This is between me and you. Don’t tell anybody else. We don’t want too many people overcrowding the places I’m about to tell you about. Here’s how to spend a perfectly wonderful day at the beach in Guanacaste with your family. My little family and I have done this a bunch of times, so we’ve now got it down to a science. We’re going to spend the day at Playa Carrillo.
This works best if you’re staying along the coast in the general Tamarindo/Playas del Coco area in which case it can be a there and back again day trip. Here we go. First, you and your significant other have to plan on leaving at a decently early hour in the morning. For us it’s something like 9am. This will allow you plenty of time for driving, lunching, beaching, and returning. Of course, you’ll never hit this lofty goal. Anyone with kids knows that a series of things will inevitably happen that will push back your departure time, but that’s life.
Once everybody’s finally in the car with seatbelts in place the drive begins. The drive is actually part of the fun of this day trip. The most common route takes you through the historic city of Nicoya. When I say through it, I mean wiggling your way through the city’s narrow, sometimes one-way streets, past all of the little stories, people selling things on the sidewalks, and a mix of contemporary and historic-looking buildings. If you feel like it, you can pull over at the park with the neat old church and buy the kids some ice cream. Even if you don’t stop, driving through the buzz of human activity has a nice vibe.
The nice drive portion of the day continues after you make it out of Nicoya. As soon as the city ends you drive through a series of adorable little towns separated by hilly green cow pastures dotted with palm trees. For reasons that are unclear to me, the houses on this stretch of road are particularly well maintained, brightly painted with well-manicured gardens. ‘What a nice place to live’ comes to mind as you drive.
Right about now everybody in the car is starting to get antsy and that’s ok because I know exactly where you need to stop. Since you missed that departure time by about an hour, it’s time for lunch anyway. As you approach the coast, you need to wind your way steeply uphill before cresting the mountain and riding downhill to the coast. As you reach the highest point of this mountain (almost definitely driving 5 miles per hour behind an enormous truck that you can’t pass), there’s a restaurant called La Roca.
I have no affiliation with La Roca. This info is all coming from the love in my heart. My family has been going there for years. Originally, it was pretty rustic, but sometime over the last few years they completely remodeled it and now it’s modern and very nice. Either way, the magic of the restaurant was, and still is, the view. It sits atop the mountain with a stunning view of the countryside below. You can even see a waterfall in the distance.
There’s a clearly marked trailhead right next to the restaurant and you can hike to the waterfall that you can see from the balcony. We always say we’ll do the hike next time and never do. Waterfall hike or not, order anything on the menu, it’s all delicious. Enjoy the view, recharge your batteries, and then pack everybody back into the car and start driving downhill to the beach.
As you arrive at the coast, you’ll hit the small beach town of Samara, which is a fun place to explore, but you’ll have to save that for another day because you’re heading to Carrillo. After Samara you only have about ten minutes left in the car. After you cross a one-way bridge over a small river, you’ll want to pull over at the little store for snacks and drinks because it’s the last one before the beach.
Fully stocked with goodies from the store, you’ll drive five more minutes until you hit Playa Carrillo. You’ll know you’ve made it when you’re driving next to an enormous beach with calm waves, the entirety of which is lined with several rows of palm trees. You can pull over at any spot you please. Throughout the entire palm tree section of the beach there are benches, tables, and grills. The vibe is laidback and local, with lots of families enjoying the shade and waves.
After several hours of fun in the sun, it’s time to pack everybody and everything back into the car and start the drive home. If your family is anything like mine, the return trip is a lot quieter than initial drive as your kids will be slouched over sleeping like a pile of puppies. So, there you have it, the perfect family beach trip. Remember, this is between me and you. I don’t want the tables at La Roca and the shady spots at the beach to be full of other people.
About the Author
Vincent Losasso, founder of Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring, is a biologist who works with camera traps throughout Costa Rica
