Overview of Area
| Keywords | Existing Size | Pace of development | Main real estate type | Road Quality | Planning Regulations | Pending Legal Issues | IDA land | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamarindo Langosta |
City out of control | City packed into a village | very fast | Mid-high rise condos, single family homes. | Bad, but supposedly being improved | On the drawing board at time of writing. | Planning regulations, water treatment issues. | Not an issue |
| Road to Huacas |
Condo-resorts meet Tico Villages | String of developments fairly well spaced out
|
Quite fast | Condo resort communities. | Good main road bad minor roads | Under process at time of writing | Planning regulations | Not an issue |
| Playa Grande | Turtle and surfer haven | Small cabins and hotels
|
About to become a large holiday community | Small cabins but housing community under construction. | Good, with some bumpy minor roads
|
Yes | Fight between MINAE and the developer over where the boundaries of the national park should be. | Not an issue |
| Brazilito | Tico beach town poised for the big bucks.
|
Small | Reasonably controlled as the vast Reserva Conchal nearby owns a good deal of land in the area.
|
Luxury resort of Reserva Conchal nearby. Tico village with small Tico houses and cabins. Some gated communities being developed. Hilton hotel planned.
|
Good until Surfside | Yes | Not that I am aware of. | Not an issue |
| Flamingo | Martini, shaken not stirred.
|
Town | Fast but already an established area. | Luxury single family homes | Good | Yes | Bidding for new marina still pending at time of writing.
|
No |
| Surfside Potrero | Some affordable beach
|
Small Town | Fast | Single family homes, some in secure community.
|
Bad | Yes | Not that I'm aware of. | No |
| Delicias | Dramatic hillscape
|
Tico smallholdings | Patchy. There are a couple of large eco-friendly resorts currently under construction. The rest is countryside for now. | Rickety Tico farmsteads. Eco resort communities under construction.
|
Bad but developers pooling together to pave the road. | Resorts have master plans. | Not that I'm aware of. | Possibly but unlikely. Best to find out. |
|
Lagarto - |
Rural fishing villages
And surfer spots |
Tiny villages | Patchy. A few developers have bought oceanfront farms and are developing resort communities. | Rickety Tico wooden homes. Resort communities coming.
|
Bad but developers pooling together to pave the road. | Resorts have master plans. | Not that I'm aware of. | Possible. Best to find out if interested in buying in the area. |
| Playas del Coco | Ugly fishing town poised for change | Large Town | Fast paced | Dense gated communities, resort under construction | Good main road, bad minor ones | No | Not that I'm aware of. | Unlikely |
| Hermosa | Coco’s classy sister | Mid-sized town | Fast paced | Single family homes and low-mid rise condominium resorts in communities | Good main road |
No | Concerns about overdevelopment on the hills. Water distribution. | Unlikely |
| Panamá | Just getting started | Just a beach | Pretty fast | Secure communities | Good main road | No | Not that I'm aware of. | Unlikely |
| Sámara | Great swimming beach | Tourist town | Controlled so far. Developers now buying land. | Few condo developments, single family homes.
|
Good main road, bad to Nosara, bad minor roads
|
Areas zoned for density and ICT revising regulating plan for the maritime zone area.
|
Revision of regulating plan
|
Possible |
| Nosara | Great surf. solid community | Community of expatriates on beach, and Tico town a few kilometers inland. | Controlled for now, but much faster paced than Sámara.
|
Single family homes and gated communities under construction.
|
Bad roads all round. Some residents want to keep it that way.
|
Areas that have been made into reserve. Residents also moving toward putting in a regulating plan.
|
Possible regulating plan.
Residents trying to stop an 8-story tower from being constructed. |
Possible |
| Santa Elena | Windy and remote
|
Small service town of La Cruz and that’s about it.
|
Development isn’t happening yet but there are plenty of developers buying up farms.
|
Nothing yet. | Good main roads. | Possible |
