One of the greatest things about visiting Playas del Coco is that you’re close to many attractions. Not only are there a several beautiful beaches nearby but you can plan out your whole trip doing something different every day, you can go from island to forest or beach to volcano in a matter of hours!
Coco’s advantageous position makes it easy to experience so many wonders of Costa Rica. It’s an excellent home base to explore Guanacaste. Here are our favorite day trips from Playas del Coco.
The 10 Best Day Trips from Playas del Coco
Catarata Llanos de Cortes
This is one of our favorite waterfalls in the country and we always bring our friends and family here. It’s a big waterfall with multiple casacades and a large pool to swim in. It’s a bit hidden in the forest, in fact you can drive right by it on the InterAmerica highway and never know it’s there which is why we like to call it our little oasis. It makes for a wonderful day trip especially in the heat!
It’s about a hour drive from Coco and you can read our Catarata Llanos de Cortes guide.
We recommend going early in the morning so you can have the waterfall to yourself and in the afternoon, you can explore Liberia, head back to Coco or visit the African Safari adventure park on the way back where you can see giraffes, zebras and other animals.
Combo Adventure Tour
If you’re looking for adventure and excitement, you have to do a combo adventure tour, it’s one of the best day trips from Playas del Coco. There are quite a few in Rincon de la Vieja National Park, about an hour and drive from Coco that you can choose from. Each one has slightly different activities and they are all incredibly fun!
Guachipelin combo tour consists of a canopy tour, white water tubing, horseback riding, waterfalls, and a separate hot spring and mud baths. Read more about it here.
Buena Vista combo tour has a canopy tour, waterslide, horseback riding, waterfall, hanging bridges and their own hot spring and mud baths. You can read more about it in this post.
Borinquen is located on a hotel and they have their own canopy, hiking trails, spa, mud baths, hot springs, and waterfall. Find out more about Borinquen on Day 2 in this article.
There is also Canyon de la Vieja Adventure Park and Rio Perdido that offer similar activities. We did the river tubing and hot springs at Rio Perdido and it was really fun!
Vandara is another one with a waterslide.
Beach Hop
There are a few different places you can beach hop from Coco.
Closest to Coco: Playa Ocotal, Playa Hermosa, Playa Panama, Playa Bonita. These beaches are just a 5-15 minute drive away.
~45 minutes: The Catalinas area, such as Playa Danta, Playa Dantita, Playa Portrero, Playa Penca, Playa Prieta, and Sugar beach. Beautiful beaches, great views on the main road and hiking.
1 hour drive away: Playa Conchal, Playa Brasilito, Playa Tamarindo, Playa Grande, Playa Flamingo, Playa Avellanas.
Read about the best beaches in Guanacaste here.
Barra Honda National Park
This is not usually the activity that comes to mind when people think of Costa Rica but it is incredibly interesting. In Barra Honda National Park, you explore various caves up to 250 meters deep!
It’s not ideal for those who are extremely claustrophobic since you crawl down holes barely bigger than the average human being but it was an exhilarating experience. You see all sorts of interesting stalagmite formations in the caves including ones that look like fried eggs!
It’s about a 2 hour drive from Coco so you can drive yourself or go on a tour. It takes around 4 hours for the whole activity, so it takes the whole day. You can also hike in the national park and check out the various viewpoints.
Read more about Barra Honda National Park.
Ostional Wildlife Refuge
If you want to see turtles in Costa Rica, head to Ostional Wildlife Refuge about a two hour drive from Playas del Coco. This is one of the most important locations in the world for Olive Ridley sea turtles since hundreds of thousands of mothers come to this area to lay their eggs.
The best time to see turtles is during green season on an arribada, the period of time where majority of mothers come to shore. If you go during an arribada, you can see thousands of turtles crawling onto shore, digging holes and laying eggs. You can also see baby turtles hatching and crawling out to sea. The big arribadas are generallyfrom July – December in Ostional.
You can go on your own or go with a tour company but make sure you check when is the best time to go and when an arribada is so you don’t miss them.
Read more about Ostional Wildlife Refuge.
Palo Verde National Park
Palo Verde National Park is one of the most important parks in the country since it contains an endangered ecosystem in Central America, the tropical dry forest which is home to thousands of birds and various wildlife. Take a boat ride down the Rio Tempisque to see crocodiles, birds, iguanas, frogs and monkeys and the 15 different kinds of habitats.
It’s about an hour and a half drive from Playas del Coco and there is another hacienda in the national park called El Viejo Wetlands that you can visit as well. The El Viejo Wetlands is a sugar cane farm where you can learn about how they process sugar cane, zipline, hike the nature trails and go on the wildlife watching boat ride.
Read more about Palo Verde National Park.
South Pacific Beaches of Guanacaste/Puntarenas
The Pacific coast has no shortage of great beaches and it’s worth venturing outside of the Papagayo area to explore more of them. In the northern part of the Nicoya Peninsula (Guanacaste) you have Playa Samara, Nosara and Playa Guiones.
You can read about Playa Samara on Day 5 in this article. I’ve been surfing at Guiones before and it was really fun,. These ones are about a 3 hour drive from Coco.
In the southern part (Puntarenas) you have Mal Pais, Santa Teresa and Playa Carmen. This area is popular with surfers, yogis and people who are interested in seeing a more local Costa Rican beach town. These beaches are at least a 4 hour drive from Coco so you will have to make it an overnight/weekend trip to really enjoy them.
Boating (Snorkeling/Scuba Diving)
One of our favorite activities is going boating in the Gulf of Papagayo. We’ve taken our friends and family and every time we go we see something exciting like dolphins and whales. It’s a fun way to explore the Gulf, see marine life, visit hidden beaches and the snorkeling is way better. You can swim with big fish, turtles and manta rays and see sea stars, sea urchins, pufferfish, tropical fish and eels.
If you’re interested in going boating, we recommend going with our friend Marcy who owns his own boating company and can take you on boating, surfing, fishing, snorkeling and beach hopping tours to the best spots that other sailing companies don’t go. Click here to read more about boating in the Gulf of Papagayo.
If you are a scuba diver, the diving in this part of the country is excellent. You can go out on a boat to Monkey Head, Tortuga Islands, the Catalinas and the Bat Islands to dive with hammerhead sharks and huge manta rays.
Arenal/Monteverde
Arenal and Monteverde are two very popular destinations in Costa Rica and though they are both about a 3.5 hour drive away from Coco, it makes for a really fun day trip. Enjoy the hot springs, waterfall or the national park in Arenal and go ziplining, walk the hanging bridges, take a coffee tour or go wildlife watching in Monteverde.
You can go on your own or go with a tour company who will handle transportation for you if you don’t want to drive. They’ll arrange all the activities with you before hand so you’ll make the most of your day there. A day trip from Coco costs around $170 for both depending on the activities.
I actually recommend spending more time in both areas if possible but if not, a day trip gives you a wonderful taste of the many different natural landmarks, ecosystems and micro-climates that exist in Costa Rica.
Nicaragua
Playas del Coco is actually just a 2.5 hour drive away from the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Penas Blancas. If you got the time, you should take advantage of Nicaragua. Not only is it that close to Coco but it’s cheaper, very beautiful and really different from Costa Rica.
You can go on your own but it is a bit of journey if you take the public transportation. You can drive your rental car to the border but it can’t cross. The best way to experience Nicaragua as much as possible in one day is to go on a one day Nicaragua tour. They’ll take you to Managua, Masaya, Granada, Lake Apoyo, Lake Nicaragua and hit all the major spots.
We offer a $10 discount on the Nicaragua tour.
Book your Nicaragua Tour and get $10 OFF
And one more day trip is Rio Celeste. Here is our guide to hiking Rio Celeste. It is about a 2 hour drive from Coco and can be hiked in one day. See this magical blue river tucked in the volcanoes of Guanacaste!
Where to stay in Playas del Coco
- Budget: Hotel M&M. They’re on the beach with a hostel-like atmosphere. They don’t have AC but it’s a good place for a short stay. If you want AC and nicer rooms, stay at Toro Blanco which is right behind and only a little bit more expensive. Also an excellent option for families as their rooms have a sitting area, pool and a kitchen.
- Luxury: Villa Buena Onda. It’s up in the hills so you get an amazing view of all of Coco. It’s adult only so perfect for honeymooners and couple getaways.
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Hopefully this list gave you some ideas of the amazing day trips from Playas del Coco. These are our top picks and if you have any questions about tour companies, renting a car or other activities, feel free to email us or leave a comment!
Read about more things to do in Costa Rica!
Romantic activities for couples
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We’re staying in Hotel Riu Guanacaste, arriving this Friday staying through next week. Our neighbors went a few weeks ago and said that you can just go down to the beach from the hotel, and there’s plenty of locals who will take you on excursions. Since its spring break (for some places), is it going to be hard to get going on excursions. Also, how hard is it to get to other beaches from our hotel? Like Coco, Flamingo,etc? We want to do a couple of excursions, but then maybe spend a day going to different beaches checking them out. My daughter would love to ride a beach cruiser around a beach town. I’ve tried to research all of this, but I’m wondering what your thoughts are
Hi Julie, it will be pretty busy for the time you’re here, I do recommend booking tours before just in case but the RIU has a tour desk so you can book right at the hotel. They have a bus to Playas del Coco which is around 40 minutes. Flamingo is about 1.5 hours south so you will need to rent a car or book transportation. The Riu is kind of far away but they do have a tour desk and can arrange transportation if you want to go visit other beaches or towns.
I wanted to get prices with Marcy to go snorkeling. Who do I contact? Also we are thinking about renting a car but would prefer to just find a driver who could take us to some of these amazing spots do you know someone who would do that?
Hi Alison, you can email us at mytanfeet.com/contact-us and please include the number of people, type of tour (full or half day), your date of tour and pick up location so I can give you a quote.
You can book tours to many of the places like RIncon de la Vieja, Nicaragua, Tamarindo so that way you can also have a guide with certain meals included. IF you hire a driver, they aren’t a guide and many times don’t speak a lot of English and it’s always more interesting to have a guide who can share information. You can also include in the email if you’d like recommendations for tour companies out of Coco.
The Yaris will be fine for most of the trips, except the roads in Rincon de la Vieja National Park, to the South Pacific beaches like Samara and Palo Verde aren’t paved. Those ones aren’t too bad, it’s gravely and it will be bumpy but you can make it. I will say though we went in a Yaris to Rincon and it was incredibly bumpy for about 40 minutes. However, for Llanos waterfall the road isn’t gravel but you’ll need to be extremely careful on that road because it has a lot of mini hills and huge pot holes. Then the road to Ostional Wildlife Refuge is not recommended in a sedan, you need to cross a couple rivers and the road is pretty bumpy. We drove our sedan and broke our license plate, scruffed up our bumper and got some water in the hood when we crossed the river. The river might not be as bad now since it is currently the middle of dry season but I can’t say for sure. You can do all of them without a guide except for Ostional – to see the tours it is best to go with a guide because they know when the turtles come. It’s not wise to just show up at the beach because you most likely won’t see any turtles, especially as it isn’t turtle season right now.
You can see what Guanacaste to Arenal roads are like in this post: Driving Guanacaste to Arenal
and we have a whole section dedicated to the kind of car for certain routes in our tips for renting a car post:Costa Rica car rental tips
Also we have an exclusive 10% and more discount for car rentals including a free 2nd driver and cell phone for our readers you can check out: Costa Rica car rental discount
I enjoyed your website! We are in Playa del Coco and plan to rent a car fro the last week here. Is a small car (Yaris) suitable for most of the trips you describe? We wouldn’t go to Monteverde, but we were hoping a little car is adequate for the rest. Are most tours available at the various destinations without beforehand planning with a guide? Thanks..
Andy