Nosara is small and slow and most of what is worth doing happens before eleven in the morning. Here is what is actually here, what each one involves, and what to pick if you only have room for two.
1. Snorkeling by boat
You leave Playa Garza and run out to the offshore islands, where the visibility is better and you are more likely to be in the water with turtles and schooling fish. Go early, before the wind puts chop on the surface. Garza sits in a bay, so the water inside it stays calm when the swell is up outside, which is what makes it work for families.
2. Dolphins, turtles and whales
Dolphins and turtles are here all year. Humpbacks come through August to November, with some sightings January to March. This one asks nothing of you: you sit on a boat for three hours and look at things.
3. Fishing out of Playa Garza
Tuna all year, mahi mahi July to January, sailfish and marlin December to April, roosterfish all year. It is a serious fishery without the crowds you get further north. You do not need experience. The crew rigs it all and talks you through it, and they clean and ice whatever you keep. Plenty of guests take part of the catch to a restaurant in town and have it cooked that evening.
4. Sunset, from the sand
The last two hours of light is the part of the day the rest of Nosara is arranged around. Guiones faces west down its whole length, so the walk from the Playa Guiones entrance north toward Pelada is the standard version, barefoot, with the surfers still out. Pelada itself is rockier and emptier, with tide pools at low water.
Sunset here runs somewhere between 5:15 and 6:00 depending on the month, and there is no long dusk this close to the equator. It goes dark quickly. Bring a light if you are walking back on the beach road.
5. A surf lesson at Guiones
Playa Guiones is one of the most consistent breaks in Costa Rica, sand-bottomed, with peaks spread along a long beach so it never feels stacked. Warm water all year. It is a good place to stand up for the first time and a good place to fix something that has been wrong with your surfing for years.
6. ATV and horseback
Inland, through fields, jungle trails and backroads. The ATV covers more ground and gets to the higher viewpoints. The horses go slower and you see more. Both are a good use of an afternoon when the wind has ruined the surf.
These are run by independent local operators and coordinated through Monkey Head Adventures.
7. A waterfall hike
Twenty to thirty minutes inland, shaded trails down to small waterfalls. It is the reliable answer to a hot afternoon with kids.
If you only have room for two
Take a morning on the water and a sunset. In practice that means a sea sighting or a snorkeling trip early on one day, and something at last light on another. If anyone in the group fishes, swap the morning for a half day of fishing, because it also gets you the dolphins and, in season, the whales.