Tamarindo

 
Overview

Tamarindo is a town in the Guanacaste Province, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. It’s known for beaches with strong surf, like Playa Tamarindo and Playa Langosta.

Description

To the north, Playa Grande beach is a major nesting site for huge leatherback turtles and forms part of Las Baulas National Marine Park. The mangrove-lined estuary of Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge protects animals such as howler monkeys and crocodiles. If Patrick and Wingnut from the 1994 surfing movie Endless Summer II surfed a time machine to present-day Tamarindo, they'd fall off their boards. A quarter-century of hedonism has transformed the once-dusty burg into 'Tamagringo,' whose perennial status as Costa Rica’s top surf and party destination has made it the first and last stop for legions of tourists.