We will be there for a week in December and would like some ideas of things to do.

Help please!

I have never stayed in Playa Hermosa but have stayred close to it. Shillmac recommends to eat at Ginger.
As far as things to do I would rent a car, as there are plenty of day trips you can take to see other beach towns.
There are a couple of zipline companies close by, one on the monkey trail seems to be a popular one. The national park Rincon de la Vieja is about an hour away and has a volcano, hot springs, horseback riding, hiking, and other activities near the park.
You will get a lot of information here, but you should invest in a guide book on the Guanacaste region and look for things that spike your interest.

Good Luck

We do drive around a lot when staying in that area. And we do like Ginger!

For other good restaurants, take the Monkey Trail (dirt road, low places, get yourselves a 4X4) to Potrero, Flamingo, Brasilito, Tamarindo even. It's a very handy short cut for getting to those areas that would take you an hour longer if you took highway 21. I really hate to advise anyone to take this trail after dark, but we've done it plenty and have had no problems.

We like to eat at the bakery in Potrero, go to the beach for sunset in Flamingo, drive down the beach from Brasilito (you can do that now!) to Playa Conchal and hang out on the shell beach and swim in that gorgeous clear water. If you've never been on down to Tamarindo, it's another 30 min. from Conchal and might be interesting to new. Lots of restaurants and shopping, but very built up.

Other eating places we enjoy: Happy Snapper and Outback Jack's in Brasilito. Mar y Sol and Marie's in Flamingo.

Pura vida!

Thank you for your input. It is really appreciated.

You may be able to arrange for a sunset cocktail cruise thru one of the hotels. El Velero used to have a smaller boat (which I preferred) but there is a larger boat that picks up passengers at the larger hotels. It can be fun cruising with the dolphins.

This area in Costa Rica sounds interesting. Where have any of you stayed for a week or two??It sounds like a nice place to go to visit in the winter. Would appreciate any info on places to stay in PLaya Hermosa. Thanks a lot for information.(Sounds like lots of places to eat, but have not heard of a place in which to stay!!

This is the area of all-inclusives from the Four Seasons on the Papagayo Peninsula to Paradisus Playa Conchal an hour south. There are 3-4 others, more moderately priced than the two mentioned above.

Other hotels you might be interested in:

Hermosa: Villas del Suenos
Finistera, El Velero

Potrero: Bahia del Sol, Hotel Sugar Beach

Flamingo: Flamingo Beach Resort (one of our favorites) and Flamingo Marina

Brasilito: the budget Hotel Brasilito right on the beach, also one of our favorites

Tamarindo: we don't choose to stay there, very built up, but lots of hotels

We are staying at Villas Sol, which is an all-inclusive and have read very good reviews of it.

Uh huh--that's also a very decent choice. There is an RCI timeshare nearby, used to be called CondoVac. Guess it is still there?

We are staying at the RCI timeshare Condovac during part of our vacation later this month. I will post my experience when we get back.

In August we stayed at Casa Conde del Mar at Playa Panama, just north of Playa Hermosa. Nice hotel, good rooms, good grounds, and decent food. It sits alone so to go to Hermosa either a taxi or rent a car. There is a complete hotel review I posted on Trip Advisor. It is also near the Hilton.

Agree that Ginger is a great place to eat. We also enjoyed the small hotel right on the beach of Hermosa that had a nice beachfront bar with good food. The hotel was called Hotel El Velero. It gets good reviews on TA but we ate there only.

Finniestera and Villa del Sueno have a wonderful restaurants in Playa Hermosa also. In Playa Panama, just a five minute drive from Playa Hermosa, a new restaurant has been opened at the Costa Blanca Resort. Great food and the views of the Bay & Four Seasons are incredible.

The manager of Villas Sol just posted a note regarding renovations: August 5th - December 5th, 2008. The renovations include a complete renovation of the Hotel rooms and bathrooms which will feature brand new construction finishings, Carrier A/C system, new premium furniture, linens, pillows and mattresses, 36" LCD TV's, in-room WIFI access, iHome Alarm Clocks, laptop-sized digital safes and overall minimalist decoration. The renovation works will not affect service in the villas, the pools, bars or restaurants so the Resort will be open to the public. They are currently offering discounted packages for stays from August thru December 2008

Playa Hermosa has a great beach and yes, the EL Velero, just down the beach from the Villas Sol does offer day and sunset sailing tours.

Anyone staying in one of the RCI villas, Superon Luperon just opened a full service supermarket in Playa Hermosa. As residents......we love it.