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JACO sign near Playa JacoRicky; Playa Jacoaerial view of Playa Jaco captured from Miro’s Mountainoverlooking Playa Jaco from Miro’s MountainPlaya Jacowaves at Playa Jacosouth end of Playa Jaconorth end of Playa Jacodevelopment at Playa Jaco beachgoers at Playa JacoNikki; enjoying Playa JacoNikki; Playa Jaco
Playa Jaco fast facts
English name: Jaco Beach
Distance from San Jose: 100km (approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes)
Playa Jaco is a long beach with trodden brown sand. The beach also has long, unbroken waves you can surf. A few palm trees at the back of the beach provide cooling shade.
Crowds and noise
Playa Jaco regularly entertains several visitors, mainly because it fronts the town of Jaco, which serves a high volume of residents and visitors. Due to the town’s popularity, and particularly its role as a quintessential party town, crowds and noise can be an issue. Fortunately, the multi-kilometer-long beach provides plenty of room for spacing out and rarely feels full.
Cleanliness and Ecological Blue Flag rating
Costa Rica’s Programa Bandera Azul Ecológica (Ecological Blue Flag Program) promotes sustainability and public health. Every year, beaches in Costa Rica strive for top honors, which are bestowed annually according to strict ecological criteria. Beaches that participate in the program and meet 90-100% of the eligibility criteria achieve a 1-star rating. Further efforts invite beaches to earn additional stars (5 stars is the highest rating), including special colored stars. (To learn more about the program and discover what each blue flag rating means, see our related blog post: Award-Winning Blue Flag Beaches In Costa Rica: Photos & Map; Most-Recent Winners.)
Playa Jaco is not currently participating in the Programa Bandera Azul Ecológica. Therefore, it does not have a star rating.
Development at Playa Jaco
Hotels, restaurants, tours, bathrooms, etc.
The town of Jaco provides an endless selection of establishments, including hotels, restaurants, tour offices, surf schools, and shops. Most line both sides of the town’s main drag (Avenida Pastor Diaz) and side streets that connect the main street to Playa Jaco, and the majority are within walking distance of the beach. In addition to finding restaurants and hotels located directly on the beach, you’ll also find a few lounge chairs and umbrellas on the beach, as well as a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk comprised of recycled materials.
Playa Jaco safety
Swimming and water safety
Swimming is allowed at Playa Jaco. However, as a well-known surf destination, the water can be wavy and rough, and there is a known rip current. As always, exercise caution in and around the water, especially if you plan to visit with children or inexperienced swimmers.
General safety
Never bring items of value with you to the beach and always keep an eye on your belongings. Remember to lock your rental car if you have one. Do not visit the beach before sunrise or after sunset.
Playa Jaco location and road conditions
Access to Playa Jaco and 4×4 requirement
Playa Jaco is located on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. It is the principal beach of Jaco, a popular beach town on the west side of Highway 34.
Playa Jaco sits just west of Avenida Pastor Diaz, the main street that runs the length of Jaco center. Two main access roads, The Boulevard and Avenida Amapola, jut off Highway 34 roughly 20 kilometers south of Parque Nacional Carara (the Carara National Park) and connect with Avenida Pastor Diaz at the north and south ends of town. A 4×4 vehicle is not required to reach Playa Jaco.
Map of Playa Jaco Costa Rica
Parking at Playa Jaco
There is no official parking at Playa Jaco. Locals park randomly along the sides of Avenida Pastor Diaz or along side streets that connect Avenida Pastor Diaz to the beach.
Best reason(s) to visit Playa Jaco
Playa Jaco isn’t worth traveling to purely to experience the beach. However, if you plan to station yourself in the Jaco area of Costa Rica for a different reason, such as to surf or enjoy the area’s vibrant nightlife, Playa Jaco provides decent waves and no shortage of bars. Go for the surf or Jaco’s social scene, not the beach itself.
Beach-hopping from Playa Jaco (or alternative beach options in the region)
Do you have questions about Playa Jaco, want to know more about the area surrounding the beach, or need help incorporating a visit to the beach into your vacation? No problem! When you’re ready, make an appointment here to communicate with me (Nikki) privately and we can discuss these and other topics to get your questions answered fast and your Costa Rica trip poised for success. Pura vida, amigos! 🙂
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Photos of Playa Jaco Costa Rica (Central Pacific) From Our Personal Collection
Description
We provide photos of Playa Jaco Costa Rica (Central Pacific coast), plus info about beach features, safety, location, parking, and more!
The comment section of this article has moved! If you have a question or comment about our article above or Costa Rica travel in general, please post it in our Questions and Answers Forum on DIY Costa Rica, our sister website, where you can also access our private Costa Rica recommendations, our Costa Rica Destination Tool, and our Costa Rica Recommendations Map. See you there, amigos! 🙂
Jaco Beach is located west of Highway #34 (not 36) and has five (5) access roads to Jaco Beach not two. The closest large town is Parrita (not Quepos). You failed to mention all the activities in the area (ATV, sportfishing, horseback riding, zipline just to name a few). Miro Mountain is a free activity to hike to an elevation of approximately 1,000 feet above sea level with amazing coastal views.
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insight! I apologize for the typo; you’re absolutely right, it’s Highway 34 not 36. I’ve corrected it above. You’re also right in that Parrita is closer to Jaco but since most foreign visitors aren’t familiar with Parrita, we opted to cite Quepos instead as a more well-known point of reference. (We made a similar call about the access roads; though technically there are more than two, the two main access roads are what we’d direct travelers to take, so we chose to focus on those.)
For tours/activities, we agree! Jaco has many. We didn’t cover tours and activities in the article above as this particular article targets the beach, but we do cover Jaco activities (everything from surfing, ATV tours, and the tram ride to walks around town to see the street art, visits to Miro’s Mountain, and more) in our travel guide. The guide also discusses Jaco accommodations, restaurants, nightlife, shops, festivals and events, and modes of transportation to and from town.
Thank you again for visiting our blog, loving Jaco (and CR in general, we presume), and commenting!
Pura vida! 🙂
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Tagged: beach, beaches, costa rica, costa rica beaches, jaco, jaco beach, jaco costa rica, playa jaco