Scott P.
Google
Playa Grande is a beautiful, quiet and empty beach. Unlike Tamarindo beach next door, which is as crowded as spring break in Florida, Playa Grande had about 50 people on a 2 mile long beach, so you can claim an entire area to yourself. I am not a surfer but if you are, this is one of the best surfing beaches in Costa Rica, and from the level of ability of the surfers that I watched, some very experienced surfers come here to surf, it was like watching a surfing movie.
At high tide the beach shrinks to just 20-50' and the waves can be big and powerful very close to the sand., so be careful, I'd recommend only experienced swimmers and surfers should venture into the water then. At low tide its another story, the beach expands to 200' wide and the surf breaks farther out so there's plenty of water to play in without worrying about getting rolled by a wave. There's a takeout restaurant right on the beach if you get hungry. Plenty of houses to rent right on the beach if you have the money to spend, or you can stay at ONDA hostel up the street for less than $50 a night. Once again, a completely different vibe from Tamarindo right next door, we had planned to stay there but once we drove into town, and realized the spring break vibe, we turned right around and drove another twenty minutes north to Playa Grande. The two beaches actually touch, except there's a stream that divides the two with rumors of an alligator that lives in the stream that keeps the crowds of Tamarindo in Tamarindo and off of the Playa Grande beach. The sand is soft white, easy to walk in, it took me two hours to walk to the end and back. The little beach crabs in the tidal pools are hilarious. This would be a great place to rent a house on the water for an entire family or a bunch of friends, just make sure that if you have little kids that you keep an eye on them when they go in the water, and time it so the little ones are only playing in the water at low tide.
