Playa Bejuco & Pilas de Bejuco tide pools
Beach · Nicoya Peninsula · hidden gem
A 3.5 km beach between mangrove estuaries, with a lagoon at the mouth of the Río Bejuco that shelters the local fishing boats - buy fish straight from the fishermen and watch pelicans and wood storks. Surfers know it for its waves; north of the village, at Pilas de Bejuco, long sandy pools form along the water's edge around low tide, warm enough to wallow in.
- Cost
- Free
- Time there
- 2 h
- Best time
- around low tide
- Kids
- 3 / 10
- View
- 6 / 10
- Crowds
- 1 / 10
- Swimming
- 6 / 10
- Effort
- 1 / 10
- Location
- 9.83105, -85.34668 — Google Maps
Before you go
- Entry
- Free
- Tickets
- Free entry, no ticket
- Road
- Gravel — a regular car is fine
- Swimming
- Only when the water is calm
- Fewer people
- most of the time you meet nobody at Pilas de Bejuco
- Checked
- 2026-10
Tip
Time it for low tide to float in the pools, and ask the fishermen what came in that morning.
Be careful
Open-ocean surf with currents - swim in the low-tide pools, not beyond the break.
Getting there
Bejuco village sits on the coastal road between Playa San Miguel and Islita; Pilas de Bejuco is reached by a separate road north of the fishing port. Dirt roads - a 4x4 helps in the rainy season.
Places nearby
- Tanga Restaurant & Camping (Punta Coyote)Food & CoffeeBeach restaurant and campground in the palm grove at the south end of Playa Coyote, near Punta Coyote, where the rocky headland keeps the water calm; it rents surfboards for the reef breaks about 20 minutes' walk around the point.
- WingNuts Canopy ToursTours & Adventure · from $40Family-run canopy near Sámara with up to 9 cables and rappels, a 500 m cable and a canopy-surfing option where you ride a suspended surfboard.
Sources: OpenStreetMap way/430493153 · Wikidata Q23746707 · https://nicoyapeninsula.com/coyote/islita/ · https://kraincostarica.com/en/playa-bejuco-playa-san-miguel-playa-coyote/playa-bejuco-local-guide · https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/430493153 · https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4635906149