Private Surf Coaching — Tamarindo
One-on-one surf coaching on Tamarindo's world-class breaks with experienced local instructors and video analysis.
TNO · MRTM · Costa Rica
Tamarindo Airport
Tamarindo — Guanacaste. 2 min to Tamarindo beach.
Runway
780m
Surface
Asphalt
Elevation
16m
Hours
6am-5pm
Book your private flight to Tamarindo
Airport at a glance
Tamarindo — Costa Rica
Tamarindo is the most developed beach town in Guanacaste and, depending on who you ask, either the region's best base or its cautionary tale. Both readings have merit. What is not in dispute is the practical case: a long consistent beach break, the largest concentration of restaurants, surf schools, dive operators and tour infrastructure on the northern Pacific coast, and an airstrip a few minutes from the sand.
TNO is a privately managed airport — unusual in Costa Rica, where the DGAC operates most fields — and it is the busiest privately managed airport in the country. It is also the fifth-busiest airport nationally by passenger traffic, and the third-busiest of the domestic-only fields after Puerto Jiménez and Quepos.
Runway 07/25, 800 metres by 9 metres, asphalt, at 13 metres elevation. ICAO: MRTM. Coordinates: 10°18′56″N, 85°48′44″W. Daylight operations. Privately managed.
Note the width: nine metres, the narrowest field in this network. Combined with 800 metres of length, this makes TNO a demanding strip that is flown by crews with specific experience of it, using the Cessna Caravan class. Weight and baggage declarations matter here more than at most Costa Rican fields.
Getting there
Tamarindo Airport — Getting there
Tamarindo closes in bad weather, and in the rainy season it closes fairly often. This is a well-documented characteristic of the field rather than an occasional event, and any honest planning conversation about TNO has to include it.
The practical consequences are worth building into an itinerary rather than discovering. Fly in the morning. Keep a buffer before international connections rather than routing a same-day tight transfer through TNO in September. And know that Liberia (LIR) is 70 minutes away by road — which makes it a genuinely workable alternate. If TNO is unusable, LIR almost never is, and the ground transfer is straightforward.
Stated up front, this is a manageable constraint. Discovered on the day of a departing international flight, it is not.
The flight versus the drive. From Liberia, Tamarindo is about 15 minutes in the air against roughly 70 minutes by road — a saving that is real but modest, and for many travellers the road transfer is the sensible choice.
From San José, it is about 46 minutes in the air against four and a half hours by road. That is the flight that earns its place.
The more interesting charters from TNO are lateral: down the Nicoya coast to Nosara, Punta Islita, Cóbano and Tambor, where the coastal road network is poor and a twenty-minute flight replaces a three- or four-hour drive.
Connections. Tamarindo connects by charter to San José (~46 min) and Liberia (~15 min), and along the Nicoya coast to Nosara, Punta Islita, Tambor and Cóbano.
Nearby
Things to do near Tamarindo
Immediately north across the estuary is Las Baulas National Marine Park, protecting Playa Grande — historically one of the most important Pacific nesting beaches for the leatherback turtle, the largest reptile on earth. Nesting runs roughly from October to March, access is strictly controlled and guided, and numbers have declined significantly over recent decades, which makes the protection regime here consequential rather than ceremonial.
The estuary itself, the Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge, is a mangrove system best explored by kayak at dawn — crocodiles, howler monkeys and a long bird list within ten minutes of the town centre.
Playa Tamarindo's beach break, consistent year-round and heavily supported by surf schools. Playa Grande and Las Baulas, across the estuary. Playa Avellanas and Playa Negra, twenty to forty minutes south, both better waves and far fewer people. Playa Conchal, north, with its shell-fragment sand. Catamaran sunset sailing, which Tamarindo does better than anywhere else on the coast. And Rincón de la Vieja, about ninety minutes inland from Liberia, for volcanic hot springs and mud.
Private Catamarans — Tamarindo
Private catamaran charters from Tamarindo — sunset sailing, snorkeling and dolphin encounters along Guanacaste's Gold Coast.
Sportfishing — Tamarindo
Offshore sportfishing from Tamarindo — marlin, sailfish and roosterfish in some of Costa Rica's most productive Pacific waters.
Premium Golf — Hacienda Pinilla
Championship golf at Hacienda Pinilla — an 18-hole course designed by Mike Young with ocean views across the Guanacaste coastline.
Beach Clubs & Luxury Villas
Tamarindo's exclusive beach clubs and private villa rentals — the ultimate base for the Guanacaste lifestyle experience.
Private Surf Expedition — Secret Breaks
Full-day private surf charter to Guanacaste's hidden breaks — secret reef and point breaks north of Tamarindo accessible only by boat, with a professional surf guide, personal photographer and cooler of cold drinks.
ATV Extreme — Guanacaste Highlands
Full-day private ATV expedition through the Guanacaste highland trails — cattle estates, cloud forest fringe, river crossings and the stunning ridgeline above the Gulf of Papagayo with the Pacific horizon visible 180 degrees.
Deep Jigging — Pacific Blue Water
Advanced deep jigging for amberjack, yellowfin tuna and dogtooth tuna in the Pacific deep — a technically demanding technique at 100m depth in the blue water canyon off Guanacaste, on a purpose-rigged private sport fishing vessel.
When to fly
When to fly
Guanacaste's dry season, roughly December to April, is emphatic: sun, offshore morning winds, brown hills, and near-total operational reliability. The green season, May to November, brings sharp afternoon storms and a transformed landscape — and, at TNO specifically, the closure risk described above. September and October are the wettest months.
From $1,992
Fly from TNO to
Cóbano · 33 min · $2,133Drake Bay · 76 min · $3,052Golfito · 86 min · $3,356La Fortuna · 40 min · $2,121Liberia · 19 min · $2,355Limón · 78 min · $3,135Nosara · 19 min · $2,109Palmar Sur · 76 min · $3,002Pérez Zeledón · 66 min · $2,620Puerto Jiménez · 85 min · $3,358Quepos · 56 min · $2,340San José (Pavas) · 51 min · $1,992San José · 50 min · $2,260Tambor · 34 min · $2,109Tortuguero · 66 min · $2,671Upala · 34 min · $2,276
FAQ
Tamarindo Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Tamarindo (TNO)?
800 metres by 9 metres of asphalt, runway 07/25, at 13 m elevation — the narrowest strip in the network. ICAO: MRTM.
Does Tamarindo airport close in the rainy season?
Yes, it closes in poor weather and does so relatively frequently during the rainy season. Morning flights and a buffer before onward connections are strongly recommended.
What is the alternate if TNO is closed?
Liberia (LIR), about 70 minutes away by road, which is rarely affected.
How long is the flight from Liberia to Tamarindo?
About 15 minutes, versus roughly 70 minutes by road.
How busy is Tamarindo airport?
It is the fifth-busiest airport in Costa Rica by passengers, the third-busiest domestic-only field, and the busiest privately managed airport in the country.
When do leatherback turtles nest at Playa Grande?
Roughly October to March, in Las Baulas National Marine Park. Access is controlled and guided.