Toucans in Tamarindo!

Just kidding... The only thing I wanted to see while we spent a month in Costa Rica was a toucan. Unfortunately, this was the closest I got!

📸Trevor S.

Even so, we had an awesome time in Tamarindo. We spent a month in a great Airbnb that was minutes from the beach, restaurants, shops, and even a grocery store. Here are some of our “must-do’s” if you find yourself heading that direction.

Eat the street food. Our favorite was the blue station wagon lady and her husband who served us huge portions of beans, rice, chicken (or fish, or beef, or arroz con pollo), plus plantains and salad for about $4. She starts serving around noon but is usually gone by 3:00 p.m. and typically has a line!

*Side note: If you’re still not convinced, Ricardo and I got severe food poisoning one time on this adventure so far, and it was not from street food. Rather, it was from a place run by two American expats. I’ll spare you the remaining details ;)

Cross the estuary (by boat). Be sure to pay the 500 colones (~$1.00) to cross the estuary for a more secluded beach and excellent surfing. It may look easy to walk across during low tide, or even swim the short distance during high tide, but you don’t want to run into this guy!

Try surfing. We rented boards for $10/day (24 hours) and had a fantastic time. We didn’t take any lessons, but I probably would have benefited from one. Ricardo helped me and after a few tries, and getting beat up by the massive waves, I got the hang of it. What a great workout too!

Estuary tour. Walk down the beach to the estuary and negotiate a price for a 2 hour estuary tour with one of the locals. There will be a bunch of boats hanging around waiting to take you on a tour or across the estuary. We paid $20 per person for a group of 4 when we went and saw howler monkeys, iguanas, tree crabs, tons of birds, and crocodiles! Tip: Don’t pre-book a tour with one of the tour companies since they charge more.

All-Day Adventure Pass. We booked an adventure day with our friends who came to visit us through C.R. Paradise and had an awesome time! This was one of the more expensive things we did while we were there ($120 per person), but it was an incredibly organized day that included transportation to and from the park, zip-lining, horseback riding, white water tubing, a full buffet lunch, and then we ended the day with hot springs and mud baths!

Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna Waterfall. This was one of my favorite things that we did! We were lucky enough to have more friends visit us so we rented a car (~$20 a day!) and drove 4 hours to Arenal Volcano National Park. We had an amazing hotel for the night and explored La Fortuna Waterfall (don’t pay for a tour, but be prepared for a lot of steps!). We found some free natural hot springs and the next day hiked around the park near Arenal Volcano.

Sunsets. Of course you can’t visit Tamarindo Beach without catching one (or 30) amazing sunsets. There are plenty of happy hours along the beach to grab a drink and enjoy the view!