For our final few days in Costa Rica we drove west to the Pacific Coast.  Our destination was Tamarindo, a popular beach town that is also known as “Tamagringo” due to the prevalence of tourists from the USA and Europe.

As we made our way to the Pacific coast we were struck by how different the landscape was.  In contrast to the jungles on the Caribbean Coast, the western coast was much more arid with fewer trees and more grasslands.

Upon arrival in Tamarindo we checked into our beachfront hostel where we watched iguanas and birds from our balcony.

Tamarindo’s main attraction is the beach and we spent most of our time there.  The waves provided good opportunities for surfing and boogie boarding.

The kids also built sand castles…

… while the adults enjoyed a tropical beverage.

Beach crew.

We had nice clear weather during our visit and the daytime temperatures were quite hot, over 90F.  The late afternoons were very pleasant though, and we were treated to several beautiful sunsets.

Summing Up

We found Tamarindo to be a great place to get in some beach time and relax.  While we enjoyed our time there we wished we had spent another day or two in La Fortuna and less time in Tamarindo since La Fortuna had a better variety of things to do.

Next time we head south of the equator to South America, a new continent for all of us!