Where Are the Best Places to Live in Costa Rica?
While there are certainly destinations with a lower price point in Central America and beyond, Costa Rica has a track record stretching back three decades where savvy buyers have seen steady appreciation while they enjoyed their dream home in a warm climate. Rental opportunities are good since this is a popular vacation destination and air connectivity from Costa Rica’s two international airports will get you to a whole lot of places in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
Costa Rica is one of the most popular countries in Latin America for foreign real estate buyers and this progressive, peaceful country has a lot going for it from an investment standpoint. You can own property free and clear–including on the coast–and the process is fairly straightforward for purchasing and for getting residency. In some countries, everyone flocks to one area (like Cuenca in Ecuador), but the best places to live in Costa Rica are varied and scattered all over.
Sure, there’s always downside risk with any investment, as plenty found out in neighboring Nicaragua, but Central America’s healthiest democracy and best steward of the environment has far fewer risk factors than most. How do you find the best place to live in Costa Rica? We strongly advise doing a trial run or two and working with an agent with plenty of experience, but here are a few regions that should be on your list to evaluate if you’re looking for a vacation home, a retirement home, or a property investment abroad.
The Guanacaste Region: Papagayo, Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, and More
The coastal Guanacaste area is, in many ways, the most prestigious part of Costa Rica and attracts the wealthiest investors and retirees from abroad. The Peninsula Papagayo area, anchored by a Four Seasons, has been a favored vacation home destination for two decades and there are dozens of developments to the south of there offering large homes, condos, and lots for sale.
While some areas are rather built-up tourist zones, such as around Tamarindo and the golf course of Reserva Conchal, there’s still a lot of wild coastline, forested hills, and jungle. One big advantage of this area is that many of the communities are an hour or so from the Liberia International Airport. Coco Beach is only about 30 minutes away. So expats can get back to the USA or Canada to see friends and relatives without going all the way down to San Jose.
One of the most interesting developments in the region is Las Catalinas, a town built on a human scale for pedestrians, not for cars. It’s a community where neighbors see each other and gather at the restaurants and brewpubs instead of being holed up at home in isolation after parking in the garage. (Yes you can park your car here, but on the outskirts of town.)
The planned community already has residents living in condos and houses, but there are plenty of lots available, from townhouses aimed at downsizers to grand homes with an infinity pool facing the ocean. See Las Catalinas real estate listings here. Sometimes they run a “fly and buy program” whereby if you fly down and stay in the development while looking at properties, all the expenses get deducted when you buy something.
The Nicoya Peninsula
In the early days, the Nicoya Peninsula to the south of Guanacaste was a wild region for surfers, yoga camp practitioners, and backpackers. In the past decade, however, a few developers have offered custom-built homes in large developments in areas scattered down the coast. This is not where you want to be if you crave nightlife and lots of conveniences, but there’s plenty of nature around in these areas and some beautiful virgin beaches like this:
There’s still a bit of a hippie vibe to the surf towns, but as those people have grown up, a lot of them have money now so there are some good restaurants, coffee shops, and taprooms. The expats with kids needed to figure out what to do about schooling in a sparsely populated area, so there are some interesting educational experiments going on around Nosara where much of the learning is going on outside in nature.
Understand that this area is better for residents on the young and healthy side rather than retirees who are making regular trips to the doctor. There are no cities in this region and no big hospitals.
Jaco, Playa Hermosa, and Los Sueños
The closest sets of beaches near the capital city are directly west and run in a line from Jaco (the party town) down to Manuel Antonio, a popular beach and nature reserve. These are some of the most popular beach areas because of their proximity to the capital for both tourists and city residents, but that also means they’re convenient to get to, easy to furnish, and easy to stock with supplies. Because of all that, many residents who have moved to the region consider this to be one of the best places to live in Costa Rica, if not the best.
The best-known development is one that we covered in a feature article where we were traveling around with the founder of WeRCR a few years ago: Los Suenos, Costa Rica. You can easily try out life there before buying because there are always rental units available plus there’s a Marriott next to the golf course. They have their own marina and some restaurants.
That photo above is from a luxury home listed at $3.5 million, with 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, a garage, and an incredible deck with pool and Jacuzzi. See a video and more photos here.
Just around a peninsula from there is the NEREA complex in Faro Escondido, Puntarenas. On a dramatic cliffside looking out at the sea, these units under construction now feature an open floor plan with a gourmet kitchen, large terraces, and a wall of glass to take in the panorama. See one 3-bedroom, 3-bath unit with an infinity pool at this listing link.
Where Are the Best Places to Live in Costa Rica?
Timothy November 17, 2023 Awesome view, Costa Rica, Luxury Latin America, Real Estate, wealth 1 Comment
Costa Rica is one of the most popular countries in Latin America for foreign real estate buyers and this progressive, peaceful country has a lot going for it from an investment standpoint. You can own property free and clear–including on the coast–and the process is fairly straightforward for purchasing and for getting residency. In some countries, everyone flocks to one area (like Cuenca in Ecuador), but the best places to live in Costa Rica are varied and scattered all over.
While there are certainly destinations with a lower price point in Central America and beyond, Costa Rica has a track record stretching back three decades where savvy buyers have seen steady appreciation while they enjoyed their dream home in a warm climate. Rental opportunities are good since this is a popular vacation destination and air connectivity from Costa Rica’s two international airports will get you to a whole lot of places in the USA, Canada, and Europe.
Sure, there’s always downside risk with any investment, as plenty found out in neighboring Nicaragua, but Central America’s healthiest democracy and best steward of the environment has far fewer risk factors than most. How do you find the best place to live in Costa Rica? We strongly advise doing a trial run or two and working with an agent with plenty of experience, but here are a few regions that should be on your list to evaluate if you’re looking for a vacation home, a retirement home, or a property investment abroad.
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The Guanacaste Region: Papagayo, Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, and More
The coastal Guanacaste area is, in many ways, the most prestigious part of Costa Rica and attracts the wealthiest investors and retirees from abroad. The Peninsula Papagayo area, anchored by a Four Seasons, has been a favored vacation home destination for two decades and there are dozens of developments to the south of there offering large homes, condos, and lots for sale.
While some areas are rather built-up tourist zones, such as around Tamarindo and the golf course of Reserva Conchal, there’s still a lot of wild coastline, forested hills, and jungle. One big advantage of this area is that many of the communities are an hour or so from the Liberia International Airport. Coco Beach is only about 30 minutes away. So expats can get back to the USA or Canada to see friends and relatives without going all the way down to San Jose.
One of the most interesting developments in the region is Las Catalinas, a town built on a human scale for pedestrians, not for cars. It’s a community where neighbors see each other and gather at the restaurants and brewpubs instead of being holed up at home in isolation after parking in the garage. (Yes you can park your car here, but on the outskirts of town.)
The planned community already has residents living in condos and houses, but there are plenty of lots available, from townhouses aimed at downsizers to grand homes with an infinity pool facing the ocean. See Las Catalinas real estate listings here. Sometimes they run a “fly and buy program” whereby if you fly down and stay in the development while looking at properties, all the expenses get deducted when you buy something.
The Nicoya Peninsula
In the early days, the Nicoya Peninsula to the south of Guanacaste was a wild region for surfers, yoga camp practitioners, and backpackers. In the past decade, however, a few developers have offered custom-built homes in large developments in areas scattered down the coast. This is not where you want to be if you crave nightlife and lots of conveniences, but there’s plenty of nature around in these areas and some beautiful virgin beaches like this:
There’s still a bit of a hippie vibe to the surf towns, but as those people have grown up, a lot of them have money now so there are some good restaurants, coffee shops, and taprooms. The expats with kids needed to figure out what to do about schooling in a sparsely populated area, so there are some interesting educational experiments going on around Nosara where much of the learning is going on outside in nature.
Understand that this area is better for residents on the young and healthy side rather than retirees who are making regular trips to the doctor. There are no cities in this region and no big hospitals.
Jaco, Playa Hermosa, and Los Sueños
The closest sets of beaches near the capital city are directly west and run in a line from Jaco (the party town) down to Manuel Antonio, a popular beach and nature reserve. These are some of the most popular beach areas because of their proximity to the capital for both tourists and city residents, but that also means they’re convenient to get to, easy to furnish, and easy to stock with supplies. Because of all that, many residents who have moved to the region consider this to be one of the best places to live in Costa Rica, if not the best.
The best-known development is one that we covered in a feature article where we were traveling around with the founder of WeRCR a few years ago: Los Suenos, Costa Rica. You can easily try out life there before buying because there are always rental units available plus there’s a Marriott next to the golf course. They have their own marina and some restaurants.
That photo above is from a luxury home listed at $3.5 million, with 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, a garage, and an incredible deck with pool and Jacuzzi. See a video and more photos here.
Just around a peninsula from there is the NEREA complex in Faro Escondido, Puntarenas. On a dramatic cliffside looking out at the sea, these units under construction now feature an open floor plan with a gourmet kitchen, large terraces, and a wall of glass to take in the panorama. See one 3-bedroom, 3-bath unit with an infinity pool at this listing link.
Most of the other developments heading south down the coast aren’t very dense in their construction plan and of course there are plenty of individual homes that are not part of any planned community. Some are beachfront or close to it, while others are set back up in the hills and have a view. You can find sprawling homes for sale or furnished condos at developments like Los Altos, walking distance to the beach, where you just need to bring a suitcase.
Once you get down to Quepos there’s a small regional airport that can get you to San Jose and beyond on a prop plane.
See sample listings from this region here.
San Jose: Living in Santa Ana, Escazu, or Barrio Escalante
I’m putting this last on the list because the big capital city is not what most people picture when they think of living in Costa Rica. There are a lot of foreign homeowners living in these leafy suburbs though because there are more than 100 foreign companies located in the nearby office parks. Costa Rica is a major outsourcing center for multinational corporations, so a lot of them have sizable offices around San Jose.
There are also clear advantages to being in a big city in terms of convenience, shopping selection, and a wider range of things to eat, from groceries to restaurants. The Juan Santamaria International Airport has a lot more flights than the Liberia one, plus you can fly domestically to almost any location in the country with an airport from here, including ones where that saves a lot of time, like in the Osa Peninsula.
Escazu especially has all you’d expect from a wealthy area by a major city, like nightclubs, shopping malls, great medical facilities, and movie theaters. It’s considered the safest part of the capital.
You can reach a lot of places in a few hours by driving as well though, including most of them already mentioned in this article. It’s a fairly short hop to the Pacific Coast, on a good highway, or you can head into jungle areas. You could drive to nearly all of the best Costa Rica luxury hotels from San Jose in the morning and be there in time for a late lunch.
If you’re a remote worker or digital nomad, almost anywhere in the San Jose metro area is going to have fast fiber Wi-Fi and all of the country’s best hospitals are located here for medical care. The city is a major medical tourism destination, especially for dental work.
Other Considerations for the Best Places to Live in Costa Rica
While the areas highlighted above are the best places to live in Costa Rica for foreign investors who are looking for luxury housing, this popular country has plenty of other areas where foreigners have settled and are loving it. Almost anywhere in the country can be a great real estate investment if you do your homework.
Here are a few more with sizeable expatriate populations. The best bet is to work with a local agent who knows the country inside-out and guide you to the best places in Costa Rica for retirees, for young couples, or for digital nomads.
Central Valley – The areas north of San Jose are a little higher and cooler than most others. Popular Atenas is at 2,290 feet.
Lake Arenal – For those who prefer fresh water over salt and sand, this cooler area has a volcano view and lots of homes with boat slips. Because it’s a tourist area, there are more restaurants and services than you’d expect from a rural area. For a while it had the country’s only brewpub. Nuevo Arenal is the most popular area with foreigners.
Dominical – A natural area with dense jungle near the coast where houses facing the sea have terrific views of the “Whale’s Tail” beach peninsula by Uvita.
The Caribbean Coast – You don’t see the Caribbean coast of this country showing up in many real estate guides, which seems to mostly stem from the fact that the area gets a lot more rain in the rainy season. But if Coconut palms, warm Caribbean water, and lazy days in a hammock are calling your name, check out Limon, Puerto Viejo, and Cahuita.
Visit the official Costa Rica site for vacation ideas while you’re looking around, then click any of the real estate links above to see listings from an agency with an extensive collection of listings all over: WERCR
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