Santa Teresa & Montezuma
If you are in Costa Rica for a Volunteer Program or just for tourism, you will surely want to see as much as possible of this incredible country.
It’s not always easy to plan a getaway for someone who has never been to Costa Rica, so we thought it would be a great idea to provide some tips speaking from our personal experience.
Getting to Santa Teresa | Montezuma
If you are based in Atenas like us, there are mainly 3 different ways to reach Santa Teresa/Montezuma:
BUS n. X: this bus takes a longer way because reaches Nicoya’s peninsula by land.
Price: xx
BUS n. X: this bus goes up on a ferry from Puntarenas to … .
Price: xx
Private transportation: if you are a big group, it might be a good idea to rent a private transportation to take you directly from Atenas to your hostel and back.
Price for 9 people: 360.000 colones back and forth (40.000 x person).
Be aware that traveling in the weekends can be more challenging because of traffic and you could use more time than expected to get to your destination or come back. There aren’t many options for the ferry and if you arrive too late you might have to wait 2/3 hours in line for the next one.
If you are a group on a budget, Santa Teresa and Montezuma offer plenty of hostels at a very low price.
Santa Teresa
Sleeping in Santa Teresa
We stayed at Casa Zen Guesthouse in Santa Teresa for two nights, paying just 10$ per night. The hostel was nice and clean and we received fresh fruits and bread for breakfast. In Casa Zen you can also book activities like yoga classes (around 9$), horse riding on the beach (around 50$) and more. The beach is just 50 meters far from the rooms. Remember that Santa Teresa is one of the most loved places to surf in Costa Rica.
Casa Zen Guesthouse, Santa Teresa
Eating in Santa Teresa
If you want to live the real Costa Rica experience you should try to avoid touristic rastaurants because the real costarican food is served in the local diners, called sodas. You can find many sodas in the main street of Santa Teresa. They are usually quite cheap, especially if you order a casado, a main dish usually prepared with white rice, black beans, vegetables and meat or fish. Except sodas, we went to El loco banano, the place to be when the sun goes down where you can also listen to live music at dinner time.
What do to in Santa Teresa
As we said before, Santa Teresa is a perfect destination for surfers. Nevertheless, there are so many activities to do as horse riding, yoga, ATV renting or simply soaking up the sun on the beach. In the night there are some bars on the boulevard but the main road is very dark so we recommend checking the events and choosing where to go before leaving your hostel/hotel and call a taxi to reach your destination.
Montezuma
Sleeping in Montezuma
After reaching Montezuma by taxi (about 30/40 mins) we left our things at Hotel Cabinas Mar Y Cielo where we had a nice room with a view on the Pacific Ocean. Cabinas Mar Y Cielo is very cozy and right next to the main beach of Montezuma and the most popular discobar in town, Chico’s Bar. We paid 80$ for one night in a room for 5 people with a private bathroom. We were happy about the location and the cleanliness of the place.
Hotel Casa Y Mar, Montezuma
Eating in Montezuma
As we said before, the best thing is always choosing local restaurants (soda). We ate an amazing Casado de Pescado at Soda El Artesano and we found Soda la naranja perfect for breakfast. If you want to eat while looking at the sea, you should try Restaurante Montezuma, right in front of Montezuma Beach.
Casado Vegetariano at Montezuma Restaurant
What do to in Montezuma
The main highlight in Montezuma are surely the Montezuma Waterfalls. You can easily reach them walking from the centre of the city to the entrance (free of charge). There are three waterfalls: the first one is the easiest to reach and the walk takes around 20 minutes. The path goes by rocks, mud and water so you should choose comfortable shoes and clothes to get there. It’s also very important to get there early enough because in Costa Rica the sun goes down around 5 p.m. and it can be very dangerous to come back in the darkness since there is no kind of light on the path.
Montezuma Waterfalls
If you feel like hiking 20 minutes uphill (it’s an hard walk but it’s worth it) you can visit the Mariposario of Montezuma to see beautiful butterflies flying around and maybe get an artisanal beer to get some rest before coming back down.
In the weekend Chico’s Bar is a nice place to hang out and dance to the rhythm of some raggaeton music. We went there during the low season (August) so it was nice to share the dancefloor with local people and live the real costarican nightlife.
Attention!
In Santa Teresa and Montezuma many restaurants and sodas only accept cash and there is just one ATM in each city so try to manage your money carefully.
Do you need more information? Write an e-mail to clustercotur@gmail.com
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