Montezuma Beach

To reach montezuma beach from the highlands in Costa Rica (San Jose and surrounding locations) you'll have to drive over the mountainrange down towards the westcoast.

Once you start going downhill you'll have to decide on the route as there are two main alternatives.

1. Land. Going north up towards Liberia and then go back down south crossing all of the nicoya peninsula.
2. Land/Sea. Drive down to Puntarenas and take the ferry (there are several options) over to the peninsula. Once there you still have to drive quite a bit to reach montezuma as the ferry leave you on the east coast of nicoya and Montezuma is located on the corner south-west of nicoya.

There's a third alternative not included above. That is to fly to Liberia and continue from there by car or bus. But you'll still have to use route 1 or 2 from the selection above.



Montezuma Beach
Loved by tourists and backpackers from all over the world. It's easy to reach by bus even directly from San José, but be prepared for a long journey.

Here's a map showing the coast with Puntarenas (where you'll find the ferries), playa naranjo and paquera (the places where the ferries goes to) and the southern coastline of Nicoya with playa tambor, montezuma beach and a lot more.


If you look at the map you'll find Puntarenas about midway up to the right (with a thick red line and a small boat painted under it).

2 thin red lines leaves Puntarenas and travels through the word NICOYA down to the left and after splitting on red line goes to Playa Naranjo (the top one). The lower red line goes to Paquera. These are the places where the ferries docks.

To reach Montezuma or any other place in the south or southwest of nicoya you have to travel by car. And I have to say that the roads where the worst I've ever seen in Costa Rica (june 2006). Plan for slow travel.