Our Guide to Guanacaste Costa Rica Travel Tips, Weather, and Must-See Destinations
If you plan to travel to Costa Rica but don’t know where to start your trip, Guanacaste might just be the area for you. The weather is dryer than the rest of the country, making for some of the best conditions for adventure and water activities. The Liberia Airport (LIR) is placed so that you can easily access anywhere in Guanacaste in a couple of hours or less. This province is filled with luxurious tourist amenities and activities that will keep you engaged with nature.
Where is Guanacaste Located in Costa Rica?
Guanacaste collides with Nicaragua up north and with Puntarenas Province down south. Many people think that Santa Teresa is part of Guanacaste since it also resides in the Nicoya peninsula, but the peninsula is actually divided between Guanacaste and Puntarenas. Also, the Arenal Lake is technically part of Guanacaste, but we’ll talk about that in another article, as it deserves its own space.
Guanacaste Weather
Costa Rica’s weather consists of just two seasons; the dry and rainy seasons. The dry season is characterized by the hottest and the coldest days of the year. The coldest months are December and January, while the hottest are usually March and April. Guanacaste weather tends to be a bit hotter and much drier than the rest of the country. This season starts in December and ends in April with a temperature of about 68°F (20°C) to 91°F (33°C) in Guanacaste.
It does rain in Guanacaste during the rainy season, though not nearly as much as in the rest of the country. This season lasts from the end of April to November. If you want more information on Costa Rica’s weather, we invite you to read our article “A Guide to Costa Rica’s Weather and Seasons.”
Guanacaste Highlights
We have collected a few main places you should check out if you decide to tour through Guanacaste.
1. Nosara
Nosara is located on the northern Pacific Coast of the Nicoya Peninsula in Guanacaste and lies between Playa Samara and Tamarindo. It is a place where you can relax and enjoy the surrounding nature. Besides their luxury hotels and restaurants, Nosara can provide a variety of activities that will keep you occupied. There is an active community of ex-pats who have integrated into the town. You’ll see bilingual schools, luxurious boutique hotels, and plenty of impressive architecture in this area.
Nosara is famous for the best surfing and yoga retreats in the area, but you can also engage in ziplining, stand up paddle boarding through the mangrove, hiking the jungle, or watching the arrival of hundreds of turtles at its beaches, depending on the season. The road to Nosara is famously bumpy, which keeps this town generally crowd-free and an off-the-beaten-track favorite.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4.5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~2.5 hours
2. Papagayo
Papagayo is a peninsula located in the northwest corner of Guanacaste. This area is home to the most luxurious and exclusive hotels you’ll encounter in Costa Rica. The hotels here mix nature, beautiful architecture, and perfect relaxation to provide some of the best experiences in the country. If you’re looking for luxury, all-inclusive resorts in Costa Rica, you’ll find plenty of them on the Papagayo Peninsula and around the Gulf of Papagayo in general.
You can find a marina, a golf course, and beach clubs all in this area. The region also provides diverse activities to take advantage of the gorgeous beaches. Some of these activities are scuba diving, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and golfing.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4.5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~0.5 hours
3. Tamarindo
Tamarindo is surrounded by a mangrove estuary where you can kayak, paddle board, and catch sight of unique wildlife. The place is great for family holidays, honeymoons, and friend trips, with a little of everything for everyone. As you drive or walk down Tamarindo’s streets, you’ll see a lot of little shops where you can find everything from fun, flowery shirts to coconut jewelry to Costa Rican candies and other souvenirs.
The waves are a must for tourists that want the Costa Rican surf experience. For those who want a more tranquil experience, Tamarindo is also near Hermosa Beach and Langosta Beach, which are known to be calm and beautiful beaches in the area. In fact, there are a lot of beaches and towns close to Tamarindo, so if you don’t find what you want there, you’ll surely find it nearby.
Only 30 minutes north of Tamarindo is Las Baulas National Marine Park. This park is named after the giant leatherback sea turtles that use those beaches to lay their eggs. If you are in this area between April and June, we recommend booking a tour to see the newborn turtles reach the shoreline. It is an experience that you can’t miss!
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4.5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~1.5 hours
4. Samara
Samara is not like any other place in Guanacaste. Nestled in between more developed towns, Samara still has a fishing town vibe. Nevertheless, it is exactly because of this that you should not overlook it. It is a calm place where you can enjoy the famed wildlife of Costa Rica. From monkeys to iguanas and even deer, Samara has lots of undisturbed fauna that can be seen even on hotel grounds.
It is only 2 hours from the Guanacaste Airport in Liberia (LIR), making it a convenient place to visit. The place also offers hikes at Werner-Sauter Biological Reserve and boat tours where dolphins can be seen all year round. From October to November, you might also sight whales off the coast if you are in the area.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~2 hours
5. Rincón de la Vieja Volcano
Rincón de la Vieja National Park borders the largest active volcano in Costa Rica, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. This huge park is divided into two sections; Las Pailas and Santa María. Las Pailas is characterized by trails where you can see fumaroles, cataracts, and mud pots, as well as a variety of mammals, birds, and reptiles. If you are planning on hiking these trails during the rainy season, please bring hiking boots since the trail tends to get really muddy.
If you visit the Santa María section of the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, you can hike to the “Casona de Santa María,” which is one of the emblematic old farmhouses of Costa Rican culture. You can also walk 1.8 miles (3 km) from there through a splendid forest path to reach the thermal waters. The waters flowing from the volcano tend to be an attractive bright blue color. It makes for a striking contrast with the brown and green of the surrounding land. Much of Guanacaste is covered in tropical dry forests, which you can appreciate on the volcano’s slopes more than anywhere else.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4.5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~1.5 hours
6. Bagaces
Bagaces is your typical welcoming Costa Rican farm town. It can get extremely hot, so make sure you pack your warm-weather clothes. If you are traveling to Bagaces, you must visit Llanos de Cortés Waterfall. Get your cameras ready because this is the most beautiful waterfall you’ll encounter in all of Guanacaste. There you can bathe under a massive waterfall, have a picnic on its shore, and hike to naturally created pools perfect for a dip. You have to walk a very small trail that will not take more than 10 minutes to get there.
Besides this incredible waterfall, you can also visit Las Hornillas Volcano Hot Springs. Enjoy hiking around the area and treat yourself to some spa time in their volcanic clay pits. You can also dine at the restaurant and take a relaxing swim in their hot springs.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~3.5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~1 hour
7. Northern Pacific: Santa Rosa National Park, Junquillal Wildlife Refuge & Salinas Bay
On the Northern coast of Guanacaste, you reach Santa Rosa National Park. This park holds great historical significance for Costa Rica since it is home to La Casona de Santa Rosa, a building where Costa Ricans managed to prevent an invasion in 1856. The Casona now contains a small museum that tells the history behind the structure. Apart from La Casona, you can see lots of wildlife and especially birds throughout the park. You can hike to one point where you can see the nearby volcanoes lined up in a row.
Beyond the national park are Junquillal Wildlife Refuge and Salinas Bay beyond, which are hidden gems in the Pacific. These are great places to experience the tropical, calm Costa Rican life far away from the crowds of the more accessible beaches of Guanacaste. Salinas Bay protects these beaches from any strong currents so that you can enjoy kiteboarding and paddle boarding.
Distance to Salinas Bay from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~5 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~1.5 hours
8. Liberia
Libera is a typical Costa Rican rural town, just a bit bigger than most. If you plan to start your trip in Guanacaste, you will most likely arrive at the Aeropuerto Internacional Daniel Oduber Quirós, also known as the Guanacaste Airport (LIR). This is the best place to start your trip because Liberia resides in the center of Guanacaste. You will be able to travel to any point in Guanacaste within a few hours or less.
If you are going to spend any time in Liberia before continuing to your final destination, you should visit the Guanacaste Museum. There you can see their cultural exhibitions and the unique Costa Rican architecture. Other than that, it’s a great place to try jugo de caña, a favorite local drink made of sugarcane.
Distance from SJO/San Jose Airport: ~4 hours
Distance from LIR/Guanacaste Airport: ~20 minutes
Costa Rica’s Blue Zone in Guanacaste
Even though this is not technically a touristic place, we couldn’t talk about Guanacaste without mentioning this fun fact. Guanacaste is home to one of the five Blue Zones in the world. Nicoya is one of the places where people live the longest in the whole world. If you want to know more about this topic, we recommend reading our article on “Why Residents in the Nicoya Peninsula Live More Than 90 Years.”