Costa Rica Nicoya Peninsula

Overview

Across the Golfo de Nicoya from the dry, cattle-ranch lands of isolated Guancacaste province, the bulky Nicoya Peninsula hangs over the Pacific Ocean. Equally denuded of forest as the adjoining mainland, it is culturally and physically cut off from the rest of the country: inland, dotted with small, modest towns far removed from the beach resorts on the bay-pocked coastline. Here, the road network – mostly unpaved – is scanty at best and many visitors use the airstrips dotted along the coastline to arrive by plane. Tamarindo, where the beaches are attacked by crashing Pacific rollers, is the focal point for tourist infrastructure.