Mal País & Santa Teresa · Costa Rica
Surfing Playa Santa Teresa
A beach break in Mal País & Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, for beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers.
Santa Teresa is a long white-sand beach with peaks all along it, and the most consistent wave on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. It's best on a south-west swell from low to mid tide, when the banks can get hollow, and there are easier reforms for improvers.
The town has grown fast, with yoga studios, cafés and places to stay along the dusty main road, and the line-up is rarely empty. Walk along the beach and you'll usually find a quieter peak.
The dry season, from December to April, brings clean conditions and offshore mornings, and the south-west swells of the green season, from May to November, bring more size. Mornings are usually best, before the wind picks up.
The main road is dusty and can be busy with quad bikes, and prices in town are high for Costa Rica. Playa Carmen, at the north end, has easier waves and surf schools, and Playa Hermosa and Manzanillo, a little further on, are quieter on most days.
When to surf
Playa Santa Teresa
Playa Santa Teresa is at its best from December to April. Conditions it likes: Swell S-SW, low to mid tide.
December to April: Good
Dry season, cleaner conditions and WNW pulses, though smaller than the summer swell
May to July: Prime
Green season SW groundswell fires the points and beachbreaks; offshore mornings
August to October: Prime
Peak S-SW swell, most consistent and biggest, but the wettest months
Nov: Quiet
Transition, rain and swell easing into the dry season
The year across Golfo de Nicoya
Waves near Playa Santa Teresa
Getting there
Where to stay: Santa Teresa and Playa Carmen run into one another and hold most of the beds, food and board hire; Mal País proper is quieter and closer to Cabo Blanco. Access is by 4x4 over dusty (or muddy) roads, most people fly to SJO and take a shuttle and the Puntarenas-Paquera ferry.
Transport, costs, where to stay and the rest of the waves in the area are in the Mal País & Santa Teresa guide.
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