Playa Langosta

Playa Langosta Review

Playa Langosta is actually two beaches: To the north is an upscale, residential area where every foot of beachfront has been built up; to the south is a pristine protected annex of Las Baulas National Marine Park, where the occasional leatherback turtle nests at night and beachcombers and surfers roam by day. The dividing point is the San Francisco Estuary, the mouth of which is a knee-high wade at low tide, and a deep river with dangerous currents around high tide. If you walk a ways up the river at low tide, you may see snowy egrets, baby blue herons, tail-bobbing spotted sandpipers, and, if your eyes are sharp, tiny white-lored gnatcatchers, endemic to these parts. Sort of a chic bedroom community of Tamarindo, just five minutes away by car, most of the low-rise development on the northern half is tucked behind the mangrove trees, so you can enjoy an unsullied dramatic beachscape, with surf crashing against rocky outcroppings. A few high-rise condominiums have invaded the area, but they are mostly set back. The beach here is rather narrow, since the coast is lined with rocks, and the light gray sand is rather coarse. There's a wider, less rocky stretch in front of the Barceló Resort, where you can walk across the San Francisco Estuary at low tide to stroll and swim on the beach's southern half.