I have a little over a week set aside in mid December for a surf/recreation/relaxing trip with the old lady. After much thought, choosing between the Carribean and Central America (No, Hawaii is NOT an option unfortunately), we decided to go with Central America. And being that we've both travelled to Nicaragua several times, we went with Costa Rica as the final choice. Being a surfer my entire life and having a general knowledge of a world map, I am obviously familiar with the big cities and iconic surf spots that you see and hear about in every surf movie and magazine. So my question to you guys is where should we go? It's easy to look up online and read about every little surf camp telling you their town is the best, but I want to know the real scoop. What are your favorite spots and where have you had the most memorable time? The girlfriend is very laidback (hostels are okay, actually preferred) and while she's more than happy lounging by the beach, she wants to hike and see the volcanoes/rainforrest also (waterfalls are her thing). Does anyone know of an area (preferably on the pacific coast) that has a decent break and is in manageable driving distance of the activities I mentioned?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated, hope you guys scored some fun ones on friday!

Thanks!

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When you're an ape you're an ape, all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dyin' day...

Cape Apes

You can go to the Caribbean Costa Rica. Go to Puerto Viejo, Home of Salsa Brava, a reef break. Pretty dangerous place in the 90's. If you need a cop, you'd only find one at a bar at the end of town. Tons of Rastas. not the white boy kind. The "I'll kill him for you for free" kind. Good Mota and plenty of hongos. The drive from Alajuela is pretty cool. Go up a mountain, go thru a tunnel and come out in what looks like Jurassic Park.

the wife and I went to Santa Teresa...awesome place, good surf (more short board oriented than Nosara) other things to do and explore. 

What you could do is split your time between the inland volcanoes (Turrialba and Arenal) and then the beach. You would drive to Arenal first and then from there to the beach. For Turrialba, it's closer to the Caribbean and is right now spewing ash. It's less crowded from Playa Hermosa south to Dominical, and more tropical. However, the popular laid back spots are Nosara and Santa Teresa. There's beautiful waterfalls around the country. Do the zipline in Nosara to see a nice one, or visit the one near Arenal, or Nuayaca falls near Dominical. Glad to help you plan your stay.

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go to dominical.

 

stop in san isidro and eat at "el tenedor". best pizza ever

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If you want off the beaten path, Malpais/Santa Teresa. Take the ferry across the Gulf, real cool. If you surf a longer board, Playa Guiones/ Nosara. I'll be there for the month of January.

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Ah, religion, bigotry dressed up as morality.

Caribbean coast will be pumping!

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"I remember South Africa in the late 70's, sleeping on the beach at J-bay, smoking ganja with the blacks. On weekends we'd go to the pub in East London to drink beer and fight with the Afrikaners. They liked to fight, I liked to fight. It was a good time"

What I used to do what haul azz to Playa Hermosa Jaco for the weekend then go to the Mal Pais area. But if you don't want to do a ton of driving just stay at Hermosa. Got a lot of breaks near by. Boca Barranca is a long left. EsteRios oeste is a 3 to 4 peak wave that has a small boat channel. Playa el Rey is between Hermosa and Dominical. And Dominical was a sweet rock bottom break with long lefts and rights on the same wave. That was before 01 when they started taking the rocks out of the river for the new P A Hiway. And there Guacalillio between Jaco and Puntarenas. A break where you can jump off a cliff and be out. But there's crocs.

Thanks for all the feedback guys! After a lot of research and taking all of your suggestions into consideration, we've decided to fly into San Jose and go from there. We're going to head to the Fortuna/Monte Verde area for a couple days and get our fill on hiking, volcanoes, ziplines and of course, waterfalls (the girlfriend's favorite). Then we're going to shoot ascross to Nosara (an old friend works at a hotel there) and spend the next four or five days winding down on the coast, traveling north from town to town until we have to leave, flying out of Liberia. Again, I really appreciate all the advice, I understand it's the off season as far as waves are concerned, but I'll be sure to post any good (surf related) pictures we may take along the way.

Thanks! 

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When you're an ape you're an ape, all the way, from your first cigarette to your last dyin' day...

Cape Apes

Go here while you're in Alajuela. http://costarica.com/attractions/world-of-snakes/ when we went, there was no one but us and the taxi driver. They got them all.

i can double down on santa teresa and idk about playa hermsoa to the south but it has somesick barrels. 

I'd stay in beaches with Northern exposure... Guiones and North. It can still be DOH from the South, as it was the last week in 2002 when I was there, started out in Playa Grande, Avellanas 5-7 feet from the North and worked our way down to Guiones and the set waves were 12-14 (at fuller tides) with some North flowing in and giving more faces.

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There's no surf on Wall Street!
One man's loss is another man's gold...Operating principal behind Wall Street, and sadly, to a large extent, America

Should be noted that Salsa Bravo is a very hollow wave over shallow reef. Only for very experiences surfers if sizeable.

Have fun, and post some pics when you get back