Samara, Costa Rica
By Aaron Bailey · Last updated
Samara is a charming beach town with a calm, swimmable bay perfect for families and beginners learning to surf. This authentic Costa Rican community offers a relaxed atmosphere, colorful streets, and easy access to nearby wildlife refuges.
Top attractions & tours
Playa Sámara itself is the attraction: a wide, horseshoe-shaped bay protected by a coral reef offshore, which keeps waves gentle and the water swimmable all day. It's one of the best beaches in the country for families and very young kids.
Isla Chora, a small uninhabited island a kilometer offshore, is the classic local excursion — a short paddle or boat ride, then an hour of snorkeling and a nap on an empty beach. Stand-up-paddleboard and kayak tours are easy to book on the beach.
Beginner surfers find Samara and nearby Playa Carrillo — a palm-lined cove five minutes south — some of the most forgiving waves in the country. Further afield, the Werner Sauter Biological Reserve is a less-visited forest patch good for birding.
Local picks
El Lagarto, a smoke-grill restaurant right on the sand, is Samara's signature sunset spot — come early on weekends. Lo Que Hay and Ahora Sí are reliable mid-range bets, and Sheriff Rustic is the late-night drink spot.
Samara retains more of a Tico-town feel than bigger tourist beaches. The Sunday afternoon bola (soccer match) at the community field is a slice of small-town life worth catching. Several sodas around the central grid serve big casados for under $8.
Playa Carrillo, five minutes south, has almost no development and is the regional picnic spot. Natural Center Samara offers affordable yoga classes and stand-up-paddleboard tours on the bay.
Weather & climate
Samara's climate is the standard Guanacaste Pacific pattern — hot, dry, reliably sunny from December through April, with afternoon rains May through November.
Temperatures run a bit cooler than Liberia-area beaches thanks to the bay's steady onshore breezes. Highs in the upper 80s, nights in the low 70s.
Green season turns the hills around Samara bright green, and the short rivers behind town fill up nicely. September and October bring the heaviest, most persistent rain.
Monthly climate
Safety considerations
Samara is a friendly, low-crime beach town — the kind of place families feel comfortable letting kids bike to the ice-cream shop. Usual beach-bag precautions apply; don't leave valuables unattended on the sand.
The calm bay makes ocean swimming very safe by Costa Rican standards, but always ask locals about conditions at the river-mouth ends of the beach and on windier days. ATV and scooter rentals are common and bring the usual road risks — helmets on, and avoid night rides on the unlit coastal road.
Getting around
Samara town is laid out on a small grid you can walk end-to-end in fifteen minutes. For Playa Carrillo, Nosara, or out-of-town tours, rent an ATV, golf cart, scooter, or car.
Uber does not operate in Samara. Local taxis congregate on the main road and your hotel can call one reliably. From Liberia, shared shuttles take about 2.5 hours; from the airport in San José, 4–5 hours by road.
When to visit
December through April is peak — calm blue sea, perfect surf-school waves, and the warmest evenings. The town fills around Christmas and Easter but rarely feels packed outside those windows.
May, June, and November are the sweet spots — afternoon rain only, fewer crowds, emerald-green backdrop, and 25–35% discounts on most hotels. September and October are genuinely wet and many smaller businesses close.