Espadilla Beach — Attraction in Quepos

Beautiful beach. go to the north part if you want less crowds This is the main beach of MA area, outside of the park (ie you don't have to pay to use it) :) We loved it for our week stay up the hill - super warm water, fine sand, plenty of shade (if you don't want to pay for the chairs and umbrellas). The beach is super long (about 2 km). All the restaurants are geared towards the south end, and so are the crowds. Beach chairs - you can rent them for about $10 US a day (2 chairs and umbrella) but we've chosen to just bring our own throw and stay in the shade of the trees

Tips: if you want less people, go towards the north end of the beach. There are less rocks there too - since the South end of the beach is where big rocks come close to the shore, there are more rocks in the water on the sand too. If you take local bus to the beach (xxx colnes) you can ask for the one before last stop, so you don't need to hike back north from the last stop. There is plenty of shade under mangroves and tall trees along the beach (on the weekends many of those places are quickly spoken for by the locals, so arrive early to have a choice of the spot) There are no washrooms at the beach - you would need to pay at the restaurant to use theirs (500 colones), and not all of them allow you in unless you order. Bring your snacks (cooler with a cold watermelon - mmm) but beware of monkeys - they tried to steal bananas from our backpack (they smell bananas for miles, and would actually open your bags to take them out) - luckily the fellow beach goers scared them away and saved our bag. We made new friends that way :) Beware of the strong undertow in the water - try to go no further than waist deep, especially if you're not a super strong swimmer. We talked to quite a few people who were pulled away from the shore and had to be rescued by the guards. The guards seem to be vigilant but would prefer not to need their help (our 14 year old was pulled by the currant, and my husband luckily was next to him and brought him back, but that was a scare. At least he did not need any more persuasion to stay close to the shore afterwards). Rent boogie boards - with those kind of waves we all had an absolute blast with the boards - I could not pull my family out of the water for the entire day Mind the sun - it is not even Mexico or Cuba - the sun is super strong here. We've seem more than one person with the raw wounded noses - the result of a bad sunburn. We all used swim shirts, and I was glad mine had long sleeves too. Plus hats and zinc based sunscreen - you need to get used to applying it but I find it stays much longer and protects better than the regular chemical ones (not to mention their harm...

If you do not like to be hassled and ripped off just don't go anywhere near.

Just to get to the beach we were stopped in our rented car twice. Men along the street stopping us asking where we are going and telling us where to park. Each time dodgy people. We then parked in the car park for Manuel Antonio National park - hefty price for 1hr stop but we preferred minds at ease. Each time we had to drive away from the dodgy parkers like fugitives as they cling to the car. So if they stop you, just keep driving.

The beach: as soon as we stopped we were harassed by 6/7 vendors each asking us to buy a different service (deckchairs, t-shirts, jewellery) in the space of 10m. My husband then got irritated and demanded that we are left alone and one vendor started swearing at him and calling him names and was going to get nasty.

The vendors do not realise that some people arriving them were already feeling unsafe with the parkers, then when everyone wants to sell something in a short time span it is overwhelming. We saw other families having our same ordeal.

We obviously left in less than an hour. The only time in Costa Rica where we felt unsafe and irritated.

Skip, many more beautiful beaches with no...

Beautiful light tan gently sloped (almost flat) beach. Great for young children with usually gentle wave action on the flattest parts of the beach. Extra wide beach at low tide. The water temp is always perfect year round. It is backed the entire 1.35 mile length by green tropical trees inhabited by monkeys, sloths and a variety of colorful tropical birds.There are high rises or commercial buildings at beachside. At the south end of the beach food/entertainment, hotels and souvenir shopping is very convenient but doesn't encroach the beauty of the beach itself. The entrance to world famous Manuel Antonio National Park is about 1/4 mile from the beach, and it has two very distinctive but smaller beaches of its own. There are plenty of kind and attentive Tico and Nico venders offering lounge chairs/beach umbrellas, parasailing, jet skis, surfing lessons and surf/body board rentals as well as snow cones, fresh chilled coconuts opened for you to enjoy cold coconut water. One travel magazine listed this beach as one of the top 15 in the world. I've enjoyed it nearly daily for two years. It's a lovely and charming bit of paradise....I've loved living here! ...