South to Junquillal

PLAYA AVELLANAS

From Tamarindo, you must backtrack to Villarreal in order to continue southward via Hernández (three kilometers south of Villarreal). The narrow dirt coast road becomes impassable in sections in the wet season, when you may have better luck approaching Playa Avellanas and Lagartillo from the south via Paraíso, reached by paved road from Santa Cruz.

Between Tamarindo and Avellanas, most of the coastline backs onto Hacienda Pinilla, which covers 1,800 hectares. This former cattle ranch is one of the most upscale residential resort communities in the country, with a championship 18-hole golf course, trails through a nature reserve with lagoons, a stable for horse rides ($15-35), a small hotel, plus scores of villas and condos for rent. It was still a work in progress at last visit.

Beautiful coral-colored Playa Avellanas, 12 kilometers south of Tamarindo, is renowned for its barrel surf. You can rent surf boards at Cabinas Las Olas (tel. 506/2658-9315, www.cabinaslasolas.co.cr).

Avellanas Surf School (tel. 506/2652-9042, www.avellanasurfschool.com) rents surfboards and offers classes and clinics.

Theft and car break-ins are major problems at the beaches. Never leave items in your car!

Accommodations and Food

You can camp ($2 pp) under thatch at Bar y Restaurante Gregorio’s. It also has three basic cabinas ($15 s, $20 d) with private baths and cold water. Nearby Lola’s on the Beach (tel. 506/2658-8097), a rustic beachfront restaurant, is famous for its namesake giant pig and also for dishes such as Hawaiian raw-fish salad.

There are several other basic options. The best bet for backpackers is Blue Trailz (tel./ fax 506/2652-9153, $5 camping, $12 pp), with three bunkrooms and shared bathrooms. There’s a bare-bones TV lounge, kitchen, barbecue, and hammocks under thatch, plus an Argentinian “gourmet” bistro. Surf packages are offered. It rents tents ($6.50).

Swiss-run Cabinas Las Olas (tel. 506/2658-8315, www.cabinaslasolas.co.cr, $60 s or $70 d low season; $70 s or $80 d high season) is an “upscale” surfers’ place with 10 bungalows widely spaced amid the dry forest. Each has private bathroom, bidet, and hot water. A raised wooden walkway leads 300 meters across mangroves to the beach. The video-bar and restaurant have an appealing ambience. It has ping-pong and rents kayaks, boogie boards, snorkeling gear, mountain bikes, and surfboards.

If you like minimalist contemporary styling you’ll like Las Avellanas Villas (tel. 506/2652-9212, www.lasavellanasvillas.com, $55 s/d low season, $65 s/d high season), 300 meters inland of the beach. The five self-contained cabins set amid spacious lawns have glazed concrete floors, slightly ascetic yet stylish furniture (including a double bed and bunk), small kitchens, and heaps of light through cross-ventilated French doors opening to wooden decks. A pool was planned. Next door, the six-room Hotel Mauna Loa Surf Resort (tel. 506/2652-9012, www.maunaloa.it, $70) offers a similar and perfectly appealing alternative. The impressive Villas Kaiki (tel. 506/2652-9060, www.villaskaiki.com, $55-65 low season, $75-85 high season) is a virtual carbon copy of Las Avellanas Villas, 400 meters away.

Hacienda Pinilla (tel. 506/2680-3000, www.haciendapinilla.com, from $120-140 rooms, $295 suites, $300 beach house low season; $145-175 rooms, $325 suites, $395 beach house high season) has a variety of deluxe accommodations, including Superior and Deluxe rooms in the La Posada Hotel, plus a large selection of beach houses and two-, three-, and four-bedroom villas. Here, too, is the lavish, beachfront JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa (tel. 506/2681-2000, www.marriott.com, $299-739 rooms, $999-2,199 suites), which opened in December 2008. It has 310 luxuriously appointed guest rooms, including 20 Junior Suites, all with Wi-Fi and lavish bathrooms. The most sumptuous rooms have their own plunge pools. Plus there’s a full-service spa, a huge infinity pool, and four restaurants. The inspiration is old-world colonial, reborn in contemporary vogue.

PLAYAS LAGARTILLO AND NEGRA

Playa Lagartillo, beyond Punta Pargos, just south of Playa Avellanas, is another gray-sand beach with tidepools. Lagartillo is separated by Punta Pargos from Playa Negra, centered on the community of Los Pargos. It, too, is popular with the surfing crowd.

About five kilometers south of Los Pargos, the dirt road cuts inland about eight kilometers to the tiny hamlet of Paraíso, where another dirt road leads back to the coast and dead-ends at Playa Junquillal.

Pura Jungla Preserve (tel. 506/2652-9160, www.purajungla.com) is an eco-community in the hills one kilometer north of Paraíso. The brainchild of environmentalist Ray Beise, the 235-hectare nature preserve is designed to show that beautiful homes can be built in harmony with their natural surroundings. Ray has returned erstwhile cattle pasture to forest that now draws a plethora of wildlife, including monkeys and cats. There’s an exotic fruit orchard, experimental tree farm, organic banana grove, and nature trails, one of which leads to a waterfall.

Accommodations

A delightful Peruvian couple run Kontiki (tel. 506/2652-9117, www.kontikiplayanegra.com, $10 s, $20 d, $25 quad), about three kilometers north of Los Pargos, between Lagartillo and Negra. This rustic and fairly basic farmhouse with a wonderful offbeat ambience has five thatched cabinas raised on stilts, with shared bath and cold water; one rates as a virtual treehouse and features two dorms with “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”-style bunks and a double bed (howler monkeys hang out in the treetops at eye level). The place abounds with pre-Columbian figurines. Peruvian dishes are cooked in an outdoor oven, and it has Wi-Fi. Rates include breakfast.

The three-story, all-hardwood Mono Congo Lodge (tel. 506/2652-9261, www.monocongolodge.com, $65-95 s/d), about one kilometer north of Los Pargos, has lost its warm welcome of late. This Colorado-style lodge that has been described as “a mixture of Swiss Family Robinson tree house and Australian outback bed-and-breakfast” is hand-built of stone and hardwoods and has six simply furnished air-conditioned rooms with magnificent high beds boasting orthopedic mattresses, mosquito nets, and batik spreads, plus screened windows, TVs/DVDs, and exquisite tile work in the bathrooms (some have stone walls). A wraparound veranda has hammocks and leather lounge chairs. It’s surrounded by fruit trees and dry forest. Horseback riding tours, boat charters, and massage can be arranged. Rates include breakfast.

Pablo’s Picasso (tel. 506/2652-9158, $12.50 with fan, $15 with a/c), at Playa Negra, is legendary among surfers. This rustic hostelry and surfers’ gathering spot is run by a friendly Yank named Paul. He offers four air-conditioned, spacious, and surprisingly elegant rooms with private baths with cold water (two with shared baths), and two air-conditioned cabinas with kitchens. You can camp for $4 per person, including toilets and showers. Hammocks are slung beneath the rustic bar, which has free Internet and a pool table.

For an alternative, consider Pico Negro Surf Camp (tel. 506/2652-9369, $10 pp), with four rooms in a two-story building facing the village soccer field. Each has shared stoned-lined showers with cold water only, and pizzas are served in a rustic restaurant.

By the sands at Playa Negra, Hotel Playa Negra (tel. 506/2652-9134, www.playanegra.com, $70 s or, $80 d low season, $77 s or $88 d high season) is designed like a South African kraal. The circular cabins are lovely, with simple yet colorful motifs. It has a simple restaurant and games room, plus a swimming pool and surf shop.

“Burgers as Big as Your Head” at Pablo’s Picasso in Playa Negra

My vote for best digs for miles goes to the Peruvian-run Café Playa Negra (tel. 506/ 2652-9351, www.playanegracafe.com, $17-29 s, $30-42 d low season; $20-32 s, $36-48 d high season). This cozy option has expanded and now exudes tremendous ambience beyond the antique-style doors. It has six rooms (two with bunks) appointed with glazed concrete floors, plump sofas, mattresses atop poured concrete with Guatemalan spreads, sponge-washed walls, and hammocks on a broad veranda facing a gorgeous pool. Three rooms are air-conditioned; three have ceiling fans. It also has a full bar, board games, and Peruvian restaurant.

Food

Carlos at Café Playa Negra (7 A.M.-9 P.M. daily) conjures superb pancakes, French toast, quiches, sandwiches, ceviche, entrées such as mahi mahi with creamy seafood sauce with shrimp ($9), plus killer batidos (shakes). Friday is sushi night. The café also offers Internet connections ($2.50 per hour) and laundry service ($7.50 per load).

Paul, at Pablo’s Picasso (11 A.M.-until the last guest leaves), serves “burgers as big as your head” ($4), plus pancakes ($3), sandwiches, and pastas.

PLAYA JUNQUILLAL

Playa Junquillal, four kilometers southwest of Paraíso and 31 kilometers west of Santa Cruz, is an attractive, four-kilometer-long, light-gray-sand beach with rock platforms and tidepools. Beware the high surf and strong riptides. The beachfront road dead-ends at the wide and deep Río Andumolo, whose mangrove estuary is home to birds and crocodiles.

Paradise Riding (tel. 506/2658-8162, www.paradiseriding.com) offers horse-riding trips.

Accommodations and Food

Accommodations in Junquillal struggle to draw a clientele, and the scene was fluid at last visit. There are more options than listed here.

Despite its fabulous clifftop perch, the Iguanazul Beach Resort (tel. 506/2658-8123, www.iguanazul.com) appeals mainly to Tico travelers, and at last visit the public areas remain in need of a total remake.

Villa Roberta B&B (tel. 506/2658-8127, www.junquillal.com, $35-50 low season, $50-75 high season) is a modern hilltop home about 400 meters inland of the beach. It rents two spacious rooms. One is a very attractive double room with a black stone floor and king-size bed, and a beautiful bathroom with stone floor, sink, and shower. The second is an air-conditioned apartment with lofty ceiling, small kitchen, and a tasteful bathroom with a bidet. Each has a pleasing motif with dark hardwood accents and sea-blue tiles. It has a deep kidney-shaped pool plus hammocks on verandas.

About 100 meters south, a German-Tico couple run El Castillo Divertido (tel./fax 506/2658-8428, castillodivertido@hotmail .com, $30 s, $42 d), a crenellated three-story structure with a breezy hillside setting 300 meters inland of the beach. It has six simply furnished rooms with large louvered-glass windows, private bath (three have hot water and ocean view). There’s a rooftop sundeck.

The Hibiscus Hotel (tel./fax 506/2658-8437, $30 s, $40 d) is set amid landscaped grounds full of palms and plantains and run by a German couple. All five rooms—genteel and spotless—have fans and private baths with hot water, plus hammocks on terraces. Quality seafood is served in a pretty little dining area.

In the center of the beach, the German-run Villa Serena (tel./fax 506/2658-8430, www.land-ho.com, $65 s/d low season, $150 high season) has 10 modern bungalows. The spacious, light, and airy rooms—all with fans and private baths with hot water—are spread out among palms and surrounded by emerald-green grass and flowery gardens. The villa has a cozy lounge overlooking the beach, a library, and a swimming pool, and a hibiscus-encircled tennis court. Dinners are served on an elevated veranda overlooking the ocean. It offers spa treatments.

Prefer a bed-and-breakfast inn? Hotelito Si Si Si (tel. 506/2658-9021, www.hotelitosisisi.com, $79 s/d room, $99 casita) offers three rooms and a one-bedroom casita with king-size beds.

For self catering, try Plumitas Pacífica (tel. 506/2658-7125, www.plumitapacifica.com, $85 low season, $95 high season), with two spacious, simply furnished apartment units with full, marble-topped kitchens. They smelled of fresh concrete. It has a tremendous beachfront setting.

For the “The best fish sandwich in Central America,” or an early morning espresso, head to Rudy’s (no tel., 6:30 A.M.-10 P.M. daily), which doubles as the local grocery store. It has themed food nights.

Getting There

A bus (tel. 506/221-7202) departs San José for Junquillal from Avenida 3, Calle 20, daily at 2 P.M. ($5, five hours). Buses depart Santa Cruz at 5 A.M., 10 A.M., 2:30 P.M., and 5:30 P.M. Return buses depart for Santa Cruz at 6 A.M., 9 A.M., 12:30 P.M., and 4:30 P.M.; and for San José at 5 A.M.