Costa Rica Travel Posts

Manuel Antonio Beach

By Patrick Brunelle ⋅ July 1, 2009 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Manuel Antonio just may be the most visited beach in Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio Beach, is also, really, 3 beaches. I will be offering a description of the three beaches bellow. If you are going to travel to Costa Rica, I strongly suggest visiting Manuel Antonio. How can you go wrong with visiting a place that claims there are still more Monkeys than people.

The Public Beach
Although this is the ugliest of the three beaches, it is still more beautiful than most beaches in Costa Rica. It is a long sweeping beach, with all but one hotel located on the beach. This hotel is a 2 star at best, and is mostly used by locals due to the low cost of staying there. My favorite part of chilling at the public beach is that I can rent a chair and buy some drinks and snacks while I relax (both of which are not possible inside the national park).

1st Beach Inside the Park
When you enter the national park, you will embark on a path that takes you to the first beach located on your right hand side. This is my favorite of the three beaches. What I like most about this beach is that very few people decide to spend their day there, as they move on to the furthest beach. I also love the constant waves that show up on this beach.

2nd Beach Inside the Park
It should take you no more than 10 minutes to get to the second beach (from the entrance of the park), and when you do you will be glad you spent the $10 to get in. This U shape beach curves perfectly and the sand is as white and pristine as it gets. The park closes at 3pm, so make sure you get there early. The sun sets East of this beach, so you wouldn’t be missing much. If you want to catch the sunset, I strongly suggest going for drinks at a local restaurant or bar set on top of the hill.