Golf guide • Costa Rica • North Pacific coast

Golf in Guanacaste: dry forest and the Pacific in northern Costa Rica

Guanacaste, on Costa Rica's north Pacific coast, is the country's golf region: Arnold Palmer's Ocean Course on the Papagayo peninsula, Robert Trent Jones II's Reserva Conchal and Mike Young's Hacienda Pinilla run between tropical dry forest and ocean. The first two are reserved for guests of certain hotels, so choosing where to stay matters. The best season is the dry one, from December to April.

Plan this tripUpdated 10 November 2026

In the north-west of Costa Rica, Guanacaste is the driest region in the country. From December to April the tropical dry forest sheds some of its leaves, the savannahs turn yellow and the Pacific stays a clear blue under an almost cloudless sky. Here, along some fifty kilometres of coast between the Gulf of Papagayo and Tamarindo, lies most of Costa Rica's resort golf: three courses by Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones II and Mike Young, among the howler monkeys.

In Guanacaste, your hotel decides where you can play. The Ocean Course at Papagayo accepts only members and guests of the peninsula's hotels, Four Seasons, Andaz and Nekajui. Reserva Conchal is not open to the public: you play it by staying at the estate's W or Westin. Only Hacienda Pinilla, further south, can be booked freely. Choosing the right base makes all the difference.

Allow a week on the ground, in two stages, after a night in San José on arrival. Three nights on the Papagayo peninsula, forty minutes from Liberia airport, to play the Ocean Course twice. Then four nights to the south, around Tamarindo and Playa Conchal, some eighty kilometres away, for Reserva Conchal and Hacienda Pinilla. An evening with the leatherback turtles of Playa Grande, until mid-February, rounds off the trip.

The courses

Green beyond a water hazard, tall trees, palms and golden-toned dry forest under a hazy sky

Ocean Course at Peninsula Papagayo

Architect: Arnold Palmer
Opened 2004
18 holes
Par 72

Opened in January 2004 with the Four Seasons hotel, Arnold Palmer's course occupies the tip of the Papagayo peninsula: old-growth forest, valleys and cliffs formed by ancient lava flows, with the sea in view from fourteen holes. Golf Digest ranked it among the hundred best courses outside the United States. The elevation changes and the distances between holes make a buggy essential. Five sets of tees make it playable for all, and capuchin monkeys watch from the trees. This is the highlight round of the trip, reserved for guests on the peninsula.

Signature hole. The 6th, El Bajo, drops some sixty metres to a green that seems to merge into the Pacific. Straight after, the par-3 7th, Culebra, plays downhill towards Nacascolo beach.

Official website

Reserva Conchal Golf Course

Architect: Robert Trent Jones II
18 holes
Par 71

Robert Trent Jones II laid out Reserva Conchal in the dry forest along Conchal beach, keeping play well back from the sand without felling a single banyan fig. It was the first course in Costa Rica certified by Audubon International. In 2017 it hosted the first Costa Rica Classic, on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. The course is reserved for guests of the estate: stay at the W or the Westin and take the club's three- or five-day package.

Signature hole. The downhill par-3 17th, through the forest, calls for a full carry over water to a three-tiered green. On the 15th, howler monkeys call from the hills.

Official website

Hacienda Pinilla Golf Course

Architect: Mike Young
Opened 2001
18 holes
Par 72

South of Tamarindo, Mike Young laid out this par 72 in 2001 on a former cattle hacienda of more than 1,800 hectares, between tropical forest and the Pacific shore. Wide fairways, links-style bunkering and a constant wind: you need to keep the ball low from the 1st tee. From the black tees it measures nearly 6,600 metres. It is the only one of the three you can book without staying on site, buggy included. Late in the dry season the fairways can turn yellow, but the greens stay well kept.

Official website

Where to stay

Four Seasons Resort Peninsula Papagayo

Opened in January 2004, at the same time as the course, the Four Seasons sits on a narrow plateau at the tip of the peninsula, 97 metres above the Pacific, between two beaches. Costa Rican architect Ronald Zürcher designed it in pink stucco with thatched pavilions open to the breeze; Michelin awards it two Keys. Ask for a Canopy suite, on stilts among the trees, with its infinity pool. The farthest suites are a fifteen-minute walk from the lobby.

Hotel Capitán Suizo

A Swiss family settled in Tamarindo in 1992, when the village had just three telephones, and opened the hotel in 1995. Its name comes from El Capitán, the islet opposite, and from its owners' origins. The rooms are built beneath the trees of the garden, where howler monkeys and iguanas pass, at the quiet end of the bay. Ask for one of the two Beachfront Bungalows, with terrace, jacuzzi and hammock facing the beach. Hacienda Pinilla and Reserva Conchal are the nearest courses.

Hacienda Guachipelín

At the foot of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano, Guachipelín has been a cattle ranch since 1880, run since 1975 by two generations of the Batalla family. As travellers from Liberia asked to stay the night, the family fitted out rooms. The kitchen follows Guanacaste recipes, with milk, eggs and honey from the ranch. Ask for a Legacy Suite Volcano View, with a balcony facing the volcano. The estate also runs adventure excursions; it is a little over an hour from the coast.

Wooden terrace under a thatched roof, loungers and pool facing the sea, tropical greenery at dusk

Where to dine

Puna

At Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve opened in 2025 on the Papagayo peninsula, Peruvian chef Diego Muñoz pairs the cooking of Peru with Costa Rican produce. At the heart of the restaurant, Paruro serves a Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) tasting menu led by the chef, for six guests, with a single sitting each evening. This is the trip's special-occasion table, a stone's throw from the Ocean Course. Book ahead, especially for Paruro.

Lola's

Opened in November 1998 on Avellanas beach for friends, family and the few passing surfers, Lola's has become a fixture of the coast. Organic vegetables, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef; the house even planted a paddy field to save an heirloom Costa Rican rice. Order the mahi-mahi ceviche or the traditional Costa Rican plate of rice, beans and salad after a round at Pinilla. The way in is down a dirt track.

Pangas

In Tamarindo, Elizabeth Cole, half Costa Rican and half Spanish, runs Pangas in a big house whose large garden opens onto the beach, in the shade of a huge tree. In 2023 Travel + Leisure named it among twenty restaurants worldwide chosen for their views. Order the meat seared on volcanic stone, ribeye or fillet, to share after a day at Hacienda Pinilla. Booking is essential.

Beyond golf

A day as a sabanero

Guanacaste is cattle country, and its cowboys, the sabaneros, are its pride. At Hacienda Guachipelín, the "Cowboy for a Day" programme has you round up cattle and horses with the ranch's sabaneros, from pasture to corral. A morning is enough, ideally early in your stay, before heading on to the Papagayo peninsula.

The leatherback turtles of Playa Grande

Across the Tamarindo estuary, Las Baulas National Marine Park protects a nesting beach of leatherback turtles, the largest of all sea turtles. From late October to mid-February, outings take place at night, with a ranger, in small groups and by reservation. The population has declined sharply: a sighting is never guaranteed, which makes every encounter precious.

A sunset at sea

From Playa Flamingo, fifteen minutes from Conchal, catamarans leave in the afternoon for the Catalina Islands, where you snorkel among rays and turtles in the dry season. The return trip is timed for sunset. A private charter avoids the crowds of the shared boats.

Two riders in straw hats driving cattle across a dusty golden savannah, a volcano on the horizon

When to go

The golf season runs from December to April: almost no rain from December to March, 30 to 33°C in the afternoon, and a Papagayo wind that blows from December to April and cools the coast. April is the hottest month. From May to November, showers arrive in the afternoon, heaviest in September and October. The Christmas and New Year holidays and Holy Week are very busy.

Getting there

Liberia International Airport (LIR) is forty minutes from Papagayo, about an hour from Playa Conchal and an hour and a half from Hacienda Pinilla. From Paris, Air France flies non-stop to San José in about eleven hours. Rather than pressing on with four to five hours on the road, spend the night in San José and take a Sansa domestic flight of around fifty minutes to Liberia or Tamarindo the next day. Avoid driving at night.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best golf course in Guanacaste?

Arnold Palmer's Ocean Course at Papagayo has featured among the hundred best courses outside the United States according to Golf Digest; Robert Trent Jones II's Reserva Conchal hosted the first Costa Rica Classic, on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, in 2017. Both are reserved for guests of certain hotels.

Can you play the Ocean Course at Papagayo without staying on the peninsula?

No. The course is reserved for members and guests of the peninsula's hotels, Four Seasons, Andaz and Nekajui, with proof of stay.

When is the best time to play golf in Costa Rica?

From December to April, in the dry season, with 30 to 33°C in the afternoon and almost no rain from December to March. From May to November, showers fall in the afternoon.

Are there direct flights from France to Guanacaste?

No. Air France flies non-stop from Paris to San José. The most comfortable option is to spend a night there, then take a Sansa domestic flight of around fifty minutes to Liberia or Tamarindo; by road it takes four to five hours. A connection in the United States also lets you land in Liberia.

Do I need a visa for a golf trip to Costa Rica?

Not for French citizens, for stays of up to 180 days. Your passport must be valid beyond your departure date and you must be able to show a return ticket; with a connection in the United States, you need an ESTA.

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