Guanacaste Costa Rica Hostel – Santa Teresa Costa Rica
Mal Pais: Tranquilo Backpackers: "MAL PAIS: Costa Rica's Best Kept Secret"
This is for all the younger travelers out there that are planning on going to Costa Rica...
There is so much to see and do in Costa Rica, but the greatest spot in Costa Rica is on the Peninsula de Nicoya on the very south-west tip. It is a place called Mal Pais. It is here where you will spend most of your time.
Getting here is simple. Get to Puntarenas and take the ferry across to Paquera. Grab a taxi and say, "Mal Pais." The taxi will bring you to a tiny town that is a dirt road located along the beach. It is here that this fairly isolated, tiny community thrives. You will stay at Tranquilo Backpackers... the best hostel in Central America. (And yes, I have been to Mondo Taitu in Bocas... and this one is better).
Once you are in Mal Pais, there is so much to do. I recommend renting a surf board and go surfing. This is one of the best spots in all of Cost Rica to surf. So you can surf, or swim, and lay on the beautiful beach all day. Then at dusk, watch the spectacular sunset with all the other on-lookers on the beach.
Another great thing to do is rent a quad (for dirt cheap) and go ripping up and down the deserted beach just north of Mal Pais. Jump dunes and do donuts...park the quad by the water and jump in for a quick dip...then go ripping up into the hills.
There are sweet little restaurants there too, or you can go to the grocery store that's right beside the hostel and buy your dinner. Tranquilo Backpackers has a great kitchen to cook your food. Another plus about the hostel (other than its style and atmosphere) is that every morning there is a free pancake breakfast!
The nightlife in Mal Pais is great. There is a bar called Tabu that is right on the beach. It is a tribal themed bar and occationally you will get some dancers to come and to tribal dances. There is also a bar down the road that is the Mal Pais Surf Camp. Once a week they hold huge parties there... it even has a mechanical bull!
So trust me, people, you do not want to miss out on Mal Pais. It is extremely laid back, and at the same time it is wild.
REVIEWS BY TRIPADVISOR.COM
“tranquilo”
Surfers spot, good Hostel with hammocks all over the place. The mattresses are a little bit dirty in the dorms, but besides that everything fine, the name says what you get
“Great place to relax”
Thank You Travel Blanket for the great review, that basically decided it for us!
Okay, here goes. Tranquilo Backpackers has to be the best place to stay in Mal Pais. If you're looking for something super laidback and relaxed this is the place to go. Lots of the people here are surfers who wake up early in the morning so sleep time is around 11 at the latest each night.
They have a ping pong table and hammocks everywhere which I loved. Be aware though that if you aren't looking for a somewhat sorority feel with a lot of people this may not be the place for you.
It suited my boyfriend and I well though as we just needed a place to sleep and hang out when we weren't on the beach!
So definitely recommend this place and would stay there again.
“Arrêt obligatoire pour surfers, backpackers et personnes sympathiques et relax”
Je suis resté 4 jours au Tranquilo Backpackers et j'ai adoré!
L'endoit est grand et propre, malgré que les chambres soient TRÈS simple (lits + petites cases pour mettre argent et passeports).
Il y a une super cuisine, très grandes et bien équipée.
Ils offrent internet haute vitesse ainsi que des pancakes et le café gratuitement le matin.
C'est un endroit rempli de jeunes bacpackers, la plupart surfers ou aspirants surfers. Il y a une table de billard et de pingpong ainsi que des hamacs partout! La grande cuisine est annexée a un espace couvert ou il y a 3 grandes tables où le soir les gens parlent, font la fête, jouent de la guitare...
Un endroit où il fait bon vivre à proximité de la plage!
“Anything but tranquilo”
Tranquilo backpackers was terrible. It was dirty, noisy and had a weird vibe. We stayed in a double room which was clean but the shower curtain was mouldy and there was an old bandaid in the shower. The toilet was horrible.
There is no glass in the windows so there's no escape from the noise. It got quiet around midnight until people started coming back from partying and sat around talking loudly.
The website says there's internet access but there isn't.
At the moment there's construction work going on right at the entrance so during the day you have to deal with all of that noise as well.
After one night we moved to the Beach Breakers hotel which is more expensive but much nicer.
On the plus side the staff are nice and it's really busy so it would be good if you wanted to meet people I guess. Good for young people looking to party the whole time who don't mind living in a hole.
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