Upcoming Event: Christian Surfers Weekly Meeting 7PM @ Rancho in Harmony Hotel
Every Saturday
The Escuelita de Nosara has a booth at the Nosara Organic Farmers Market located at Giardino Tropical. Help a child participate in summer day camp by purchasing one of the calendars made by the children at last year's camp. Volunteers also do face painting and give hair cuts for donations. New this year is horseback riding for the children.
1st Sunday of every month - 7 a.m.
Volunteers gather at the beach entrance points to work together on beach clean-up
3rd Tuesay of every month - 8 a.m.
Board meeting of the Nosara Civic Association. Members welcome. To become a member contact the NCA.
The break in Nosara was called Olga's since you can see it breaking from the restaurant. It needs a big swell to work with a lot of West in it. The left goes for about 150 meters and it is rarely crowded, since it does not break that often.
Nosara is the town just inland and to the north of this beachbreak, called Guiones. Playa Pelada is the beach about 1 km. north, look for the giant lookout tower on the Nosara Beach Hotel. The beach is beginner friendly on the inside, but when it is on, can be double to triple overhead on the outside. It gets deep here and the bottom is sand so it is easy to get under the big ones. Best size is waist high peelers for longboarders to double overhead barrels for shortboards. Only the biggest sets close out and rides can go for 200 meters to the beach. The crowds seem to be worst between January and March, and in July. But this only on the main peak, and there are empty peaks up and down the coast. Best tide is mid to high tide.
Playa Garza is never crowded because there never seems to be a wave here. But at high tide there is a spot right on the dot that works when it is chest high or bigger. The rumor is that the north and south ends of the bay will fire when the swell is two feet overhead. It is about a 1/2 km. paddle out and it is guessed that low to mid tide works best.
Playa Samara is a great place for beginner surfers. The waves are small and break gently, with the swell mostly blocked by offshore rocks. At higher tide is best for the beachbreak, offering decent longboard waves when there is any swell. Waves form at the edges of the bay during lower tides, but the 1/2 km. paddle keeps most everyone away. It also needs a lot of south swell to break.
8/30 - The unpredictable, crazy weather continues. Last week a handfull of our guests surfed the main peak all by themselves for hours in rideable, but less than perfect, head high conditions. The swell has been around head high on the sets and smooth in the morning during high tide.
This morning (Sunday) is beautiful although it will probably rain later on today.Without the cranking off shores it never seems to be perfect, but great sessions are being reported here and there.
We have a range of super cheap rooms and apartments (as low as $12/nt for two people) if you want to take your chances.
8/29 - Knee to chest high waves with poor to fair shape (2-4ft) The swell rain is weak but the waves look better this morning. The wind was light offshore and the conditions are glassy. We currently have sunny skies with light offshore winds and a chance of rain later today.
If you have a chance, get out there soon. I don’t think it will last for long, but I’ve been wrong before.
Contact us at or give us a call at 1-888-958-SURF for your next surf trip to Playa Grande..
8/29 - We were expecting a big jump in the swell this Saturday but it never happened. Waves are waist to chest high and breaking pretty soft.
With lower tides in the morning we have had better conditions in the afternoon sessions with an incoming tide and light winds. Maybe the swell will show up later this weekend. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Good luck Costa Rica in Panama. We'll be sending our own Christian Santa Maria to compete with the National team in Peru this October. Looking forward to seeing him compete and surf some big Peru waves. Pura Vida!!
8/30 - The surf is acting a little odd today, with waves stacking up on top of each other, making what would otherwise be fun head high surf, a bit funky. The sun is out though, so there's no complaints from me.
The tide will probably change this throughout the day, so it's going to be one of those days where you just have to check over and over to get a good session.
Getting There
To drive there over land from the airport it would take from 5 to 6 hours, most all of it on a paved road. You take the Highway towards Liberia and follow it about an hour past the Puntarenas interchange, where you started driving north. Look for the Tempisque Bridge signs and make a left at the gas station. Then drive slowly, as there are a lot of cops in this area giving speeding tickets until about 10 kilometers past the bridge. From there follow signs to Nicoya, another 30 km, and then on to Nosara. It is best to get there during the day, since at night the last section can be tricky. The quickest way is to fly from San Jose to Nosara on either Sansa or Nature Air, and then arrange a taxi for the final 10 minute ride. (Remember these airlines don't take boards over 7 feet) Reservation Request
