Costa Rica: real estate markets we have explored for a beach house

In our last post we did some introspective view of why we want a beach property and the conclusion is that we definitely have many reasons, perhaps the main ones are just that we have to recognize that Costa Rica is a popular tourist destination with a thriving tourism industry. It's known for its beautiful beaches, stunning natural landscapes, and abundance of outdoor activities, making it a desirable location for vacationers. By owning a beach property in Costa Rica, we can tap into this market and generate income through short term rentals.

Second, Costa Rica has a stable and growing economy, with a strong focus on sustainable development. This makes it an attractive location for investors looking to put their money into a property that is likely to appreciate in value over time. Additionally, the cost of living in Costa Rica is relatively low compared to other countries, so owning a beach property can also be a more affordable option for those looking to retire or vacation in a beautiful location.

Overall, owning a beach property in Costa Rica can be a great investment for those looking to generate income through short term rentals, take advantage of a growing economy, and enjoy all that this beautiful country has to offer.

  So, we visited many locations in this journey and throughout our lives as Costa Rica citizens, we have a good grasp of what each beach area brings in terms of pros and cons.  

Summarizing everything in just a short post may be hard, so we tried to make a very succinct guide here breaking down the Costa Rica map into 5 beach “areas” we determined based on what WE think are commonalities.  

   Of course, anyone can say we didn’t include all locations, or that we grouped this wrong, or that we are completely wrong… if so, just say it in the comments, we do appreciate positive feedback.

  But the idea of this post is just to give you an overview of these markets and how we feel they are different, the level of development, etc. 

  These are just the areas we have considered, places we know and visited several times, so we know we left some options out, like the central valley or Monteverde. Maybe one day we will make a much more detailed analysis, with some evaluation matrix to assess each market, give actual data, etc. 

But for now, lets just explain our idea:  looking at the small map of Costa Rica we broke the coastal areas in 5 big chunks:

1. Caribbean/Limon

2. South Pacific

3. Central Pacific

4. Papagayo area

5. Other Guanacaste

   Each one of these areas have enough differences that make it worth the separation and explanation of their features differently; and it can help you understand the realities of each one.  If you really want us to elaborate more on any of these, let us know in the comments below.  And I said +2 before because perhaps we could argue there are plenty of other regions worth mentioning, like Puntarenas on its own and its nearby Nicoya peninsula, or anything that is not beach-like but still near beaches or has a nice rural feel, like Liberia, Orotina, Siquirres or Perez Zeledon… but lets just focus on the 5 beach areas we know best:

   Lets go with number 1, the Caribbean.  

 I spent many easter break weeks and holidays in this area during my younger years with our mutual friend, so we love Limon and its surroundings.

• Access:  The Limon area is about 4 hours away from San Jose, has no local international airport, so you have to drive there through a road that is subject to landslides.  It is 

• Weather and culture:  Its probably the most resembling a caribbean island in terms of weather (more humid than the rest) and it rains a lot, the culture (with a larger afro caribbean influence) and the look and feel of the beaches are greener, they feel more like the picture above.

• Popular sites and beaches:  Cahuita, Puerto Viejo are probably the top and we definitely recommend that, but all over Limon there are great beach towns worth exploring.  A tour around Tortugero is close and can be a great experience to immerse in

• Real estate market: Prices may not be as high as the rest of the beachtowns, but still in Puerto Viejo a lot of expats have made this their home and there is very little inventory available. Probably the most underdeveloped beach zones are around the limon province, with not a lot of resorts, not a lot of beach front properties… or development at all.  Its harder to access good properties with secured titles.  

• What we like: The culture and the vibe in Limon is different.  It has that calm, slow pace that one imagines of Caribbean islands.  The food in the region is amazing.  The beaches are less crowded and usually feel more secluded.

• What we don’t like:  Weather is a lot more humid than in the pacific, so it really hits you differently.  The road to get to Limon is subject to so many landslides that there is no guarantee you can get there when you want to be.  And perhaps the saddest thing is that the main city of Limon has become to unsafe as drug cartels and general safety conditions have deteriorated a lot.

   Number 2, the Sout Pacific coast.  

• Access:  The option is also through driving south from San Jose, or via the costanera to get to anything south of Quepos and Dominical…  Access is good, with a 5 to 7 hours drive depending on what beach you are going to.

• Weather and culture:  The weather is slightly less humid than Limon, and the culture has a lot remaining traits of our local indigenous tribes.  Actually visiting here and learning about our Costa Rican indigenous tribes and past is a great experience. 

• Popular sites and beaches: Uvita, Playa Ballena, and anything around Golfito.  Corcovado national park is one of the most biologically diverse parks in the world. 

• Real estate market: This region is starting to pick up steam in terms of development and growth.  Americans and Europeans have been buying farm lands, and beach properties for at least 10 years now in this area,  but its probably still full of opportunities for those who search.   

• What we like:  we spent our honeymoon at Bahia Ballena in a small boutique hotel in the middle of the jungle with an amazing view. The area is Costa Rica nature at its best, and the road to get there (although long) has some amazing scenic views.

• What we don’t like:   Its still quite far away to get to the south-south, so any drive there is tiring. The other thing is that the area is great to relax and enjoy nature, but there’s not a lot to do beyond that.  Unlike Limon that has a lively Puerto Viejo town, the south pacific is really calm…maybe too calm for us.

Jumping to number 3, the Central Pacific.   Anything up from Quepos and up to Puntarenas.

• Access:  This is one of our favorite places, primarily because of its easy access from San Jose.  Taking route 27 you can be here in less than 1.5 hours if traffic allows. A quick drive from SJO airport or San Jose downtown and you can be enjoying sandy beaches in a blast.

• Weather and culture:  Weather in the central pacific is even less humid and rainy than in the south pacific.  Its warm, with weather between 22 and 30 celsius all year long. And its also full of condos, developments, and very popular locations for tourists, local and international. 

• Popular sites and beaches:  The most well known town is Jaco, a small and lively beach town that americans and europeans enjoy a lot. It has a great restaurant scene and is surrounded by many communities that serve both local and international tourists. Jaco is very convenient as it has everything in one place. And as you continue to go south you can find less and less busy areas, Hermosa, Esterillos, Bejuco are close to civilization with Jaco being the center of action, but a lot less active, and you can find many tours to enjoy water sports, horseback riding, zip lining. Continuing south you will find the second most popular national park, Manuel Antonio, a must-visit to see monkeys, white sand beach and a great natural preserve.  Also, we recommend  Herradura : a small beach, more oriented towards local costa rican tourism and Dominical a bit to the south is peaking up and more hipster: yoga, surf, fishing, jungles.

• Real estate market:   Probably one of the most developed areas.  We used to go to Jaco so often that we knew each building in the 2.5 miles of beach, and we even had a realtor there helping us find properties.  The market here exploded in 2020 and In the last years EVERYTHING sold out.  Now there are new developments upcoming that may be good investment opportunities, but prices are quite high for our liking. In Manuel Antonio and its surroundings is not hard to find multimillion dollar mansions, but there are still pockets of land and more options around Bejuco, Esterillos and even Hermosa or Quepos.

• What we like:  It’s a great area for us all around.  Its proximity to San Jose city may be the best thing it has, but also the south side of Jaco is a great mix of peaceful condo developments, that are just a very short walk to the action-packed night life in Jaco.

• What we don’t like: Jaco has a bad reputation, as it also has a lot of parties, lots of night clubs and everything that comes with that.  From a real estate perspective, the prices have gone so high, that the only real options are small condos that we feel not always give you the best bang for your buck.

   Number 4: the Papagayo or North Pacific area.   We are referring to a very determined area surrounded by the Papagayo gulf and the surrounding beaches. Lets say any beach from the Santa Rosa national park in the far north west corner of Costa Rica, to the popular beach town of Tamarindo.

• Access:  We both grew up loving this area and coming often, so because of that Guanacaste is the ultimate vacation feeling for us.  Its probably the longest drive from San Jose to get to this area, but with the new highway, we recently made the drive in around 4  hours (including the fact that our house is on the other side of san jose, which means we cross the city).  So its not bad. And now most international travelers are flying straight into the Liberia airport, just 1 to 2 hours away from the beaches and receiving over 1.2 million travelers a year now.  So, access wise is quite good for international travelers.

• Weather and culture:  Weather in Guanacaste is what we love! Its hot, yes, but more dry hot and with the right ocean breeze it can be perfect.  The vegetation difference is quite significant to that in Limon or the South Pacific, with tropical dry forests making it feel more like a California area than a caribbean beach site. The culture of guanacaste is also quite particular, you will find local foods, dances, and many customs that shaped the entire culture of our country.

• Popular sites and beaches:  There are many beaches that became popular in this area. Tamarindo is the ultimate and most popular Americanized beach, so much so that we don’t think its that great any more.  Playa del Coco is great because of its proximity to the airport and mixture of great services, easy access to many  beaches, great night life and restaurants.  I think its one of the best places to visit because you can have a 2 hour drive and visit volcanoes, or use it as a headquarter for trips to other beaches, or take a boat tour, etc.   Flamingo is less fun, since it quickly got full of private condominiums. We specially like Ocotal and Conchal, two great beaches that are so beautiful and have easy access and nice areas around them.  To the north of Coco Beach and Hermosa, the areas are full of big resorts, like the Four Seasons, the Westin, Planet Hollywood, Occidental, the Mangrove, etc.  We don’t particularly like that because they’ve turned some great beach areas into very inaccessible for locals, but well… there’s a balance in everything, and tourists definitely want such high-end resorts.

• Real estate market: This is beach living prices at its top for Costa Rica. The whole area is a very popular and expensive area, and since it developed a long time ago, there is very little left to build.  Depending on the beach, there are many beach-front or near-beach areas that are already crowded, and finding beach-front property is already not possible. Finding ocean-view property is sometimes possible but quite expensive.  It also dried up a lot during the real estate boom of 2021.

• What we like:   in general, there is a lot to love about this areas.  We used to go to Playa Hermosa once a year and the feeling we have is that this area feels like vacation, gives us that cozy familiar vibe and now with the highways and easier drive has become a favorite.  We have stayed in and around Playa del Coco several times, and the expat community has made the whole area flourish with cultural mixes and great initiatives to improve the whole community

• What we don’t like:  depending on the area, the beach resorts have made it way too touristic.  For those looking for all-inclusive resorts, that is great, but we prefer more of a community feeling you get in some other areas.  Buying and building here is really hard because everyone is trying to buy here, and we know the prices here have skyrocketed as locals tend to squeeze every penny out of foreigners.

   And number 5 is not really an area, but we can say its “all the rest of the western and south side beaches of Guanacaste.  From Playa Lagarto to Paquera, including the Nicoya peninsula.

 This is also Guanacaste, but we have visited this area a lot less than the northern side. It has become super popular with international travelers lately (10 years) with Montezuma, Santa Teresa, MalPais becoming overcrowded in high season.

• Access:  Part of the reason we haven’t been there often is that its also harder to get there from San Jose.  You either drive around the peninsula, or take the Ferry at Puntarenas. Or take a small propel plane.   Roads are not great either.  But once you arrive, these beaches are some of the most beautiful and have some great villas.

• Weather and culture:  This is still Guanacaste, so everything we said still applies.  With the only caveat that this area became popular later after 2010 maybe, so it has become very “americanized”. There’s even an area they call “american project” in Nosara.  This is also one of the world’s Blue Zones, where a large concentration of centenials have made the area popular for visitors worldwide.

• Popular sites and beaches:  There are sooooo many beach locations here that its hard to consider all. Samara and Tambor used to be more normal destinations for Ticos in the day, now Nosara, Guiones, Santa Teresa, are really nice places and there are lots of luxury villas and boutique / signature hotels.

• Real estate market:   From a Real Estate market this whole region has been booming. There are still pockets of opportunity, but its harder to find them down dirt roads, so we haven’t explored a lot.  Its beautiful, but also prices have spiked. And again, beachfront is all sold out…  only second hand villas can be found. 

• What we like:   if we had money to spare, we would probably try to buy land in one of the beach areas that are still underdeveloped. That can be a great investment in 10 to 20 years. 

• What we don’t like:  the dirt roads and distance makes it hard to get there. The whole feeling of very hippie communities sometimes can take away from the real Costa Rica we love.

So there you have it, these are our thoughts on the different beach areas in Costa Rica. In conclusion, there is not one place for everyone. There are many opportunities and awesome places to visit and own a beach property in Costa Rica, that’s why we think it can be a great investment opportunity with many benefits. 

The country is known for its beautiful beaches, stunning natural landscapes, and abundance of outdoor activities, making it a desirable location for vacationers. Costa Rica also has a stable and growing economy, with a strong focus on sustainable development. The cost of living in Costa Rica is lower compared to other countries, so owning a beach property can also be a more affordable option for those looking to retire or vacation in a beautiful location. 

Thank you for reading this looong one. We hope this post helps guide you on your journey to owning a beach property in Costa Rica. We look forward to our next episode where we will discuss how we found a potential lot we can buy… maybe, hopefully, this will be the one.