Playa Santa Teresa is the name given to a whole set of beautiful sandy beaches north of Playa Carmen. There are many road accesses, although some are footpaths only. Near the beach on some of these paths you can find some gigantic ancient Pochote trees. You can see one of the largest by going down the road at Brunellas. There are many hotels, private homes, and restaurants located along this beach, although most are on the road, not on the beach, since the first 50m of oceanfront property is the public zone, and can't be built upon.

When you drive down the road from Cobano to the beach, you will get to "the crossroads", near Franks Place and the new mall. Santa Teresa is everything to the right, and Malpais is everything to the left. The crossroads is at Playa Carmen. No one knows what to call this area. Is it Malpais, Santa Teresa, or Playa Carmen? Whatever you call it, the area has become extremely popular in the last few years. Ten years ago when Montezuma was already a famous destination, Santa Teresa was just getting electricity. Santa Teresa's world class surfing and gorgeous white sand beaches have put it on the map for tourists visiting Costa Rica, and hundreds of foreigners have moved there to live year round. Most of them surf nearly every day, and Santa Teresa is definitely a surfer's dream town.

Santa Teresa is one very long road that parallels the beach for several miles, with hotels, restaurants, and various businesses along both sides. Every week another building appears, and there is a lot of development. So far, nothing over three stories high, but high-rise condos seem inevitable, since the real estate prices have made land very expensive. Still the prices rise as there seems to be no shortage of wealthy foreigners wanting to buy a piece of paradise, and Santa Teresa is the most expensive and desirable spot in the southern Nicoya peninsula.

Most of Santa Teresa is white sand beaches, with occasional rocky outcroppings. There are many public access roads to the beaches, and many natural rocky outcroppings and occasional rocky bottoms create some interesting and varied surf conditions. There are two great point breaks in Santa Teresa. On the mountain side of the road, are many rough steep dirt and gravel roads winding into the hills to reach many ocean view homes and building sites that dot the hills.

Santa Teresa is known as the place where the beautiful people of the world come to surf. Many celebrities and supermodels have been spotted here, sometimes riding a wave next to you. This is a surfer's paradise with beautiful sunsets almost every night.

This information provided Copyright 2006 by Geoff McCabe