Luxury Yoga — Nosara
Nosara is Costa Rica's premier yoga destination — world-class studios and retreats in a Blue Zone recognized for exceptional longevity.
NOB · MRNS · Costa Rica
Nosara Airport
Nosara — Nicoya Peninsula. 5 min to Nosara / Playa Guiones.
Runway
1000m
Surface
Asphalt
Elevation
33m
Hours
6am-5pm
Book your private flight to Nosara
Airport at a glance
Nosara — Costa Rica
Nosara is protected by its own roads. The last twenty kilometres in from Nicoya are unpaved, dusty in the dry season and rutted in the wet, and that single fact has shaped the place more than any zoning law: no high-rise, no chain resorts, a jungle canopy that runs right down to the beach because a 1970s covenant required it, and a resident community of surfers, yoga teachers and long-stay residents that has kept the character intact.
The airport is how the town stays connected without the road being improved. NOB is a 1,000-metre asphalt strip at 10 metres elevation, set back from Playa Guiones behind the tree line, and for anyone arriving from San José or Liberia it removes the worst part of the journey entirely.
Runway 04/22, 1,000 metres by 18 metres, asphalt, at 10 metres elevation. ICAO: MRNS. Coordinates: 9°58′34″N, 85°39′10″W. Daylight operations.
A thousand metres at eighteen wide is a comfortable field by Costa Rican domestic standards — longer than Tamarindo, wider than most, and on flat coastal ground. It handles the Cessna Caravan class routinely and offers more baggage flexibility than the shorter Nicoya strips, which matters in a town where half the arrivals carry surfboards.
Getting there
Nosara Airport — Getting there
From San José, Nosara is a five-hour drive. The charter is about 42 minutes.
From Liberia, where most Guanacaste-bound international arrivals land, the drive is around three hours — a distance of barely 100 kilometres that takes that long because the route runs inland to Nicoya and back out again on deteriorating surface. The charter is about 25 minutes.
The Liberia comparison is the more useful one. Travellers frequently land at LIR, look at the map, decide three hours is manageable, and arrive at their hotel in the dark having spent the last hour on gravel. Twenty-five minutes in the air is a different holiday.
Connections. Nosara connects by charter to San José (~42 min) and Liberia (~25 min), and along the Nicoya coast to Tamarindo, Punta Islita, Tambor and Cóbano. The Punta Islita and Sámara hops in particular save disproportionate amounts of time given the coastal road's condition.
Nearby
Things to do near Nosara
Nosara's beach is Playa Guiones: seven kilometres of grey-gold sand with a consistent beach break that works almost every day of the year and is forgiving enough to learn on but big enough on a swell to be serious. It is, with reason, one of the most reliable surf beaches in Central America. Playa Pelada, immediately north, is smaller, rockier and better for swimming and sunsets.
Nosara sits inside the Nicoya Peninsula Blue Zone — one of five regions worldwide identified as having exceptional longevity — and the town has built an economy on the association. The density of yoga studios, wellness retreats and genuinely good plant-forward restaurants per capita here is unlike anywhere else in the country.
Ten kilometres north is Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, where olive ridley turtles come ashore in arribadas — mass synchronised nestings of tens of thousands of animals over three to five nights, usually around the last quarter moon, most reliably between July and December. It is one of only a handful of places on earth where this happens at scale.
Playa Guiones and Playa Pelada. Ostional's arribadas. The Nosara Biological Reserve, a private mangrove and river reserve behind the beach with excellent early-morning birding. Playa Sámara, about an hour southeast, calmer and more family-oriented. Barra Honda National Park, roughly ninety minutes inland, with a limestone cave system open to guided descent. And the surf, which is the reason most people come and the reason most come back.
Wellness Retreats — Nosara
Immersive wellness retreats combining yoga, meditation, nutrition and breathwork in the pristine Nosara jungle environment.
Ancestral Medicine — Nosara
Traditional Costa Rican healing practices, plant medicine ceremonies and ancestral wellness in the Nosara Blue Zone.
Premium Surf — Playa Guiones
Playa Guiones is one of Central America's finest beach breaks — consistent surf year-round with premium coaching and equipment.
Exclusive Holistic Centers
Nosara's world-renowned holistic centers offer personalized programs blending yoga, spa, nutrition and mindfulness in a jungle setting.
Advanced Surf Coaching — Nosara
Three-day intensive advanced surf coaching at Playa Guiones — video analysis, personal coaching from a CTW-certified coach, dawn sessions before the crowds arrive and afternoon theory focused on reading Nosara's famous beach-break patterns.
Private Spearfishing — Nosara Pacific
Freedive spearfishing off the Nosara rocky coast — targeting Pacific amberjack, large grouper and roosterfish in the clear-water reefs below the Guiones headland. Private boat, equipment, and certified freediving instructor.
Helicopter — Nicoya Peninsula Aerial
Private helicopter flight the full length of the Nicoya Peninsula — Nosara to Cabo Blanco and back, over the Gulf of Nicoya, mangrove estuaries, Playa Camaronal turtle nesting beach and the peninsula's remote Pacific ridgeline.
When to fly
When to fly
Nosara follows the Guanacaste pattern but wetter than the far north: a pronounced dry season from roughly December to April with reliable sun and offshore morning winds, and a green season from May to November when afternoon storms are routine and the surrounding forest turns spectacular. September and October are the wettest.
The road condition tracks the rainfall directly, which is the practical argument for flying in the green season specifically.
From $1,821
Fly from NOB to
Cóbano · 25 min · $1,905Drake Bay · 68 min · $2,824Golfito · 78 min · $3,135La Fortuna · 39 min · $2,011Liberia · 25 min · $2,376Limón · 74 min · $2,971Palmar Sur · 69 min · $2,785Pérez Zeledón · 59 min · $2,415Puerto Jiménez · 77 min · $3,131Quepos · 49 min · $2,130San José (Pavas) · 47 min · $1,821San José · 45 min · $2,091Tamarindo · 19 min · $2,109Tambor · 26 min · $1,889Tortuguero · 64 min · $2,546Upala · 37 min · $2,251
FAQ
Nosara Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Nosara (NOB)?
1,000 metres by 18 metres of asphalt, runway 04/22, at 10 m elevation. ICAO: MRNS.
How long is the flight from Liberia to Nosara?
About 25 minutes by charter, compared with roughly three hours by road — much of the final stretch unpaved.
How long is the flight from San José to Nosara?
Approximately 42 minutes, against a five-hour drive.
Is Nosara good for beginner surfers?
Playa Guiones is one of the most consistent and forgiving beach breaks in Central America, with a large surf-school infrastructure — while still delivering serious waves on a good swell.
When can I see the turtle arribadas at Ostional?
Most reliably between July and December, typically around the last quarter moon. Access is managed by the local community and guides are required.
Why is the road to Nosara unpaved?
It has remained so largely by local preference, and it is a significant part of why Nosara has not developed the way other Guanacaste beach towns have.