Where is Nosara?

Nosara is located on the Pacific ocean side in Costa Rica's northern province of Guanacaste. This region along the Nicoya Peninsula is recognized as one of the seven Blue Zones in the world, where people enjoy long lives due to their lifestyle and the environment in which they live.

The closest airport to Nosara is Liberia International Airport (LIR) which is approximately a 2.5 hours away by car. The city of San Jose and San Jose’s International Airport (SJO) is approximately 4.5 hours away.

What’s Nosara like?

Laid Back. Surf Town. Family Friendly. Nature Focused. 

Adorned with modern past times, rich in nature, and complemented by a simple life pace, Nosara has become a very popular Costa Rica vacation destination. Nosara has been recognized as a top travel destination by popular magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times.

Visitors from all over the world come to enjoy spacious beaches, warm water surf, monkeys in the trees, and the laid back lifestyle.

There are no beach front homes, no big hotel chains nor mainstream stores. You also won’t find any fast food restaurants, Uber taxis, Starbucks or paved roads.

That's right, all of the roads are dirt. It's a journey just to get here! 

Nosara proper is a small town just inland from the ocean about 5km. It is where most of the local Costa Ricans live, and where you’ll find a small airport, a large grocery store, car wash, local sodas (cafes), the post office, a pharmacy, and a library.

It’s Nosara’s beach side communities of Playa Guiones and Playa Pelada that are the popular vacation destinations.

Playa Guiones is considered one of the most consistent beach breaks throughout Costa Rica with waves for every level. There are two sides to Playa Guiones, “town” and North Guiones. Both sides of Playa Guiones have numerous vacation homes, hotels, cafes and restaurants, surf shops and surf schools, bike and car rentals, boutique shops, and fitness classes.

Playa Pelada is a beautiful and picturesque beach just to the north of Playa Guiones. It’s a swimming beach with great tide pools to explore and soak in! The neighborhood is a nice balance of residents and vacation rentals making it more tranquilo than Playa Guiones. There are few amenities such as mini-markets, a great gelato and espresso cafe, and two of the most popular restaurants in Nosara, La Luna and El Chivo.

In addition to being a popular vacation destination, Nosara is also home to a large community of expats and expat families from all over the world.

There are two private schools in the area which have made Nosara a popular place for expats looking to move their families abroad.

Thank you Angela Rasbeary for your contribution to this description.