Santa Teresa

Introduction

Santa Teresa is a popular coastal town in the Puntarenas Province in Costa Rica, located along the Pacific coast on the Nicoya Peninsula. It is located about 150 kilometres west of the capital city of San José. Like other coastal villages on the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa started as a remote fishing village. The other principle industries were cattle ranching and logging. In the early 1990s, the town of Santa Teresa was "discovered“ by low budget tourists and started growing since then. It is one of the country's premier surfing spots along with the neighboring community of Mal País.

Sights and Activities

Surfing and eco-tourism are the top things in Santa Teresa to see and do. The Cabo Blanco Nature Preserve is less than 30 minutes away if you rent an ATV. The coast along the town as well as south and north of Santa Teresa has different breaks and a constant swell all year. Many hotels and surf instructors offer surfing-related services such as surf lessons and board rentals.

One of the most legendary surf breaks in Costa Rica is located in Santa Teresa and is known as “Suck Rock" located in front of the Red Palm Villas Resort. This right-hand point break can be good when the swells are large, and it’s known to get hollow at times

Next to Suck Rock, to the south is one of the most consistent beach breaks, on the gorgeous white sand beach known as “La Lora” (name given by the Disco Bar “La lora amarilla”).

Weather

Getting There

Public transport in town exists and connects to the neighboring cities of Cobano, Montezuma and Mal Pais. Direct bus connections go as far as San José. Car and ATV rentals are also available. Many visitors fly to San Jose and catch a connecting flight to Tambor. Nature Air and Sansa Airlines serve Tambor. Santa Teresa is approximately a 45 minute drive from the Tambor airport.

Getting Around

The roads are quite rough and are the typical mixture of deteriorating paved and gravel roads. The best way to get around Santa Teresa is to rent an ATV or an SUV if driving in from San Jose.

Eat

Most of the restaurants are fairly inexpensive and reflective the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Santa Teresa.

The top restaurant in town is Brisas Del Mar. The restaurant is located up the hill approximately 50 meters from the soccer field. Their specialty is fish and cocktails.

Pizza Tomate is one of two pizza restaurants in town. Their pizzas are fairly affordable and they will deliver for a nominal fee.

Additionally, there are a variety of unremarkable sodas that serve the usual pinto gallo and local cuisine along the main road.

Sleep

• Funky Monkey Lodge (Beach hotel), Santa Teresa Mal Pais (center os Santa Teresa), ☎ +506 2640-0272. Check-in: all day, check-out: 11:00. Beach Lodge with spacious bungalows, AC/ocean view apartments, 4 min walk from the main surfing spots. Boutique hotel with restaurant and swimming pool. Excellent location. May Jun Sept Oct/20 Dec-8 Jan/other times: budget room US$40/80/60; 2-4 person bungalow $75/120/95; ocean-view AC room $100/140/120; other rooms, suites and apartments available.
• Latitude 10 Exclusive Beach Resort, Santa Teresa, ☎ +506-8309-2943, e-mail: [email protected]. Located directly on one of the top ranked beaches in the world. 5-suite resort within walking distance to Santa Teresa. Secluded and romantic. Open sky bathrooms. Full service spa. Complimentary breakfast. Yoga retreats. Surf lessons. Restaurant on property. Free bike rental. from US$210.

Keep Connected

Internet

It's easy to find internet access, and although you can still can find a lot of internet cafes, wifi is growing fast in the country. The further away you get from San Jose, the slower and more expensive it becomes when you are using an internet cafe. Wifi is generally free of charge at most places though and apart from off the beaten track parks, jungles and mountains, the connection generally is ok. Some internet cafés also offer international calls via either phone or IP using services like Skype.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

• The country calling code to Costa Rica is 506.
• To make an international call from Costa Rica, the code is 00.

There are plenty of phone booths around and you will get the best rate using a pre-paid international card (can often be purchased in internet cafés and other small stores). There is usually a connection fee making short calls extra expensive. International calls are fairly expensive. The cheapest way to make them is over the internet using a service such as Skype at an Internet café. But making short calls using the domestic calling cards (you can make international calls using these but the denominations of the calling cards are quite small so your call will be short!) or the international calling cards available within Costa Rica (all from the government phone monopoly ICE) is the next best deal.

Those travelling with a mobile phone and willing to pay the roaming costs should ensure it supports 1,800 MHz GSM network. Note that the GSM phone systems in the United States and Canada use different frequencies and that travelers from there will need a "world" handset, such as a tri-band or quad-band phone, if you want to use your existing cell phone. If you want to use a local Costa Rica number, you can rent cell phone service, and of course anyone can buy a cell phone. If you have an unlocked cell phone (either one from home or bought in Costa Rica - all cell phones sold in Costa Rica must be unlocked), prepaid (prepago) SIM cards can provide a local number and service can be purchased throughout the country by anyone with a passport from any country. Try using companies like Grupo ICE under the Kölbi brand, TuYo Movil, Movistar and Claro.

Post

Correos de Costa Rica (website in Spanish only) is the national postal services of Costa Rica. You can find post offices (correos) in almost any city and town and they are generally open from 7:30am to 5:30pm or 6:00pm Monday to Friday and 7:30am to noon on Saturdays. There are not that many mailboxes, so it's best to ask your hotel or go directly to the post offices. Services tend to be slow but generally reliable and on the whole cheap regarding letters and postcards. It costs about US$0.20 to the USA and Canada (taking about 1 week to 10 days), US$0.25 to Europe (about 2 weeks) and US$0.30 to Asia and Australia (3 weeks or even more). All in all, if you can try and arrange your mail from the capital San José as it's generally quicker from there. Small packages are also no problem, though take them to the post offices unpacked for inspection first! Otherwise, arrange things through private international courier services like UPS, FedEx, DHL or TNT.

External Links