals have nicked named their town “Tamagringo” :). Despite being filled with a lot of tourists, we found that visiting certain local restaurants and stores were still very cheap compared to other exotic destinations. The official currency of Costa Rica is the Colón. As of today, 1 Colón is equal to $0.0017 USD. Credit Cards are widely accepted in Costa Rica and in our town, we did not run into any issues locating an ATM. If you travel to Costa Rica without any local Colóns, US dollars are also widely accepted as well.
Tipping in Costa Rica is not expected in non-tourist areas, but generally appreciated. If you happen to be in a more touristy part of Costa Rica, a general guideline is usually 10%. When reviewing some of your receipts in Costa Rica, you may notice an automatic “Service Charge” on the bill in certain areas. This is to cover the services provided. However, if you feel that a server or guide exceeded your expectations, feel free to leave an additional tip.
During our travels in Costa Rica we also felt generally safe, however one should always use caution when traveling in a foreign country. One day during our travels, we learned from our driver that Costa Rica has Good Samaritan Laws , meaning one could be called to court if you do not help one in need on the road. Everyone we ran into during our travels was very friendly and the dominant language spoken was Spanish. English was only used in more Americanized places or tourist destinations.
Our arrival to the airport was very easy. We flew into the Liberia (LIR) airport, which is a very small airport with only eight gates. In fact, the airport is so small, our plane could not pull up to the jetway, so we walked from the runway to the airport.
Customs was also very easy to navigate and did not take very long. The airport was so small, that our bags were lined up and ready for us after leaving customs.
Where We Stayed in Tamarindo
From time-to-time my family, friends and I will stay on a resort property. However, my favorite way to travel and stay for accommodations are in the same town as locals. So for this trip a group of us rented a BEAUTIFUL Airbnb named the “Compass House“. To date, this is probably the largest and most gorgeous Airbnb we’ve ever stayed in!
This property felt very clean and modern, it sat on a cliff with an infinity pool that led to breath-taking ocean views and the amenities were everything! It is the perfect house to rent for large groups with a daily cleaning service and chef for an additional charge. Here’s the digital guide we also received prior to our arrival at the Compass House.
If you choose to stay at this property, be sure to rent a car in town that has 4 wheel drive. The terrain to make it up the hill to the house is not easy, especially after it rains.
Quick Video Tour of Compass House:
Where To Eat in Tamarindo
Our first night in Tamarindo, we discovered this beautiful little restaurant named El Santuario. This restaurant is so charming with great food, drinks and live music. It’s entirely outdoors and perfect for taking in the views. Everyone at our table ordered something different, yet all enjoyed their meal. The menu was mostly Italian inspired, with fresh seafood. We also ordered some pizza to-go to enjoy the next day for lunch. Even their reheated pizza was good! I definitely recommend visiting here if you’re in the area.
El Santuario Video Review
Restaurante El Jardín San Ramón
On the morning of our all-day adventure, our driver stopped and took us to a local spot in Liberia called El Jardín San Ramón. It’s not a super fancy place, but it’s connected to a gift shop, the food was good; served cafeteria style, and best of all – it was CHEAP! Shockingly, my husband and I enjoyed coffee, 2 bottles of water, juice, two full breakfast meals with fruit, dessert to go, and only paid $14 USD for both of us. This is a great area to visit if you’re heading to Liberia for some excursions.
Pico Bistro Tamarindo is a great place to visit if you want to enjoy a nice breakfast, smoothie or drink by the beach. The menu although small, all of the food was fresh and the service was great. I enjoyed this location because it was the perfect mix of a laid back atmosphere with healthy food options or American style options. I would definitely visit here again.
Pico Video Review:
Dragonfly Bar and Grill is another great outdoor / indoor space to visit in Tamarindo. It’s an American and Asian inspired fusion restaurant with fresh seafood options. The staff here was very friendly and we also enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of this place as well. The restaurant is pretty much open air, so don’t be alarmed if you happen to see a curious cat walk towards your table. The drinks here were very good and they have a lot of great menu items to choose from!
Personal Chef Catering by Daniel Araujo
One evening, our group decided to have some authentic local food by an amazing chef named Daniel Araujo! Daniel’s company is named HYP Company. The food was very good, and my favorite dish was the Avocado Salad!! I loved it so much that I messaged Daniel on Instagram to beg for the recipe! You can find his full recipe here on my blog! Daniel’s group and his food were amazing! You can follow him on Instagram at @hyp_illcappitano. Everything as beautifully delivered to our home, served, and they came back the next day to remove any remaining dishes.
If you’re craving some diner eats or American style food with beach views, I recommend visiting Eat At Joe’s in Tamarindo. Now this is not a fancy place to eat, it’s your typical dive bar with surfer vibes, beach views and good meal portions. Our table enjoyed breakfast, tacos, whole fried red snapper and the wings were great as well.
My favorite restaurant from our stay in Tamarindo was hands down Patagonia. This Argentinian style restaurant served some of the most amazing dry-aged steaks. The empanadas were solid, pasta was fresh, drinks were on point and the atmosphere was beautiful. I recommend visiting here if you wish to celebrate something special, and be sure to make reservations prior to arrival.
Excursions in Tamarindo
We booked our excursions through a website called Stay in Tamarindo. Our group decided to do a full day tour so we could use our other days to explore the town or relax. The name of our all-day tour was called the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano.
During our full day of adventure, we were escorted by a friendly bi-lingual guide, enjoyed over 6 adventures and lunch was included. Now in my personal opinion, this tour is for those who LOVE adventure!
I am more of the relax on the beach, take a history tour and visit the spa type of traveler. However, most of my friends loved every bit of this crazy day lol! For the calm travelers such as myself, I felt like most of these excursions were a bit precarious.
The website will list Zip Lining as one of the activities, but they do not tell you that there are 8 different zip line courses to navigate through!
During our visit, it started to rain, so the lines were crazy fast. I was done after the 4th zip line, however my group was brave enough to make it to 6. Our tour guide stopped us after 6 because the remaining lines were too dangerous to complete with the rain.
After zip lining, we were given the option to rock climb. After rock climbing, we rode horses to journey 25 minutes until we reached the entry point for river “tubing”.
Now the guide we received stated “tubing”, but this adventure was straight up white-water rafting in a tube! It was fun, but crazy!
The current in this river was crazy strong, so much so that my husband lost his GoPro, someone lost a shoe, and almost everyone flipped at least once! Thankfully we were wearing helmets and life jackets and no one was harmed by the time we reached the end of the river. We can laugh now, but multiple prayers were said during this part of the tour!
After a fun filled morning and afternoon, we were served lunch at the property, and ended our day in the natural hot springs. The hot springs were very relaxing and there was also the option for some to go take a mud bath in the same area.
All-in-all, I would add Costa Rica to my visit again list! It’s a beautiful place to travel to that’s reasonable, friendly people, great adventures and full of natural beauty.
My Favorite Travel Products From This Trip:
Oh, wow! It’s so beautiful there! I mean, from the room all the way to the jungle, every part of that place is just gorgeous.
OMG, that AirBNB is just beautiful. I would love to stay in that if we went there.
Costa Rica has much to offer! I haven’t been there but would love to visit. I know several people who have considered retiring there.
Wow, this looks so much fun. And the food looks so good as well. Hope you had a lot of fun on this trip!
Such an amazing place, every view is just so mesmerizing! The food and drinks look absolutely delicious and yummy! Loved to visit this place in the near future!
It looks like you had a great time! I was just in Costa Rica, but we were in La Fortuna and Santa Teresa. It’s such a lovely place to go. I didn’t get to go tubing — it looks like it was a blast!
Nnniiiccceeeeee….I love this. It’s good you have directed me where the pancakes can be found! I will hunt them down.
First time to hear about Tamarindo, but I’d love to stay at that Airbnb! Whoa on the tubing. I’d be dang scared if the currents were that strong. And yes, if you’re turning upside down during the event, that would really scare anyone to prayer!