Santa Teresa is the beach to visit when you come to Costa Rica. As a costarrican, I would highly recommend this place.
There are many beautiful beaches around the country, some of them have big hotels and super touristic towns, but Santa Teresa is the perfect blend between beautiful and local.
This beach it’s on the other side of the Gulf, so in able to visit it, you can take any of the two ways: around 6 hours drive straight from San José to Santa Teresa, or you could (my favorite route) drive 2 hours from San José to Puntarenas, take the Ferry to Paquera and drive 1 hour and 30 minutes from Paquera to Santa Teresa.
Once you arrive to Santa Teresa’s dirt roads you can enjoy the afternoon watching a beautiful sunset, catch some waves on your surf board, drive around on a rent ARV or just drink a nice cocktail on a beach bar.
One of my favorite things in Santa Teresa is the food. I would highly recommend to eat a snack, a bite or an incredible breakfast in The Bakery, try their fish tacos, avocado tacos, pesto pasta or any of their amazing bake goods. Also, give it a try to Earth Café, an amazing open patio café, my favorite plates are the avocado toast with an extra of scramble eggs and their pancakes (they are so so so good!).
Ask the locals for directions to get to the tide pools and relax under the sun. Also, there are so many cool places to stay around but they are booked most of the time, so look on advance to find a pretty stay.
