Dominical is a small, deliberately unpolished surf town at the point where the Talamanca foothills meet the sea, and it has resisted the smoothing-over that has happened further north. The beach break is powerful and has a serious rip — it is not a beginner's wave, whatever the board-hire sign says — and the town is one dusty street of sodas, bars and surf shops.
Inland the land climbs fast, and the waterfalls are the other reason to stop: Nauyaca, a two-tier fall about ten kilometres up the road to San Isidro, is the best of them, reached on foot, on horseback or in a truck.
It is a natural base for the coast south towards Uvita and the Marino Ballena park, and for the road up to San Isidro de El General and Chirripó.