Rock arch "windows" at each end of the beach, best seen at low tide.
Blue Flag beachTurtle nestingProtected area
Las Baulas National Marine Park
Playa Ventanas is a crescent shaped tan sand beach just north of Playa Grande inside Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas, named for window-like openings worn into the rock outcrops at each end. It is quieter than Playa Grande and calmer for swimming, with tide pools exposed at low tide and a large estuary behind the beach where crocodiles are present. Visitors reach it either by a 30-minute walk north along Playa Grande, passing a large formation known as Dante's Rock, or by a narrow unpaved road.
SwimmingCalm, good for swimming
SurfNot a surf beach
Good for
Swimming
Tide pools
Walking
Getting there
Walk about 30 minutes north along Playa Grande beach, or drive a narrow, unpaved, pothole-filled road parallel to Playa Grande to a small unmonitored parking area (high clearance recommended, especially in rainy season).
Sea turtles
Species: Leatherback
Nesting season: October 20 to February 15, peak December-January
Official park-run sea turtle nesting tour on Playa Grande inside Las Baulas de Guanacaste National Marine Park, the main eastern Pacific leatherback nesting site. Reservations are made by phone with the park office and the tour is led by the Matapalo local guides association (ASOCAVE); groups wait at the ranger station and walk to the beach only once a nesting turtle is reported. The tour centers on whatever turtle activity is present during nesting season, roughly late October to mid-February.
Guided kayak tours through the Tamarindo estuary and the mangrove forest inside Las Baulas National Marine Park, paddling the calm water between Playa Tamarindo and Playa Grande. Guides point out crocodiles, herons, monkeys, and other wildlife along the estuary's creeks and lagoons. The same operator also runs a separate turtle nesting and sighting tour at Playa Grande during nesting season.