one of Montezuma’s wild Beaches

All About Montezuma – Costa Rica

Montezuma is a tiny beach community tucked into the remote, wild beach coves at the very southern tip of vast Nicoya Peninsula. That peninsula takes up the northern third of Costa Rica’s extensive Pacific coast.

For decades Montezuma has been the hang out of alternative community-minded folks into yoga, meditation, art, undeveloped nature and holistic living. Its remote, difficult to reach location has warded off the mainstream tourist hordes. At least according to my guidebook.

When I was researching for my travels through Costa Rica, Montezuma was the one singular place in the whole country that I was really excited to visit. Most other places in Costa Rica sounded entirely too famous, touristy, over-developed and crowded, especially during the peak tourist season in December and January, when I would unfortunately be visiting. Most were places I would avoid.

hostel at Montezuma Beach

So my plan upon arrival to Liberia city in northwestern Costa Rica from Nicaragua in late January was to spend one night in the city then catch a bus to Montezuma the very next day. Liberia is the major town in northwestern Costa Rica and jumping off point for the dozens of beaches lining the Nicoya Peninsula.

However, I was in for a huge surprise. Although it seems logical that buses would head down to Montezuma from Liberia, that’s not how it goes. As it turns out, an extensive network of buses run from Liberia to dozens of beaches along the northern 2/3 of Nicoya Peninsula, as far south as Samara Beach. But to access any places south of Samara, at the bottom 1/3 of the peninsula, visitors must take an entirely different and much, much longer route.

As my hotel receptionist informed me, reaching Montezuma from Liberia entails taking a 3-hour bus down through the mainland to a seaside town called Punta Arenas and then a ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya to the tip of the peninsula, and then 1-2 buses from the ferry terminal out along bad roads to Montezuma. It’s a whole day journey with three to four vehicles. Say what?!

buses in Costa Rica

I was so stunned that I double-checked his information online. Sure enough, every source online reported the same thing. The only way to reach Montezuma from anywhere in Costa Rica is to take a ferry from Punta Arenas across the Gulf of Nicoya and proceed from there.

So I quickly re-assessed my travel route through Costa Rica and put off a visit to Montezuma until later, when I’d be naturally closer to Punta Arenas. It wasn’t until nearly two months later that I finally got my chance to head over to remote Montezuma beach at long last.

By then I’d met several other travelers who had visited and encouraged me to go. I also learned that many alternative musicians and travelers recently finishing up the alternate-life Envision festival were hanging out at Montezuma. It was a great time to visit!

Montezuma Beach

As you can imagine, I was even more excited than previously. I was psyched to finally hook up with a large group of like-minded people and long-term travelers, hang out on the beaches together, join yoga and drum circles and meditation sessions. Who knew, maybe I’d even finally meet a great partner?!

So finally one morning, starting at 5:30 am in the mountains of Monteverde cloud forests, I caught a bus down to Punta Arenas, caught the ferry across Nicoya Gulf and then the dusty, bumpy bus to Montezuma. I eventually arrived in mid-afternoon, thoroughly exhausted, physically jarred from road conditions and quite dehydrated from profuse sweating and minimal water intake…

port of Punta Arenas

There I sadly discovered that in tiny Montezuma village, the one and only road (coastal highway) runs right through the middle of town, filled with roaring buses, ATVs and a never-ending stream of cars. Making matters worse, everyone there seemed to smoke cigarettes! It was not an auspicious start!

In fact, it turned out that not only was Montezuma not a great place for me, it was actually the opposite – a very bad energy place for me!

During the 10 days I was in Montezuma, I changed lodgings four times, trying to escape raging noise and cigarettes. I tried sleeping in my tent on the beach a few nights along with a few dozen other free campers, but somehow felt very uneasy there. Bad energy. I did finally find a beautiful hostel/BnB to stay at, which helped considerably, but I still had to battle with European smokers there every day.

hostel at Montezuma with great sitting spaces

Food at Montezuma, expensive all over Costa Rica, was even more expensive than in any other places in the country. I also ended up with a mild food upset, which lasted for most of my stay, giving me churning stomach and frequent dashes to the toilet.

Worst of all perhaps, I didn’t find any of the alternative life-stylers I was expecting to meet. In fact, Montezuma is no longer the hippie hang out it apparently used to be. Aside from the many street vendor artists selling jewelry, I didn’t come across anyone unusual.

Nowadays, Montezuma is right on the main tourist trail now, filled with a never-ending stream of young, mainstream tourists. And it’s become somewhat of a party town, to boot.

Happily, I didn’t have an entirely terrible time – almost, but not entirely…

Although the town, accommodation and visitors scene in Montezuma are most definitely not for me, the nature surrounding town really is beautiful. That I could certainly enjoy.

my yoga ‘helper’ at Montezuma

I started every morning with my private yoga class on the beach under shady trees, often with a cute little dog ‘helping’ me. I also joined two

wonderful evening yoga classes during my stay.

I enjoyed several long beach walks at various times of the day. The wild, empty beaches stretching northward from town are gorgeous and backed solely by dense tropical jungle.

I hiked to Montezuma’s famous waterfalls, just a short stroll from town. Reaching the upper falls entails a near-technical rock climb in several sections, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Sadly, the waterfalls were crowded with people.

I also had to visit two luxury hotels in the area for my hotel site inspection work. That allowed me to visit other beaches that I otherwise would have missed – beautiful Tambor Bay and Santa Teresa beach.

By the end of one week I was more than ready to get the H out of Montezuma and never return.

Funny how some times things turn out much different than expected.

Montezuma Waterfalls

In fact, that very thing happened to me over and over again during my three-month travels around Costa Rica. Several of the country’s most famous places, which I expected to greatly dislike, turned out to be my favorite spots!

The capital city, San Jose, is now my favorite in Central America. Samara Beach, which I knew little about beforehand, and which was my very first beach in the country, turned out to be what I’d expected of Montezuma!

Generally I can read a guidebook or look at a few photos and know, quite accurately, whether I will like the place or not. But sometimes I just have to go to a place to find out what it’s really like first hand.

Meanwhile you might also find the following posts useful

Wonderful Samara Beach

All About Costa Rica’s Stunning Pacific Coast Beaches

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