Guanacaste
This 7 km long beach is 16 km southeast of Bahía Garza and about 35 km southwest of Nicoya. Sámara has a beautiful, gentle wave white-sand beach that has been called one of the safest and prettiest of Costa Rica. Former president Oscar Arias had a vacation house near here, as do many other wealthy ticos. It is also a favourite beach for tourists and has good bus and air service.
One drawback is the relative lack of forest, which means there is less wildlife and shade than at other Nicoya beaches, but it has rows of manzanillo shrubs, and earth vines such as the beach beans and matapalo. At a distance of 234 km from San José, Playa Sámara can be reached by bus, car, or small airplane. In Sámara Beach the old and the new go smoothly hand in hand. Colourful oxcarts pass slowly by modern discos and time-honoured hand workers coexist with recent contemporary technology. Monkey, Iguanas and tropical birds give the village an exotic flair.
The village has a few stores, discos, restaurants, bars, and over twenty hotels and cabins for any taste and budget can be found. Things are a little spread out - ask for direction to places away from the centre. Local inhabitants (other than retirees) do a little farming and fishing.
Playa Sámara is still a fairly tranquil place, but development has picked up since the paved road arrived in 1996. there is a fair amount of construction going on in the village centre, and new places continue to open.
From Nicoya take this route Nicoya - Curime - Caimital - Belén - Terciopelo - Maquenco - Sámara Beach (36 km). Text partly by Lonely Planet. To buy the complete book
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