Tamarindo seems to be ground zero for surfing, language study and partying in Costa Rica. Its got a long, wide beach that has nice beginner level shorebreak surfing and a number of “surf camp” hostels. It has a ton of Spanish language schools. And it has a wide enough range of bars to keep all the people in these schools and hostels well lubricated throughout the night. Walking through the main part of town I saw more tourists than locals. Hence its nickname as “Tamagringo”.
For me, Tamarindo has three parts. Just off the main town are relaxed, dusty, dry, half paved roads lined with apartments, condiminiums, schools, hostels and some higher end hotels. Then, suddenly you pop into the main part of town and it feels like a stylized California beach town. Restaurants, stores, bars and boutique shops line the town. It’s actually pretty nice. It is also really expensive. A Swiss couple staying next to me said it felt like Swiss prices here. I don’t think it’s that bad, but things are definitely 2-3 times more expensive than pretty much all of Mexico.
The third part of Tamarindo is the water. And here, youth is served. In the town there were tourists of all ages. Not in the water. Almost everyone in the water was in their 20s and some seemed younger than that. There was one section by some rocks were the solid intermdiate surfers saw action. It was crowded and I didn’t trust myself to avoid the rocks. Where I set up was all beginners and it was relatively crowded. I’m still a really raw surfer, but I was one of the only people who would actually turn into the waves to catch them. Most would have to line up on their bellies facing the shore and let the waves come to them. To be fair, that was me my first few weeks in the water as well! But at this stage, I don’t want to be anywhere where I’m one of the best surfers 🙂
I’m glad I came here and it’s a great place. But the water is crowded, the surf is great for your first few weeks of surfing (but can get pretty simple after that), and it’s just too expensive for any longer term stays.
I had a really relaxed Airbnb studio apartment
My surfing notes for future reference: my first two afternoons were nice. I had a hard time judging the lineup my first day and only caught a couple of waves. I caught a handful my second afternoon. The nicer, outside sets were 2-4 feet with a decent left if you catch it correctly. Then the surf disappeared. Day 3 it was suggested I try in the morning. So I went down there when the shop opened, but there was no surf, so I took the day off. Day 4 I went back in the afternoon and spent over an hour in the water, but there was no swell. Nothing. Day 5 I checked things out at the best time in the afternoon for the tides. Again nothing. Day 6 I tried the morning again, since the tides were getting higher later. Again nothing. People were just sitting on their boards out there. On the 7th day, the projections called for some surf. High tide was at 7:20am so I was out there by 7:30am. Caught a couple of waves the first half hour and things felt good. Then the sea became calm. A few more intermittent sets came by, but I miss timed them. By 9:30am I paddled in. It was a beautiful morning and it was just nice to be out there.
The trick with Tamarindo is that the surf is only good about 2-3 hours before and after high tide. So when the high tides are at around 5am to 6am and then 5pm to 6pm, the windows can get limited, which is what they were the middle of the time I was there.