Santa Teresa: A Guide to Costa Rica’s Coolest Surf Town
Think of the perfect surf town – beautiful beaches with great waves, trendy cafés and surf shops, laidback energy – You’re probably imagining Santa Teresa, Costa Rica! This charming little beach town absolutely stole my heart. I fell in love with the beaches, the people, and of course – the relaxed way of life here. Here’s my complete guide to visiting Costa Rica’s coolest surf town!
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HOW TO GET TO SANTA TERESA
Santa Teresa is located in the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, about 180km from San José. To get here from SJO Airport, you have four options:
- Take a direct bus from SJO to Santa Teresa. The ride takes about 6 hours. Buses depart at 6am and 2pm. The ferry ticket is included in your bus ticket.
- Take a bus or shuttle from SJO to Puntarenas (1.5hrs), then take the ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera (70min), then take a bus from Paquera to Cóbano, and a final bus from Cóbano to Santa Teresa. This is supposedly the cheapest option, but is absolutely also the most difficult.
- Rent a car at SJO airport and drive to Santa Teresa. You will still have to take the ferry, it is the only way to reach the peninsula via ground transportation.
- Take a domestic flight from SJO to the Cóbano Airport with Costa Rica Green Airways. THIS IS WHAT I 100% RECOMMEND. It’s much more expensive, but the experience is worth the price. You’ll take a short 30 minute flight on a 12 seater plane, flying over the country of Costa Rica and the Gulf of Nicoya! Not only was this 10x easier than the other options, it was such a fun and memorable experience! From Cóbano, you can either take a bus, rent a car, or take a taxi to Santa Teresa (the journey is about 25 minutes).
Getting Around in Santa Teresa
Santa Teresa is quite a long beach strip with rough dirt roads and no pedestrian walkways. If you’re staying in the center of the strip and only plan on going to the beach to surf each day, you could potentially get by on foot. However, if you wish to see any more of Santa Teresa than what is directly by you, you’ll need some form of transportation.
ATV RENTAL: My personal recommendation as it’s cheaper and much more fun! Our hotel arranged our ATV rental for us, so it was waiting upon our arrival. Some hotels also have deals with ATV rental companies so you can get a discount! If your hotel in unable to arrange this for you, there are plenty of rental shops along the main strip. Our ATV rental was $80/day.
CAR RENTAL: If you’ve been getting around Costa Rica via car, simply keep your rental car and use it here! If not, car rentals are available in Cóbano, but are much more expensive than back in San José. I would only recommend using a car here if you already have one rented or simply just aren’t comfortable on an ATV, as car rental is much pricier and it’s more difficult to find parking.
A FEW NOTES ABOUT DRIVING IN SANTA TERESA:
- The roads are dusty during the dry season and muddy during the wet season. We visited during the dry season and found ourselves literally caked in dirt after some drives. Many people drove around in goggles and a bandana to protect their face and eyes from all the dust – 10/10 recommend doing so.
- As for gasoline, there are NO GAS STATIONS in Santa Teresa. The nearest gas can be found in Manzanillo or Cobano, which is a bit of a drive – so don’t wait until your tank is on E.
- Many ATVs here are semi-automatic, so there’s no clutch, but you will have to shift gears.
Okay - enough of the boring stuff. Here's what to do in Santa Teresa!
GO SURFING
It shouldn’t be much of a shock that the best thing to do in a surf town – is to go surfing! Santa Teresa is surf paradise, with waves suited to beginners and experienced surfers alike. There are surfboard rentals literally every 50 feet along the strip, so don’t worry if you didn’t bring a board!
If you’re new to surfing (like me), HIRE AN INSTRUCTOR. I cannot stress this enough – do not go surfing for your first time alone, you will likely get hurt! You’re also much more likely to succeed with a good instructor – this was my first time ever surfing and I got up on the board on nearly every wave.
We booked this experience with Richard, who turned out to be one of the best instructors in Santa Teresa! All the locals know and love him. We had the best time, I truly can’t recommend surfing with him enough!
Relax on the Beaches
After a good morning of surfing, spend the afternoon kicked back on the beach with a good book and a coconut! There’s four main beaches in Santa Teresa:
PLAYA SANTA TERESA – The largest and busiest beach, situated right in the center of Santa Teresa. It has a great break for intermediate or experienced surfers! Despite being the busiest beach, there’s plenty of sand to sprawl out on.
PLAYA HERMOSA – My favorite beach! Hermosa means beautiful in Spanish, and this beach lives up to that name. The surf break here is great for beginners, and this is where we did our surf lesson!
PLAYA MANZANILLO – A gorgeous beach about 10 minutes north of Playa Hermosa. This quiet little stretch of sand offers an absolutely beautiful sunset! We rode horses here and it was magical.
PLAYA CARMEN – A beach on the eastern edge of Santa Teresa (the entrance/exit to the beach strip). Personally, this was my least favorite area of town. The traffic was absurd and it was so busy!
Go Horseback Riding
This was truly such a magical experience – riding horses along the coast of Manzanillo beach watching the sun sink below the horizon. We booked our horseback riding through Horizonte Horse Experience, and it was incredible! The guides are so knowledgeable and talk with you beforehand about your experience level and comfort on a horse so they can pick the perfect horse for you. I have hardly even ever trotted on a horse before, but the guide was so fantastic I felt comfortable GALLOPING by the end of the day! So beautiful – I just simply can’t recommend this enough.
Visit their Instagram, or reach out to Michelle on WhatsApp for more information and bookings: +506 8383 9229
Browse the Surf Shops
You don’t have to look hard to find cute little surf shops dotting the strip! Go shopping for swimwear, accessories, or even a surfboard if you’re feeling cheeky!
Try all the Cute Cafés
I am a sucker for an adorable café with good coffee and good food, and Santa Teresa is quite literally full of them. Here’s some of my favorites:
ANI’S BOWLS | Cute açaí bowls, sandwiches, and breakfast. We went here twice and the food was DELICIOUS both times. Try the breakfast croissant or the classic açaí bowl (or both, if you’re really hungry.)
HOUSE OF SOMOS | This is a surf hostel, surf shop, and cafe all in one. It’s a great place to hang out and meet people, and the food is fantastic! Somos has my favorite avocado toast in Santa Teresa – definitely worth trying! There’s also live music throughout the week – check their instagram for lineups!
EL PATIO | A really low-key and laidback spot. The tuna tataki salad was one of my favorite meals in Santa Teresa!
KAUAKAU | My favorite coffee in Santa Teresa! The salmon bagel is also to DIE for.
MANTARRAYA | An adorable little café right by Playa Hermosa. The coffee and food was good, but the smoothies were out of this world!
THE BAKERY | A cute (and quite popular) spot on the eastern side of Santa Teresa. We only got coffee and smoothies here, but they were quite good!
Ani’s Bowls
Experience a Santa Teresa Sunset
Santa Teresa is famous for their sunsets – the sun sinks perfectly over the water, casting the sky in gorgeous hues. We watched the sunset every night, and were rewarded with different colors each time! Just a tip – the sun sets quite early here because of the proximity to the equator – expect the sun to set around 5:30pm year round!
Practice Yoga
Santa Teresa has a big focus on wellness – and there’s tons of yoga studios/retreats in the area! Some of the best spots to practice are: Believe Surf + Yoga Sanctuary, House of Somos, and Horizon Yoga Center.
Chill at Banana Beach Club
We didn’t find many beach clubs in the Santa Teresa area, but we did hang out at Banana Beach for a few hours! They have “happy hour” all day – 2 drinks for $16! The food is okay, but the drinks are good and it’s a fun vibe! I recommend booking chairs in advance!
SANTA TERESA EATS
While the cafés are my favorite, there’s plenty of great dinner spots on the strip as well! Here’s some of my recommendations:
- EAT STREET – an outdoor food court with a bar and a few restaurants. Really laidback vibes and great food! The tuna bowls here were SO good, and the tacos were great too.
- KATANA – A great Asian restaurant with a great vibe! Sushi, Pad Thai, bao buns, etc. The bao was 10/10.
- NAMI – Another sushi spot! Really fresh fish and great drinks.
- KOOKS – Super casual smokehouse. The brisket quesadilla was delicious!
Where to Stay
There’s plenty of beautiful places to stay in Santa Teresa! I recommending staying on the western side (close to Playa Hermosa), or in the central area of the strip by Playa Santa Teresa. The east side (by Playa Carmen) is where the beach strip starts, and often has quite a bit of traffic entering and exiting the beach strip, so I wouldn’t recommend staying on this side. Here’s a few great hotels in Santa Teresa:
SKY HOUSE | A beautiful guest suite near Playa Hermosa. Has an infinity pool overlooking the sea, and a patio overlooking the jungle. The owners are so lovely as well!
BLUE MIST | A gorgeous adults-only hotel! Steps away from Playa Hermosa. Each room has a balcony, and the hotel features a pool and beach club as well!
SOMOS | A surf hostel with incredible vibes! There’s private rooms available too if sharing a room isn’t your thing. This is a great place for surfers or solo travelers wanting to meet people!
ZENEDIAS SURF GARDEN | Another great surf hostel right in the heart of Playa Santa Teresa!
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE VISITING
- There are often power outages on the Main Street of Santa Teresa – these seem to happen more at night, often around dinner time. Some restaurants may not be able to prepare food or accept card payments during this time! (Some restaurants seem to have backup generators – Eat Street being one of them, and one of the reasons we ended up eating there three times)
- Most places accept card, and everywhere we went accepted USD! However, you will get change back in Costa Rican Colón.
- Unlike other countries in Central America, Costa Rica is NOT CHEAP. You will find similar prices here to what you’ll find in the United States – $12-15 for a cocktail, $80/day for ATV rentals, etc.
- Don’t forget some type of face covering to wear while driving – the dust on these roads is NO JOKE!