Hacienda Pinilla
Three miles of Pacific coast, 4,500 acres of restored ranch, and one gate between it and the rest of the world.
A ranch that became a coastline
Hacienda Pinilla worked as a cattle ranch for more than forty years before it was replanted and laid out as a community. What that history left behind is unusual: mature tropical dry forest, wide savanna, and a shoreline with almost nothing built on it. Casa Allamanda sits in Reserva de Golf, one of the inland neighbourhoods, about five minutes' drive from the sand.
The practical version, for a family: one manned gate, very little traffic, a medical clinic on the property, and children who can be outside without being watched every second.
What you can use
The beach club
On Playa Avellanas, with an infinity pool above the surf, an open-air restaurant and bar, shaded loungers, a fitness room and courts for volleyball and football. Five dollars a person for guests of the house. Walking onto the beach costs nothing at all.
Golf
An eighteen-hole, par-72 course designed by Mike Young, opened in 2001 and certified as an Audubon sanctuary. The fifteenth is a par three played beside the beach. Green fees are set by the club and vary by tee time and season — we'll get you a current rate when you ask.
Trails, horses and courts
A long network of trails through the dry forest and out to the shore for walking, riding and mountain biking, plus tennis and pickleball courts with an instructor on site. The stables are within the community.
The JW Marriott
The resort sits inside the same gates on Playa Mansita, with several restaurants open to you for dinner and what is claimed to be the largest swimming pool in Central America. Day passes for the pool and grounds are sold separately by the resort.
The beaches, and which one to pick
| Playa Avellanas | The surf beach, five minutes away, and the one you'll visit most. Several named breaks including the reef at Little Hawaii. Good swimming in front of Lola's; the water directly below the beach club has a real rip-current risk, so it isn't the spot for paddling children. |
|---|---|
| Playa Mansita | In front of the JW Marriott, and the calm option. At low tide it flattens into a lagoon with tide pools — the best beach here for small children and for snorkelling without a boat. |
| Playa Lagartillo | A small cove just south of Avellanas, reachable on foot along the sand. Usually close to empty. |
| Playa Langosta | Ten to twelve minutes north, shaded by trees right down to the shoreline. A good choice on a day when you want shade without driving into Tamarindo. |
This is an open Pacific coast and rip currents are a genuine hazard, not a formality. Swim where the locals swim, watch the children closely, and if your group wants time in the waves, a surf lesson is both safer and more fun than swimming in a break.
What lives here
Mantled howler monkeys are the alarm clock — you hear them across the forest at first light and again at dusk. White-faced capuchins pass through, iguanas sun themselves near the pool, coatis patrol for anything edible, and the birdlife is loud and constant: parakeets, motmots, magpie-jays.
Two rules make it all easy. Don't feed anything, monkeys and coatis especially — it makes them bold and it's against the law. And keep doors and food shut when you're out, because a coati will let itself in.
Stay inside the gates
Five bedrooms, a heated pool, and five minutes to the sand.