6 curated Surfing spots in Costa Rica, each with its own note and source.
Puntarenas · Best time: Year-round · All levels
A river-mouth beach break, hollow and powerful — explicitly not a place to learn. The biggest swell runs June to September, the cleanest conditions December to April, and it works best on mid to high tide. The rips are strong enough that Dominical was the first beach in Costa Rica with full-time lifeguards; beginners head three kilometres south to Dominicalito.
Sources: Bodhi Surf + Yoga
Puntarenas · Best time: Year-round · Advanced
A long sand beach break with lefts, rights and A-frame banks that picks up any SW swell; easterlies are the offshore wind and 5 to 9 feet is the sweet spot. Powerful, with plenty of close-outs — an intermediate-and-up destination. Anyone learning should stay 10 to 15 minutes' drive north in Jacó. Crocodiles and stingrays are a genuine hazard here.
Sources: Surf Atlas
Guanacaste · Best time: Year-round · All levels
Playa Guiones is a sand beach break with rippable banks, fed by SW groundswell and shifting with the tide: harder and hollower at low, fat and cruisy at high. Plenty of whitewater is left over for beginners. It is best in the November-to-March dry season, when regular afternoon offshore winds glass it off. In the rainy season, mountain runoff muddies the water.
Sources: Surf Atlas, Nalu Studio Nosara, Norte Nosara
Limón · Best time: Dec–Mar · All levels
Salsa Brava is a shallow reef slab with a throaty right-hand barrel — expert territory, and it only truly fires a few times a year, its best window being big east swell from January to March. For everyday waves, take the beach break at Playa Cocles, or Playa Negra, a small right peeling off a shipwreck.
Sources: Real Surf Travel
Puntarenas · Best time: Year-round · All levels
Sand beach breaks with peaks up and down the bay. Playa Santa Teresa runs soft and forgiving, best at higher tide. Playa Carmen to the south is punchier, with long rights peeling off the rocks at its northern end and surprise stones on the inside. Wind is usually offshore from the NE until about 10 a.m. and onshore after; April to October brings the biggest swell.
Sources: Real Surf Travel, Pura Vida Adventures
Guanacaste · Best time: Year-round · Beginner
The rivermouth right belongs to advanced surfers: a steep take-off over a shallow sandbar, on low tide with SW or NW swell, prime from December to April. Hazards include flying boards, a heavy crowd and crocodiles. The beach break 200 metres north is the more accessible learning zone.
Sources: Witch's Rock Surf Camp