Neighborhood guide for expats. Ask us for current listings.
Jacó is the beach town most people from San José reach first. It sits on the Central Pacific coast in the canton of Garabito, roughly an hour and a half from the capital and the international airport on Route 27, which makes it the default weekend beach for the Central Valley and a realistic home base for anyone who wants the ocean without giving up easy access to the city's hospitals, airport and shopping.
It is a real town, not a resort. Jacó has full supermarkets, banks, a public clinic and Red Cross station, private doctors, gyms, schools nearby and a long strip of restaurants, bars and surf shops. That convenience comes with a livelier, busier feel than the quiet beach towns of Guanacaste, and where you live inside Jacó changes the experience more than in most places. That is why we review it neighborhood by neighborhood below.
If you are weighing Jacó against its quieter neighbor, read our Playa Hermosa de Jacó guide. If the city is part of your plan, our San José neighborhood guide covers Escazú, Santa Ana and the other areas expats pick.
From our Journal: Living in Jacó, an honest guide for expats, Jacó vs Playa Hermosa vs Herradura and day trips from Jacó.
The blocks around the main avenue that runs parallel to the beach are where Jacó happens: restaurants, cafés, surf schools, supermarkets, bars and the beach a short walk away. You can live here without a car, which is rare in Costa Rica.
The trade-off is noise and nightlife. Jacó has a reputation as a party town, and on weekends and holidays the strip earns it. Condos a few blocks back from the main avenue keep most of the convenience with far less late-night sound.
Toward either end of Jacó's bay the streets get residential and the pace drops. You are still a short drive or bike ride from everything downtown, but the evenings are about the sunset rather than the music.
This is where many full-time residents settle: low-rise condo complexes with pools and security, older Costa Rican homes on larger lots, and beachfront buildings that trade the downtown buzz for space.
The ridges that rise behind Jacó hold the view homes: gated communities and private lots looking down on the bay and out to the Pacific. Evenings are cooler and noticeably quieter than at sea level, and the drive down to town is short.
Hillside living in Costa Rica comes with homework. Check the road up in the rainy season, water supply and pressure, slope stability and the internet options at that exact address before you fall for the view.
Just north of Jacó, Herradura is a sheltered bay with calmer water than Jacó's open beach. It is home to Los Sueños, a large resort community with a marina, a golf course, a Marriott hotel and condominium and home neighborhoods, and it is known as one of the country's sportfishing centers.
Outside the resort gates, Herradura is a small, quieter Costa Rican community with more affordable homes and lots, still minutes from Jacó's supermarkets and services.
Many people who work or shop in Jacó choose to live in Playa Hermosa, a long surf beach a few kilometers south. It feels like a different world: smaller, quieter and built around the waves.
We cover it in detail, including the new master-planned communities, in our Playa Hermosa de Jacó guide.
Roughly an hour and a half by car on Route 27 to the San José area and Juan Santamaría International Airport, depending on traffic. That short drive is the main reason people choose Jacó over beach towns farther away.
For people who want a real town with services, an easy run to the city and an active social life, yes. Jacó has an established expat community, supermarkets, banks, clinics and plenty of restaurants. People who want quiet usually choose the ends of the beach, the hills above town, Herradura or Playa Hermosa instead of downtown.
Like most busy beach towns, Jacó's main issue is petty and opportunistic theft. Keep valuables out of sight, do not leave things in the car or on the beach, use bank ATMs, and choose a building with good security. Areas away from the nightlife strip feel very different from downtown on a weekend night.
Yes. Foreigners can own titled property in Costa Rica with the same rights as citizens. Beachfront land inside the maritime zone is usually concession property with different rules, so every beachfront purchase needs a Costa Rican attorney's review. Our buyer guide on whether foreigners can buy property in Costa Rica explains the difference.
Hot year round. The dry season runs roughly from late November or December to April, and the green season brings afternoon showers that get heavier toward September and October. It is more humid and greener than Guanacaste.
