I truly cannot think of anything better than the perfect beach day in Costa Rica. For obvious reasons, I find Costa Rica to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world, especially the beaches. The Central-American rain-forested country is the homeland to not only a vast variety of flora and fauna, but also to my father and ancestral ties.

Despite our trips back to Costa Rica being centered around visiting family, we aim to always make time for a day at the beach. We always find ourselves back at Punta Leona beach, a 2 hour drive from San Jose, because of its breathtaking views of  rock-covered sand, low-sitting palm trees, and crystal blue water. 

Although the views themselves are bountiful, there are a few essentials we always like to bring with us to create the perfect day at the beach. 

1. The snack bag - No matter what beach you’re on, nourishment is key to lasting beneath the sweltering sun and salty waters. For us, the snack bag always includes fresh fruit from the beach-side market, plantain chips, and sandwiches made with fresh bread from the local panadería. For bevvies, water is a must and of course Imperial beer. You can’t go to the Pura Vida tierra and not drink Imperial 🍻

2. A camera - Visiting Punta Leona makes you feel like you are sitting in front of the computer desktop images that portray a “perfect beach day” (cover photo by Sophia Calderon). Snapping a view photos is a great way to take in all of the sights and have beautiful memories to look back on. I even made sure to bring an old point and shoot film camera I found at the thrift store! I’ve included some of the photos I took at the bottom of the article!

3. Speaker - What’s a beach day without music? HERE is a Pura Vida beach playlist I curated on Spotify!

4. Sun Screen & Glasses - Although the top priority is to have any sunscreen strong enough to protect your skin from the sun, my favorite brand will always be SunBum. The three products I always love to have on hand are 50 SPF spray sunscreen, the sunscreen face stick, and the most important for me, scalp protection spray. Not only do they do a great job of protecting your skin, the typical sunscreen smell is replaced with a beachy, banana fragrance. 

5. Air-Dry Towel - An air dry towel, sometimes also easy to find under the name “Turkish Towel”, is an essential for me any time I have a beach trip. They are perfect for avoiding the “wet towel” smell when it’s time to pack your things up for the day and can even be sand resistant. My favorite aspect is their small, foldable size leaving plenty of room for all of the other goods! 

6. A Beach Book - Beaches often present the perfect time to do the thing we all manage to push off, which is digging into that book! You know the one. For me, my summer read has been “Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson. 

I hope that these beach essentials help you as you plan the perfect beach day. Will the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica find you next?