Where and what to visit while we are Playa Samara - Costa Rica

Hey Robert and Marsha;
The best advice I can give is try not to come with a preconceived notion of where you might want to live.  Everyone is quite willing to tell you why their location is the best place in Costa Rica but we are so different from each other that only you can decide.  In 2010 we did what you are proposing, a three week tour.  We were set in our minds that we wanted a water view but not right on the beach.  We put on 2700 km in three weeks (no small feat in Costa Rica) and found our niche in a mountainous area 2900 feet above sea level.  If someone had told me before our trip that this would happen I would have called them a liar.  We re-visited our area repeatedly before we built a house and retired here a year ago.  Best of luck!
A fellow Canadian

Wow! Thank you fellow Canadian.  Will take your advice. Cheers!

Hi Robert & Marsha & TerrynViv,

Please note that we have created a new thread as from your posts on the Costa Rica Forum for better visibility and interaction

Thank you

Maximilien

First of all there is not much "around Samara". That whole part of the country is kind of isolated as far as it being quite a jaunt from one town of any size to another.

That said, you can get a boat ride down to Montezuma and I would definitely go down there. Haven't been there for a few years but have been there twice and both times I really enjoyed it. Lived there for about 4 or 5 months a long time ago.

There are funky little restaurants including a great pizza place (Pizza Pizza?) (I forget the name but that might be it.) And there is a vegetarian restaurant called the Sano Banano and you might consider staying at their "beach cabins" which are about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile walk from the town to the cabins accessibly by walking on the beach with a flashlight. Not for everyone but we loved it. Monkeys in nearby trees. Fruit bats. Iguanas. A pool with hammocks. Right ON the beach. There are other hotels closer to town.

Depending on rainfall there's a big waterfall a few miles up the beach. Ask locals. When we went there we saw almost no one the entire long hike, but there's a guy who sells pipas (coco water) and stuff along the hike just off  the beach. If you swim be careful because there are no lifeguards and no one to hear you yell for help!

You could probably kayak near Montezuma though I'm not familiar with kayaking.

Cabo Blanco is just a few kilometers away from Montezuma - it's an interesting forest if you like to hike. A long trail that leads down to a remote beach area. Take plenty of water and some food! (That goes for ALL your excursions!) Get a cell phone for emergencies - buy an unlocked one in the states or get one down there and load it with a local SIM card with pay as you go minutes.

Montezuma t used to be much quieter / smaller than it is now but it's still along the lines of "quaint" I'd say. A few bars, a dozen or so restaurants. Swimming. Boating. Beach.

I'll also agree with the above comments that your vision of where you want to live in Costa Rica may change. Originally I wanted to live on the beach around Domincal or Matapalo or Montezuma but having lived on the beach for a year or so there were reasons I decided to buy property in the mountains near San Ramon instead. We also are at 2850 feet which is a good elevation - not too cold and (usually) not too hot. Though of course you're near the equator so no matter where you live - unless it's at 5000 feet or more altitude - it's going to be very hot sometimes. At 5k feet it actually gets COLD at night and early a.m.!

As samramon said, there's not much to see in Playa Samara /Carrillo area. Carrillo has a beautiful beach, but that's all. Living expenses are high on any beach compared to towns inland. I live now in Palmares, the town next to San Ramon, 45 minutes from San Jose, 1 hour from the beach and I am loving it. I lived 10 years on the beach by Tamarindo, Conchal, Playa Hermosa and Playa del Coco. Looking back, I won't go back living on the beach again, it is just too hot. The area where I live is very nice, clean and cheaper than the beach towns. But there are many other towns like this one you could check out.