Tamarindo

Tamarindo has been our home base in Costa Rica for 16 years, and it is where our family rental, Casa Colorado, is. Here is what to know about it.

The short version

Tamarindo is a beach town on Tamarindo Bay, on the Pacific coast of Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica. Much of the coast and water around it is protected, which shapes what there is to do here.

A little history

• The Tamarindo mangrove and wetland were first protected as a wildlife refuge in the late 1980s.
• In 1993 the Tamarindo wetland was added to the Ramsar list of Wetlands of International Importance.
• Las Baulas National Marine Park was created by executive decree in 1991 and ratified by law in 1995. Its main purpose is to protect leatherback turtle nesting areas, the mangroves and the coastal and marine ecosystems of Tamarindo Bay.

What it is known for

• Leatherback turtles. Costa Rica's environment ministry calls the park's beaches, Playa Grande, Langosta and Ventanas, one of the most important leatherback nesting sites in the Eastern Pacific. The species is critically endangered.
• Olive ridley and Pacific green turtles also nest on the park's beaches.
• The estuary and mangroves, mostly mangrove forest, with large numbers of waterbirds, many migratory birds, iguanas and crocodiles.

Good to know

• Watching leatherbacks nest is one of the region's main draws, and the government regulates it strictly to keep disturbance to a minimum. Follow park rules if you go to watch.
• Playa Grande, Langosta and Ventanas are all inside the national park, so park rules apply on those beaches.
• The estero San Francisco is also listed in Costa Rica's national wetlands inventory.