Playa Coyote

The waters at Playa Coyote are tranquil and shallow, ideal for swimming, while Punta Coyote, south of the beach, offers a good break for surfers. Sunsets are spectacular and there are many opportunities for spotting wildlife.
Playa Coyote is the perfect getaway for families and nature lovers seeking tropical beauty and relaxation.

Playa Coyote Information

On the beach itself there is a small restaurant - reportedly one of Costa Rica’s best fish restaurants! – a campground with basic amenities and a new hotel, Casa Caletas.

5km inland lies the small, traditional village of San Francisco de Coyote, where you will find several Hotels and cabinas, a few restaurants, a grocery store, gasoline station and internet access. There is a twice daily bus service from here to San Jose via Playa Naranjo from where you can take a car ferry across to the port of Puntarenas.

The beach offers swimming, Surfing and other water sport activities; Horseback riding on the beach; mountain bike rental, forest hikes and bird and wildlife watching. Walking along the beach or in the forest you are likely to see howler and white-faced monkeys, iguanas, snakes, vultures, pelicans and maybe even anteaters or wild boar. Flamingos and frigate are often seen around the estuary.  At rocky Punta Coyote there are several caves to explore, some housing bat colonies.

On the southern side of Punta Coyote lies Playa Caletas, home to an important marine turtle rehabilitation area. Since 2002, Costa Rican conservation organization, PRETOMA, has been monitoring and protecting Olive Ridley, Leatherback and Pacific Green turtles at this site. This is a project run in collaboration with the local community and international volunteers who help to monitor nesting activities and operate ‘hatcheries’ to safeguard the eggs and ensure the babies make it safely out to sea, as well as providing environmental education activities for local children. Nesting season is from August to December, it is possible to visit the project at this time. For more information see www.tortugamarina.org check
There is  a large wetland area at Playa Caletas where as many as 50 species of bird may be seen in one day, especially during rainy season.

Also fairly close by, just beyond the pretty beach Resorts of Santa Teresa and Malpais, are two more important conservation projects. The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve was Costa Rica’s first National Park, established in 1963 by Swedish environmentalists Nicolas Wessberg and Karen Mogenson. The reserve encompasses 1,272 hectares of primary and secondary moist tropical forest, 1700 hectares of surrounding ocean and is home to hundreds of plant, animal and bird species. The park is open to visitors from Wednesday to Sunday, 8am to 4pm. Entrance fee $8.

The Rainsong Wildlife Sanctuary and Refuge is a new reserve currently being created around the limits of the Cabo Blanco Park and stretching south-eastwards towards Paquera. The project is in the process of creating a community Wildlife Refuge, an extensive reforestation project, a wildlife hospital and of establishing an endangered species re-introduction program for species including the Scarlet Macaw, the Great Green Macaw, the Three Toed Sloth, the Spider Monkey and the Baird’s Tapir. It is possible to visit the project from the small town of Cabuya, the gateway to both Reserves.

Playa Coyote is situated mid-way between the beach resorts of Malpais and Samara. There is a twice daily bus service from to San Jose to San Francisco de Coyote departing SJ at 6am and 3pm, returning from San Francisco around 3am and 2pm. This is not reliable in rainy season! By car, the town and beach can be accessed from Playa Naranja on the eastern side of the peninsula and from Samara to the north - in dry season you can navigate this road fairly easily with a simple passenger car; in rainy season a four wheel drive is advisable, and even then some areas may be impassable.