Playa Grande lies just across the rivermouth from Tamarindo but feels a world away. The five-kilometre arc of golden sand backed by low coastal forest is part of the Las Baulas national park, which has kept development thoroughly in check. There is no town behind the beach, no bars on the sand, almost nothing at all.
For surfers the break is more demanding than Tamarindo's — bigger, faster, with a sandbar bottom that shifts each year. For everyone else the appeal is the quiet. Walk for an hour without seeing another soul. To get here, take the little boat that shuttles across the estuary from Tamarindo's north end; the crossing takes five minutes and runs all day.