Costa Rica
We traveled to Jaco and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica for 2.5 weeks. Our main goal of this trip was to try out working remotely in a new area (to get away from the Ohio winter) and learn how to surf. One of the best places to learn to surf is Costa Rica! You can find many different waves for any level. To be honest with you, we didn’t do too much exploring since we were trying to just work, chill, and surf but if you want to learn more about traveling to Jaco and Santa Teresa, read along!
We landed in San Jose and took a airport taxi ($100) to Jaco. It’s about an hour and a half drive and the roads are windy (curvy) and most are driving manual so it really feels like you’re all over the place during the ride. If you get car sickness, I’d recommend taking something.
On the way to Jaco our taxi driver stopped at the Crocodile Bridge and let us get out. It’s a bridge over a river that is filled with crocodiles, there were so many! Pretty cool to check out on your way to Jaco.
Jaco
We stayed in Jaco for about 10 days, we got an airbnb (split between 2 couples) right on the beach, great location and super nice, especially the third floor which is where my fiancé and I slept, there’s a living area, small plunge pool, and hammock overlooking the ocean with great views of the sunset.
Jaco has chill vibes, very laid back surfer town. It seems it has become more Americanized over the past few years and prices have increased a lot. My future in laws visited Jaco 2 years ago and went to the same restaurant and their order was double what it was 2 years ago! The streets of Jaco do seem a little trashy, it’s not the nicest place, I just want to be transparent with you, Jaco is definitely not a very luxurious place at all however it is a good surfer town.
Surfing
Our second day in Jaco I got surf lessons, I just went up to a stand on the beach, there’s quite a few, and they were able to get me quickly in. Tip, if you are planning to rent a surf board for more than a few days, try to get a deal, they were able to give us a deal so that was nice! Jaco seemed more like a place where you can negotiate, Santa Teresa not so much.
The surf lesson was super helpful and I only got one, the rest of the trip I spent about less than an hour a day surfing and I got the hang of it pretty good. I was only riding the crashed part of the wave though. It’s harder than it looks! The lesson really helped me learn how to get up and positioned on the board. If I was in Costa Rica for longer I probably would have taken more lessons especially on how to get out to the larger waves but I just wanted to get comfortable with standing up and riding the waves.
The waves in Jaco are great for beginners, it was a bit more difficult in Santa Teresa so I’m glad we started with Jaco. We did notice a lot of sting rays in Jaco which kinda scared me because they were so shallow! And you can see them in the waves too. But they didn’t hurt anyone, at least while we were there.
Best Places to Eat
Public House - the burgers and margaritas here are awesome! We ate here multiple times. Highly recommend. If you were to just get some burger and fries, you’re looking at spending $30-40 for two people. One of the better priced places we ate at.
Ridiculous Burger - this is a world known burger place where they have some of the tallest burgers in the world and burger challenges. However we just got normal sized burgers. I really liked my burger, fries weren’t that good. The people in my group said they like the burgers from Public House better. But I think it’s worth eating at ridiculous burger too, it’s a little more expensive than Public House.
Amara - this place was amazing!! It’s probably the nicest and most pricey place we went to in Jaco but the food is phenomenal and totally worth it. Amazing greek salad, great bruschetta, and don’t get me started on the miso cod risotto, it’s delicious and very filling. Service here is great, atmosphere is cute, we loved everything about it. Highly recommend.
Ohana Sushi Tapas Bar - now from the outside you might be thinking, really this place is that good?? Well let me tell you, it is! This is a cute little restaurant nearby the beach, we ate here multiple times and were never disappointed. The sushi is really good and so is the price. They also have different entrees and many other dishes to try that were all very good. We had steak kabobs which were delicious. Highly recommend.
Ready Pizza - I believe this is what it’s called. One night we just did a wine and pizza night in and wanted to save money and this is probably the cheapest meal you’ll find in Jaco. I’m talking like $7 for a large pizza if I remember correctly. It’s a pretty good pizza too. Just thought I’d put this on here if you are on a budget, I don’t think it pops up on google but for reference it’s right across the street from Masxmenos.
Masxmenos - Where to get your groceries! We tried to eat all of our breakfast and most of our lunch in and had dinner out.
Manuel Antonio
One of our days in Jaco we decided to go to Manuel Antonio, one of the most famous national parks in Costa Rica. We bought tickets online from the Manuel Antonio website a few days before, they were $18 per person. We Ubered around 7am (roughly $100) and it was about 1.5 hour car ride.
We saw lots of blue crabs, monkeys, and a few sloths but they were sleeping far up in the trees so it was hard to see. There’s a cafe in the park with bathrooms, so if you get parched or hungry, this is a good stop. Plus it’s right before you get to the beaches which I highly recommend you stop at and relax for a while or however long you want! The first beach is perfect. White sand, turquoise blue water, calm enough for swimming, cool rock formations, and just beautiful scenery. In my opinion, this one is better than the second and larger beach at Manuel Antonio. Once you’re done here you can walk a little further to the second beach and then back around to exit the park.
We then headed to get lunch and to the public beach in Manuel Antonio. It was quite busy, the beach was not as nice as the first beach in the park, but there are cool rock formations towards to the end of this beach.
El Miro
El Miro is an abandoned hotel/mansion in Jaco, no one really knows exactly because the owner unfortunately passed away while constructing it. Now many of people visit this site to take in the beauty of Jaco, wonder around the abandoned hotel, and observe all the wonderful art. This site really does have some of the best views of Jaco and of the sunset.
To get there the best way is to uber/taxi to the entrance and then hike the rest of the way up (around 25-30min). We decided to walk there from our airbnb which was about 35 minutes because I didn’t realize that didn’t include the hike to get up to the actual site, lol we were exhausted! But the views are worth it and it’s super cool. The art some of these people have made up here is honestly super cool.
The best thing is that this activity and site is free!
The majority of the time in Jaco we just relaxed, worked, and surfed. If you are looking to visiting Costa Rica you might have heard of Selina, it’s basically a cool hostel for digital nomads and people traveling. We did not stay here however my fiancé was still able to use their facilities when he wanted to work. We also got some drinks by the pool at Selina, the vibe there is really cool!
As far as safety goes, I won’t say the Jaco is the safest place. Our airbnb had security overnight which is great but it also made me think, what goes on around here? From the research I did on Jaco I didn’t see anything concerning, plus my in laws came to Jaco 2 years ago and loved it, had no complaints. But places can change. I received a message from an old friend of my brother who lived in Costa Rica for a while and he basically said to leave or don’t go out at night, which honestly shocked me. Overall I felt decently safe but probably would not travel here alone as a woman. We did not go out at night which may be why I did feel more on the safe side, but I did get some very strange stares from older men during sunset one night.
One of the cons we didn’t love about Jaco was the sales reps on the beach. We were constantly getting disturbed every few minutes by someone and they will actually put their hands on you with no consent, one of the ladies literally cracked my in laws neck like a chiropractor! Wild. Even if you are laying down like you’re asleep with headphones in there’s still a good chance someone will come up to you.
These parrots were right outside our Airbnb!
Santa Teresa
The best way to get to Santa Teresa in my opinion from Jaco is to take a taxi boat. It’s about $80 per person and only 2 hours. There are cheaper routes like taking the ferry but it’s much longer and plus the ferry is about 1.5-2 hours away so you still need to consider transportation to and from the ferry.
We were picked up in a large van outside our airbnb and dropped off where the taxi boat was. They held all of our luggage under the boat. The boat ride was about an hour and we saw dolphins! So you may see dolphins as well. I was worried about getting sea sick but I didn’t have any issues. It was a very pleasant ride. We were dropped off in Montezuma and then got on another van to go to Santa Teresa. It was about a 40 min very bumpy ride. The roads in Santa Teresa are very rough.
Montezuma Beach
Once we got to Santa Teresa we instantly knew we were going to like this spot better. The vibes are great, people are really cool, fit, and active, better food, and better beaches. Our airbnb in Santa Teresa was awesome, very open on the first floor, comfy beds plus a balcony in one room, nice outdoor living area and a pool. We were a 5 minute walk from the beach, 2 minute walk from Selina and Eat Street.
There aren’t many places to stay right on the beach because the beach is just lined with trees, which makes it very private and peaceful, we loved this! No big condos or businesses right on the beach. Another huge plus was that there were practically no sales reps on the beach.
Our second night in Santa Teresa we went to Ranchos Ituana, it’s a beach bar right on the beach, super cute, cool vibes, they have live music and dancing, games like jenga, cornhole, and beer pong, drinks, and food. This was one of our favorite nights in Costa Rica!
If you are a solo traveler, Santa Teresa is awesome. We felt safe, it’s very easy to meet people, and it’s such a fun, positive environment. The best things to do in Santa Teresa is surf, do some yoga, watch the sunset, have fun, and work if you need to!
You might get lucky and see howler monkeys! We saw some in Santa Teresa and were unfortunately woken up around 4am from their sounds. They literally sound like a monster, and they are actually so small and harmless!
Howler Monkeys
Surfing
The surfing in Santa Teresa was a bit different from Jaco, I think it was easier to learn in Jaco because the waves in Santa Teresa were larger and the current pulled you more. I still just surfed in the white waves, I was starting to get pretty good! I think to really learn how to surf and get out on the larger waves you need to be surfing for a few months. Still, if you’re only going for a week, it’s worth it to at least try!
Best Places to Eat
Eat Street: This is an easy one. They have many options for lunch and dinner and a pretty good cafe for breakfast. Free wifi, good location, great vibes. It’s a bit pricey though, the food we got was good. Try the blueberry cheesecake at the cafe, amazing!
Mezzo: The pizza here is so good! I had the pepperonni pizza twice while we stayed in Santa Teresa. They have decent pasta, but the pizza is definitely what you should come here for. Decent price.
Ani’s Bowls and Salads: Pricey but very good! You’re probably paying over $15 for an açaí bowl if I remember correctly. But it was one of the best açaí bowls I’ve ever had, free wifi and super cute. Iced coffee is very good and right next to one of the beach entrances.
*If you are looking for a cheap option check out Soda Pura Vida, food was okay (at least what we got) but it was very cheap and huge portions! It’s worth trying out.
Montezuma Falls
We rented ATV’s for a day and headed to Montezuma Falls. It was about $110 for 24 hours including theft protection, tax, and the company filling up the gas so we didn’t have to. The ride was about 40 minutes, make sure to bring sunglasses/goggles and something to cover your mouth and nose because most of the roads are dirt so it flies up in your face. Once we got to Montezuma falls it was a few dollars to park the ATV in their parking lot.
We then started off on the hike, we went up the stream to the bottom of the fall. You have to hop through a lot of rocks and use rope to hold onto certain parts but it wasn’t anything super challenging. The waterfall was beautiful! We swam and cliff jumped then headed to the right of the waterfall to get to the top. Now this part was challenging, if you have bad knees I probably wouldn’t do this. It was pretty steep trying to step up in certain parts and you really have to pull yourself up with rope a few times but it’s definitely doable! If you’re not super mobile/active I wouldn’t do it though.
Once we got up to the top of the waterfall there were two different bodies of water and small waterfalls flowing to the big one. Great for chilling and cliff jumping!
Unfortunately the way back down you have to pay $4 per person to use the “safe” path lol. Which we took because we did not want to go down the way we came up at all. The whole hike plus swimming probably took us about 2 hours or so.
After the hike we got lunch at the restaurant right next door, I cannot remember the name. They had really good and cheap burgers. Then we hung out at Montezuma beach before heading back home. We were pretty tired but so we didn’t explore more but I would recommend checking out some other beaches along the coast, especially to get your monies worth for the ATV.
Summary
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Summary ~
We absolutely loved Santa Teresa and I would recommend this over Jaco. We probably would not go back to Jaco, just our preference. It felt more Americanized in Jaco, dirtier, more unsafe, not as great food, and Santa Teresa has better beaches.
Renting a car isn’t necessary if you don’t want to but it really depends on what you want to do in Costa Rica. Like I said, our main goal here was to get out of the cold winter season, learn to surf, chill & work. So we really didn’t do as much exploring as I would have liked. I would have loved to have gone to La Fortuna but that was about a 6 hour drive from Jaco. If you are wanting to explore a lot, I definitely think renting a car will be necessary. If you are like us and just want to go to a few different places, uber/taxi will be a good option. Renting ATV’s in Santa Teresa was great and I think this would probably be better than a car in Santa Teresa because of the roads.
If you’re a solo traveler, definitely check out Selina. Santa Teresa is great for solo travelers, there’s a lot of people around 25-35, great vibes, fun, and seems safe.
There’s so much to see in Costa Rica, if I would change one thing I would have wanted to stay in La Fortuna for a few days. No matter if you’re coming to Costa Rica for a week or months, you’re going to have a good time. I hope this blog has helped you with your planning to Costa Rica.
Pura Vida!