Tonsupa is the quieter, slightly more upmarket cousin to Atacames, sitting about 3 km up the coast. The beach is similar — dark sand, warm water, reasonable waves — but the atmosphere is calmer and the crowd more mixed. Several apartment complexes have been built here over the past two decades, giving it more of a residential resort feel than Atacames's lively beach-bar strip.
If you find the Atacames scene too noisy or crowded, Tonsupa makes a good alternative base. You can walk the beach between the two in about 45 minutes at low tide. Taxis between them cost very little and run frequently throughout the day.