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Sunset over the canopy toward the Pacific

The area · Nicoya Peninsula

You Are Not Moving Somewhere Empty

Surf schools, yoga shalas, a bilingual school, farmers’ markets and national parks — all of it already running, all of it inside an hour.

The question

What is there to do?

The honest answer to “what is out here” is: a working coast that other people already chose. Not a resort strip, and not wilderness either — a stretch of Guanacaste with surf breaks, wellness studios, a school, clinics and a Saturday market, spread between three small towns.

Below is what is actually within reach of the gate, with real travel times. Where we know a place by name we say so; where the offering changes by season we say that too.

Distances by road

Playa Venado4.3 miles · ≈ 25 min by bike
Playa Negra / Marbella9 miles
Tamarindo airstrip (domestic)18 miles · ≈ 32 min
Tamarindo20 miles
Nosara airstrip (domestic)23 miles
Liberia international (LIR)50 miles

Air access, stated plainly

Tamarindo has a domestic airstrip 18 miles away, about half an hour, and Nosara one at 23 miles. The nearest international airport is Liberia (LIR), 50 miles by road — an hour and a quarter in normal traffic. There is no international airport nearby; if you have read otherwise, it was wrong.

Liberia is in the middle of a $6 million modernisation: a general and business aviation terminal with its own customs and immigration, an expanded VIP lounge and more parking, with the works running from late 2026 into 2027. A 634 m² extension to the boarding lounges is already open. It is the airport you will fly into, and the one your guests will.

Map of the Playa Venado area Interactive map Open the area map

The corridor

One Coast, Five Reasons People Stay

Surf, wellness, the family logistics that actually decide it, protected forest and a working town — all of it already running along this stretch, and all of it inside an hour. Choose one to see it in detail.

The home beach4.3 miles · ≈ 25 min by bike
Surf breaks9 miles · Negra, Marbella
Bilingual schoolTamarindo · 20 miles
Protected forestAt your boundary
A Blue ZoneThe whole peninsula
The property and the coastline seen from the air The green plain running out to the Pacific The finca and its internal roads from above
The wide, empty sand of Playa Venado at low tide

Surf

4.3 miles

Playa Venado

The home beach — the one you go to without planning it. Gentle enough for children and beginners, and almost never crowded.

A surfer inside the barrel of a wave on the reef break

Surf

9 miles

Playa Negra

The reef break that put this coast on the map, and still the reason serious surfers keep a place nearby.

A morning yoga practice on a wooden deck at first light

Wellness

Tamarindo · 20 miles

Yoga & retreats

Playa Negra Yoga — an internationally accredited studio minutes away — runs daily drop-in yoga, pilates and barre, with retreat centres through the corridor from Tamarindo down to Nosara.

Playa Negra Yoga · daily drop-in classes

Children walking home along the village road

Family

Tamarindo · 20 miles

Bilingual schooling

School buses run from Playa Negra to four schools: La Paz Community School (IB, bilingual), CRIA, Educarte and Journey School — classes there run as small as six students.

La Paz (IB) · CRIA · Educarte · Journey School

The protected tropical dry forest behind the property

Nature

At the boundary

990 acres of protected forest

Tropical dry forest directly behind the property. Howler monkeys wake you, and nothing will ever be built into it.

A shaded table on a terrace looking into the garden

Food & town

Nearby

Kitchens and beach bars

Small restaurants, surf shops and a couple of good bars already operate along this stretch of coast — this is a place people live, not a plot in the middle of nowhere.

A long, empty stretch of beach at dusk

Nature

Seasonal

Turtle nesting

The long, quiet beaches along this coast are nesting ground. In season it is an ordinary evening walk rather than an excursion.

Season and beach to confirm locally

A shaded porch looking out into the garden

Wellness

The peninsula

A Blue Zone

Nicoya is one of five regions worldwide identified as a Blue Zone, where an unusual share of people live active lives past ninety.

Two surfers walking the tide line with their boards

Surf

9 miles

Marbella and Avellanas

Two more breaks inside the same short drive: Marbella for consistent swell, and Avellanas beyond Negra up the coast. Four beaches, four different days — none of them a commute.

Surfboards leaning against a concrete and teak wall in the afternoon light

Food & town

Along the coast

Surf shops and services

Board rental, repairs and the small businesses that come with a working surf coast. Schools and rental operate year-round in Tamarindo and seasonally closer to home.

The green coastline meeting the Pacific from the air

Nature

Along the coast

Estuaries and paddling

The river mouths along this coast are calm water for kayaking and paddleboarding, and full of birds at first light.

Floating on her back in still water, eyes closed

Wellness

Tamarindo to Nosara

Bodywork and plant-based kitchens

The wellness economy here is not seasonal decoration: teacher trainings, retreats, breathwork, bodywork and plant-based kitchens run through both halves of the year.

A father and two children walking a shaded trail in the late light

Family

From the gate

Outside, all year

The internal roads and the surrounding fincas make straightforward walking and riding country — flat enough to be daily, wild enough to be worth it.

The road north through the forest toward the coast

Golf

37 min

Hacienda Pinilla

An 18-hole championship course by Mike Young, par 72 and up to 7,200 yards, running through tropical dry forest to the Pacific. It is a certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary — the same conservation argument as the forest at our own boundary.

Tee times sold to the public · booking online

The coast running north from the property

Golf

56 min

Reserva Conchal

A Robert Trent Jones II course managed by Troon, an hour up the coast past Tamarindo, and one of only three Audubon-certified courses in the country. It runs seven days a week, but the round has to be arranged before you set off — it is not a course you can turn up at. Call ahead and they will tell you what is open to you.

Arrange the round before you drive up

Palms leaning over the empty sand at low tide

One of five places on earth where living past ninety is ordinary.

the Nicoya Blue Zone

The Year Has Two Halves

Anyone who has only visited in February has seen half of it. Both halves are worth knowing before you buy.

December – April

Verano — the dry season

Blue sky almost every day, the forest goes gold and drops its leaves, and the coast fills up. This is high season for rentals, the busiest surf, and the window when most building gets done. It is also when water tells you who prepared and who did not.

May – November

The green season

Mornings are usually clear and the rain comes in the afternoon, hard and short. Everything turns green, the rivers run, the swell is biggest, and the coast empties out. Most people who move here say this is the half they came to love.

Come and Spend a Day in It

We will pick you up, walk the parcels, drive you to the breaks and the school, and let the place answer for itself.

Arrange a site visit See it on the map
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