Windsurfing

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This has been developing slowly but surely over the last few years. Costa Rica has become a world-class windsurfing location for advanced sailors seeking high winds, and is often compared to the Gorge. The two main locations are Lake Arenal (at the northern end about 15kn from Tilaran), and Salinas Bay on the Pacific coast just south of the Nicaraguan border.

Both locations offer strong 15-25 knot winds December-April. For Lake Arenal, the surrounding hills, through which funnel the strong north easterlies, provide a beautiful natural setting in which to sail, with volcano Arenal often silhouetted beautifully on the opposite side of the lake. The windsurfing is superb with the side shore winds which blast across the 70° warm waters of the lake from December through April.

Good gear is available for rental from Ticowind (from Dec 1st - April 15th, with new gear each year) and from Hotel Tilawa (all year) if you don’t bring your own. There are several great lodges around here, including Hotel Tilawa.

The same winds continue blowing westwards across Costa Rica and funnel particularly through Puerto Soley and Salinas Bay on the Pacific Coast. Often windsurfers from Arenal head here if the Arenal wind is down.

Elsewhere winds are light, and few hotels keep boards, but if in this windy season and you go to beaches such as Flamingo or Tamarindo along the northern coast of Guanacaste, you should strike some good winds and waves. For details of the hotels offering windsurfing.