Ten beaches on the Nicoya coast, and what each one is actually like

Playa Sámara and Playa Carrillo. Both sit inside a reef that breaks the Pacific swell before it reaches the sand, so the water at Sámara is usually knee-deep for thirty metres and flat by mid-morning. Playa Conchal is calm too, but the drop-off is steeper. Avoid Camaronal and Ostional entirely — both have permanent rip currents and no lifeguard.

For most of them, no. Four are paved the whole way — Sámara, Carrillo, Guiones and Santa Teresa — and Conchal is paved as far as Brasilito, then an 800 m walk along the sand. Buena Vista, Barrigona, Camaronal and Ostional are on dirt roads, passable in a normal car in the dry season; Barrigona wants ground clearance in any season, and all four turn difficult after heavy rain. Isla Chora is reached only by kayak or boat from Playa Sámara.

For flat water and reliable sun, December to April — the dry season on the Pacific coast, and also the busiest and most expensive. May, June and November are the compromise: green, mostly sunny mornings, rain in the afternoon and half the people. September and October bring the biggest surf and the heaviest rain, which is why the Nicoya surf beaches are busiest then and the swimming beaches are not.

Yes. Costa Rican law makes the first 50 metres above the high-tide line public property nationwide, so no hotel can own a beach or close access to it — though a few, Barrigona among them, are only reachable across land where the access road is privately maintained. None of the ten below charges to walk onto the sand; guided turtle watching at Ostional and Camaronal is ticketed, and that is a guide fee rather than beach access.

Bandera Azul Ecológica is Costa Rica's national beach programme, audited annually on water quality, sanitation, waste management and safety signage. It is a government scheme rather than a marketing badge, and the flag is withdrawn when a beach falls below the standard — which is what makes it worth checking.