Pura Vida Adventures (Puntarenas, Costa Rica) ★★★

Handful of Jewels

Playa Carmen

Looking directly out from our hotel you find two of the best surf breaks in the entire area. Just south of the hotel, El Rancho stretches for a couple hundred yards, producing long, fun, peeling rights and lefts over a gently sloped sand bottom. Looking north, you can see a series of right and left peaks breaking over a slightly steeper sand bottom. This break works on all tides, but is best between medium to high tide and works best on S and SW swells.
Experience: All Levels

Santa Teresa

A beautiful 10 minute walk to the north is Playa Santa Teresa. Here the sandy ocean bottom has a steeper incline which produces more powerful right and left breaking waves providing a more challenging ride. This break works on all tides, but is best between medium to low tides and works best on SW and NW swell.
Experience: Intermediate – Advanced

Playa Hermosa

The remote splendor of Playa Hermosa strikes a chord in the hearts of surfers searching for spectacular waves with hardly anyone around. A short 15 minute drive from our hotel, we arrive to find a sparkling white sand beach delivering a combination of rights and lefts. This break works on all tides, but is best between medium to high tides and works best SW and NW swell.
Experience: All levels

Mar Azul (Mal Pais)

A few curving sandy coves to the south is the locally famous left hand point break "Mar Azul", where we often spot sea turtles in the lineup. Mushy long lefts peel away from a flat reef bottom toward a deep channel. This spot needs at least a 4 to 5 foot swell coming from the S or SW combined with a rising high tide which tends to produce waves a couple of feet smaller than the beaches. Guests of Pura Vida Adventures that have been lucky enough to score this break often say it is the highlight of their trip.
Experience: Intermediate – Advanced

Cabuya

Surf Safari! When the strong steeply angled S and SW swells reach more than 6 feet and begin to fill in the eastward side of the peninsula, we load up our surf van for a full day excursion. This easy, rolling right point break forms over a smooth stone bottom peeling for about 150 yards, making it one of the longest waves in the area. We surf this break on an incoming tide from medium to high tide and waves tend to be several feet smaller than the beach breaks on the west side. A deep channel makes for an easy paddle out and safety zone where you can relax and take in the gorgeous green coastline looking toward the National Park of Cabo Blanco.

Experience: All Levels but requires a few days of instruction for beginners.

Our surf camp is open November thru August being the best weather and time to surf in our area. No wetsuit needed!!! The water temperature is around 75 degrees and can get up to 80 degrees. I picked this area, because there is always surf and good surf because we have so many breaks to choose from. It is always hot in Costa Rica.

The locals are awesome and friendly and the surf isn’t crowded since we have miles of beaches.

When you ask a local "Como esta?" (How are you?), they often respond by saying "pura vida". This is slang for "life is great" and literally translated means "pure life". Travelers to Mal Pais are often touched by the genuine Pura Vida lifestyle. Leisurely enjoying and celebrating life together is what it’s all about. With the air temperature in the 90’s and the water temperature in the 80’s, the pace of life is slow and leisurely in this quaint village. Despite a growing number of foreigners settling here, Costa Rican "tico" culture continues to flourish in the many sodas (local restaurants), and in the way the local people smile going about their day. Socializing is a popular activity whether it’s a casual greeting in the street, Salsa dancing at a local club, or the serious business of soccer where the whole village gathers to talk, drink beer, and cheer on their favorite team. Surfing has become a huge part of the beach culture in Costa Rica. The locals’ easy-going attitude creates a great vibe and atmosphere in the surf. Their generosity and hospitality towards visitors and travelers sets up opportunities for social engagement both day and night.

The local fishing village where our hotel gets its fresh fish, offers fishing and boating tours in the waters of Cabo Blanco, the first registered State Park in Costa Rica. Hiking the trails of Cabo Blanco or zip-lining through the jungle canopy is a great way to see the local flora, fauna and the beautiful coastline of the area. Be sure to look in the trees where several types of monkeys can be spotted. A variety of fresh tropical fruits are available in the market near our hotel and fresh coconut juice is sold by cart-peddling locals. To satisfy your surfer’s-hunger, we’ll take you to our favorite restaurants to feast on both international specialties and local Costa Rican cuisine. Salsa is the most popular form of dance and we can arrange for group lessons should you wish to move your hips to this lively cultural dance!

Our 7-day/6-night yoga surf adventures include:

JOURNEY

The international airport you fly into is SJO in San Jose. From SJO there are two ways to get to us. Either by taking the 30 minute commuter flight to Tambor and then a 45 minute taxi to our hotel. Often there are others in the camp arriving at the same time, where you can share the taxi ride with them. We alert a taxi of your arrival into Tambor, so no need to arrange that part of your trip. If doing both the international flight and commuter flight on the same day, we recommend giving yourself a two hour leeway between flights on both ends of the trip to get through customs, etc. The 2nd way to get to us is by shuttle bus which is a 5-6 hour ride. If you have any questions regarding travel, we are here to help you out.

No Visa is required for most countries. Travel cost depends on where you are coming from.