Playa Hermosa Guanacaste

Playa Hermosa is truly amazing! The beach is lovely and expansive at low tide. The water is warm and the waves are calm enough to swim but also big enough for body surfing. We stayed at Hotel Bosque Del Mar in a Junior suite which was lovely. The room had a separate sitting room with a mini fridge and mini bar area. The covered patio overlooked the pool and trees and was a perfect refuge from the brief afternoon downpours. The room was very comfortable and the shower was spacious with great water pressure. We saw howler monkeys almost everyday in the trees by the pool. Breakfast was included in our room rate and it was a lovely buffet that always kept us full until dinner. Having coffee and breakfast in the outdoor restaurant amidst the trees and overlooking the beach was such a wonderfully relaxing way to start the day. A man named Luis has an orange & black booth on the beach right next to the hotel where he offers various tours at great prices. We signed up for his snorkeling & sunset sail tour and we were the only ones who signed up so it ended up being a private tour! A crew of three sailed us out into the Papago Gulf where we snorkeled in crystal clear, calm water and saw puffer fish, trumpet fish, parrot fish, huge starfish, a sea turtle and so much more! Then we went to a secluded white sand beach and searched for monkeys, birds and coatis while relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous views. When we got back On the boat, they had sandwhich da, fruits, drinks and snacks for us while we sailed around and saw the sunset. It was truly marvelous and so romantic! The next morning we rented a jet ski from Luish and explored more on our own! Playa hermosa and the Papagayo Gulf beaches were much more secluded than Playa Coco that we visited. The hotel offered a shuttle ($10 each way) to Playa Coco which was about a ten minute ride. The beach town had lots of restaurants, bars, and shops right along the beach road. It was fun to explore for an afternoon but we were very happy with our choice in Playa Hermosa because it was less crowded and we felt closer to nature. There is a supermarket (Luperon) that is a 15 minute walk from the hotel; there are also a few restaurants on the route but we didn’t try them because we only discovered them on our last day. We walked down the beach to Robertos resultant and had snapper and ceviche that was very good one night. We also ate at the hotel restaurant which ended up being less expensive and better than Roberto’s. There were at least two more restaurants on the beach that were in walking distance. We loved relaxing on the beach amidst the trees in the chairs provided by the hotel. Each day, people would come by selling fresh coconuts for $2 and we enjoyed drinking the treat very much! All in all, Playa Hermosa exceeded our expectations and we highly reccomend going and staying at Hotel Bosque Del Mar for a relaxing getaway.

Great facilities, very friendly staff, would recommend others to go anytime.

Review of Playa Hermosa Guanacaste We stayed at Hotel Bosque del Mar in Playa Hermosa. A lovely hotel with a Howler monkey troop living in the trees, a nice pool, bikes, kayaks and paddle-boards to rent, a restaurant abutting the beach and a bar overlooking the beach. We ate well at breakfast and enjoyed two evening meals there. The best meal we had was a Tapas meal in Ginger restaurant about a mile from our hotel. First class service and food. On our first day we went diving and were picked up from our hotel at 07:30 and driven to their base in Plays del Cocos. From there we whizzed out to Catalina Island at high speed, powered by 2x 250hp engines. Great view of the coast as we sped along to a Playa Flamingo and then out to the islands. Due to the amount of plankton in the water at this time of year, visibility was poor on our first dive but considerably better on our second dive when we dived some rocks about 1km shoreward of Catalina. On our second day we drove to Playa Tamarindo, where we hired a surfboard for a few hours of surfing. Surf was good for beginners and intermediates. On our third day we visited Palo Verde National Park. There was virtually no-one there. The park is a “birdie’s paradise” with large flocks of birds in the marshes. There are also 5 or6 marked trails in which it should be possible to see wildlife. At the end of the 35km unpaved road from Bagaces there was a small ranger station from where, with two Belgian couples, we caught a small boat and went in a nature tour up Rio Tempisque, seeing one Carmen and five crocodiles and lots of different types of heron and several extremely large iguana.

Safe and local/non-touristy place with some bigger hotels on the beach. I think the biggest hotel has 4 stories. The beach had few people (mid-March), fairly calm waters, beautiful dark gray/black sand. We saw several large iguanas in the garden of our hotel, plus hummingbirds and morning doves. Ate dinner on the beach at sunset - what a great experience!

We loved the hotel. All of the hotel staff were outstanding. The food was always excellent. Everything in and around the hotel was always clean due to the great work of the cleaning staff.

All the restaurants looked very cool!!!

Restaurants along the beach were very nice, but this entire area is more expensive than the other areas that we have visited.

Would highly recommend Roberto's restaurant at La Gaviota Tropical. The food was amazing every time.

With teens we enjoyed the beaches.

Every town is different and this town was a nice mix of fun things to do with the local people.

We ate at Bosque del mar twice and enjoyed the howler monkeys and the iguanas in the trees. We enjoyed the restaurant at our hotel also.

We visited Playa del Coco while we were staying at Playa Hermosa and we were so glad we were at the quiet beach, Playa Hermosa.

Loved loved loved it! What a great place! We loved visiting Playa Del Coco and the beaches. We rented PWC's and did a 2 hour tour which was a blast plus rented paddle board at Roberto's which was fun.

Ginger Restaurant was excellent.

We felt very safe and would definitely return to this area. The beach was beautiful and very clean. We walked to the store and restaurants and felt very safe.

Find Adolpho on the beach and book the snorkel tour. It was the highlight of my visit to playa hermosa. Roberto's restaurant was my favorite. Many expats full of stories and info. 2 for 1 drinks a great deal. For those who want a bit of peace and quiet, this is the place. The whole experience was amazing.

Beautiful sunsets!! Water was great for swimming and kayaking. They had nice tide pools to look at. We ate at Ginger which was delicious and restaurante El Velero was also great and is right on the beach.

hadn't been to this area before, everyone was very friendly, awesome experiences with nature. great hotel.

The beach is so clean! I walked around a little bit but there's not much going on in Playa Hermosa Guanacaste and I hope it stays that way! Very calm, very relaxing.

Ginger's was closed, so we ended up at Bosque Del Mar for every meal. Got a ride to Playas Del Coco for the day from the hotel. Coco is overly commercial, but the Coconuts bar and the lovely owner at Ciao Bella were very friendly and helpful.

We were very happy to stay in Playa Hermosa. It is still pristine and quiet and one can enjoy walks in the beach. The restaurants were very good and we drove all over. We saw Coco Beach and enjoyed it but were glad that we can go back to quiet and beautiful Playa Hermosa!

Very very nice area. The beach is wonderful.

I cannot describe how beautiful Playa Hermosa is at night.

Mario's cuisine (we did write a review on Trip Advisor for Mario's), Ginger's, restaurant at Villa Sueno and as well a local eatery on the first beach road, that unfortunately I don't remember the name of. Liked the mixture of locals and tourists in this area - always felt safe. Lots of beaches within a short drive. Enjoyed quietness of Playa Hermosa, but convenience of being just a short drive/bus ride to larger Playa Coco with more conveniences. Enjoyed being treated to the antics of the howler monkeys and being greeted each morning by a very noisy rooster.

Lovely little quiet community on the beach.

We loved Playa Hermosa and we didn't want to ever leave. The resort was awesome. I hope one day we can come back to visit. All the staff were very friendly. Our hardest decision was what to eat for dinner.

We enjoyed this area and took a sunset snorkel cruise which was a wonderful way to see the beach and the coastline. We loved the restaurant Ginger and the Hotel Playa Hermosa for lunch and arranging excursions.

We felt very safe in this area. It is not particularly touristy but there are other tourists around. Almost no commercial businesses within a mile or so. I would definitely reccommend this area for perfect sunsets. The locals were very friendly and helpful. Our first experience in Costa Rica will be a cherished memory for the rest of our lives.

I felt safe in this area for sure and no it was not touristy at all. The beach was great, never crowded and not many vendors on the beach. The locals were very friendly and always had a smile for us. We had a very positive experience in Costa Rica and this area Playa Hermosa. I feel the area was represented well and we did not go with any pre-conceived notions of the area. All in all a good time!!! Loved the weather....and the sunsets.

This area seems great for families or people who really just want to relax and stay in. There didn't seem to be too many restaurant choices here, or we didn't find them. It was a beautiful area though, so it just depends on what you are looking for in a vacation.

I recommend for all class of persons. And in playa hermosa does not have any places for fun only the beach.  You have to travel to Coco beach for nightlife.