The pretty drive from Sámara 25km north to the village of NOSARA runs along shady and secluded dirt and gravel roads punctuated by a few creeks - it's passable with a regular car in the dry season, but you'll need a 4WD in the wet. The village itself, properly called Bocas de Nosara, is set some 3km inland, between a low ridge of hills and the sea. Usually grouped together as Playas Nosara , the three beaches in the area - Nosara, Guiones and Pelada - are fine for swimming , although you can be buffetted by the crashing waves, and there are some rocky outcrops. Playa Guiones is the most impressive of the beaches: nearly 5km in length and with probably the best swimming, though there's precious little shade. The whole area is a great place to go beachcombing for shells and driftwood, and the vegetation, even in the dry season, is greener than further north. Some attempts have been made to limit development, and a good deal of the land around the Río Nosara has been designated a wildlife refuge.

In contrast to the busier Sámara, the vast majority of people who come to Nosara are North Americans and Europeans in search of quiet and natural surroundings. Much of the accommodation is slighly upmarket, and the owners and managers are more environmentally conscious than at many other places on the peninsula. A local civic association keeps a hawkish eye on development in the area, with the aim of keeping Nosara as it is, rather than having it become another Tamarindo or Sámara