Years ago I was of the personal opinion that the most beautiful beach in Costa Rica had to be either Playa Conchal or the pink beach located only a short walk from the private resort of Punta Leona.
While there are many beautiful beaches in Costa Rica, typically somewhat crescent shaped with green mountains and seasonally colorful trees taking up the back drop, these two were my personal preferences for beauty. The popular Manuel Antonio of course is great with lush green mountainsides, a secluded beach with the picturesque large stone, and a great ambiance. Tamarindo and Flamingo are nice and have all of the conveniences to satisfy the tourists crowd. It is all a matter of personal preference,and there are plenty of uniquely situated beaches for anyone to choose from.
Playa Conchal and Punta Leona were my preferences for beach and water color, landscape, ambiance and population combined. While the majority of beaches along the Pacific have that generally dark Pacific Ocean color and a darker sand, Playa Conchal is a bright white, small crescent shaped beach once secluded with water in clear shades of blue. At one time it was known mostly only among locals. To get there you would go to Playa Brasalito and walk south to the end of the dark tan colored beach. At the end was a small trail through some brush over a little short hill that opened up unto this bright white beach. The beach is white because it is comprised of bleached out washed up seashells, which have been worn soft and are actually easy to walk on. There used to be a friendly, small hotel at the end of Brasalito owned by a Dutch couple, and a little locally owned seafood shack on the beach – both great.
Fortunately for tourists and unfortunately for those of us who preferred this naturally beautiful, uncrowded and secluded beach, it became home to the high end Melía Conchal, now maybe Westin, complete with water sports. I do not have current, digital photos of Conchal in its prime,
so have hyperlinked here Playa Conchal images for current photos. Today I would prefer some of the less discovered and now more easily accessible pristine beaches along the Guanacaste coastline between Samara and Tamarindo.
Located a little south of the well known Jaco, is the then private resort of Punta Leona. From the main resort with the cabins, pool, restaurant etc, it is a short picturesque walk to the south up over a hill, which drops down into this little secluded beach, usually with very small crowds. Sand of this little beach appear to change to a pinkish color as the day goes on, the water is a light emerald green, and outlined with a very lush, cover photo quality tree line. This beach was chosen for its scenery as the place where Colombus came ashore in the movie “1492.” Never seen the movie, but if you are looking for a quiet beach that is beautiful from any angle. Again, my old photos are not digitized nor current, so here is a link to Punta Leona images.