Playa Azul near Punta Leona

Too close to the “discharge point” of the Tarcoles River for my taste. The ocean at that beach and all the beaches from Agujas to Puntarenas unfortunatly are close to the mouth or the current system which brings Tarcoles River refuse (to put it kindly) into those areas. Guacalillo beach, for example, is absolutely disgusting although the aligators seem to thrive there. That being said, the beach area and inland at Azul is not that bad, very few foreigners, and very green. There are a lot of mosquitos in that area as well, but again, it’s pretty. I would be very careful about buying property there that is not titled. The beach front structures you see there are being encroached on by the tide. And if you had a crime issue… well, you are on your own out there.

Here is another opinion.
I personally like Azul a lot. I’ve been there several times and it was beautiful each and every time. Hopefully they’ll build that water treatment plant soon. That should make Azul even more attractive: it is the closest beach to San Jose after all.
Last time we went to the Guacalillo (about a month ago) we noticed that the municipality has been planting a lot of young palms along the beach. The road was better, too. It’s still gravel, but it was in great shape. The beach is covered with plastic, that’s true, just like any other beach in the world that’s not cleaned every day. It’s just a matter of effort (read money).
BTW, I never saw any crocs there.. where should I be looking for them at this beach?

Our personal favorite for boogy boarding is playa Blanca (in Punta Leona). We find the waves to be just perfect for that. Snorkeling can be great sometimes: once we saw a bunch of turtles. FYI: the waves are probably too small for surfing, we saw surfers only once and they weren’t doing that great. If you face the ocean, the best place for boogying is to the right.