When you’re in the mood for a holiday escape – and by that, we mean anything from a tinsel-draped escape in paradise to an escape-the-holidays in paradise – then Costa Rica (and our available Tamarindo rentals, below) graciously delivers.
The consummate host and a happy celebrant, this tropical nation invites you to celebrate the season with walks on the beach and long afternoons on the terrace, soul-shaking sunsets and leisurely swims in the pool. Because what better way to celebrate Christmas or toast to the New Year, than with your toes buried in sand and your hair slicked back from a recent swim?
That said, the holidays here book up fast. Not only is the sun shining and the weather perfect, but we’re heading into our busiest season of the year. So, to make your last-minute holiday planning a little easier, we’ve pulled together our rentals with last-minute availability. (Check the bottom of each description for Christmas/New Year’s week availability.)
Casa Guayacan
Hacienda Pinilla | 4 Beds | 4 Baths | Sleeps 11
A beach holiday – literally! Gather your nearest and dearest, swap your pine trees for palm trees, and escape to a Pacific-adjacent, golf-course getaway in the tropics.
Steps to the beach, Casa Guayacan invites you to take a morning (and evening) stroll down the beach, whenever the whim strikes. Prefer private waters to crashing waves? This luxurious home delivers, with a private infinity pool and sun-splashed outdoor terrace, where you can dip your toes into refreshing waters, lounge in the sun or shade, and grill up a feast in the outdoor kitchen.
Indoors, Casa Guayacan is just as impressive: neutral color palettes and warm woods, floor-to-ceiling glass and exquisite indoor/outdoor living spaces, golf course views and four private bedroom suites, each opening independently to the outdoors. All this, plus access to Hacienda Pinilla’s myriad amenities, including said aforementioned golf course, plus a luxury Beach Club, tennis courts, trails, and more.
Availability: Christmas and New Year’s
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Must-Taste Costa Rican Holiday Tradition: Tamales
If you’re lucky enough to visit Costa Rica over the holidays – say, any time between mid-November and mid-January – then be sure to try a traditional tamale!
Be aware, these holiday treats are only slightly reminiscent of their corn husk-wrapped Mexican cousins; Costa Rican tamales are instead wrapped in plantain leaves and tied with a bow. Try them with a bit of salsa Lizano, hot sauce, or a dab of local sour cream (known as natilla).
Casa Kenkai
Hacienda Pinilla | 4 Beds | 3 Baths | Sleeps 8
One of our newest single-story, four-bedroom Tamarindo rentals, Casa Kenkai is a spectacular golf course home in the Reserva de Golf residential community of luxurious Hacienda Pinilla.
The holidays take on a decidedly tropical feel in this modern home, which curves around its centerpiece: your private outdoor pool, sparkling by day and shimmering by night. Indoors, abundant natural light meets high ceilings and a neutral color palette, to create open spaces and a visual breath of fresh air – a gentle reminder to greet the day and appreciate the beauty that surrounds.
Casa Kenkai is the kind of place that lets you be you: If you’re seeking a quiet holiday, hole up in your own little paradise. Whip up a feast and serve a holiday meal on the shaded outdoor patio. Pour a cocktail and toast to golf course views. Enjoy the quiet, the peace and tranquility, tropics-style.
If you’re more of a social holiday traveler, escape to the luxuries of the Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club. Located oceanfront on Playa Avellanas, one of the most beautiful beaches in the area, the club offers a beachfront infinity pool, oceanfront restaurant, and fitness center. Or, reserve your favorite tee time, grab a match at the tennis courts, take a horseback ride, or simply hike into the wilds. Here, your holidays are whatever you wish them to be.
Availability: Christmas
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Casa Cielo
Playa Flamingo | 4 Beds | 4.5 Baths | Sleeps 8
Translated both as “heaven’s home” or the “house in the sky” (both would be accurate!), Casa Cielo is a dream vacation home: Not far from our Tamarindo rentals, this Flamingo Beach home unfolds over beach and ocean views and 360º panoramas, which extend to Playa Conchal, Playa Brasilito, Playa Flamingo, Playa Potrero, Sugar Beach, and the Catalina Islands. Just imagine the sunsets!
Ample, expansive, and exquisite, this vacation home spares no detail: Prepare holiday meals in the gourmet-equipped kitchen, then serve them on the tropical terrace-in-the-round. Swim away your stress in the crystal-clear pool and rinse off in a tropical outdoor shower. Douse yourself in relaxation and toast to the holidays in paradise.
When you can bear to leave Casa Cielo behind, descend the breezy hill and visit Playa Flamingo, one of our area’s most beloved swimming beaches. Looking for a little seclusion? Thanks to mountain formations with fingers that reach into the sea, this section of the Gold Coast is known for its secluded beaches, tidal pools, and lagoons – all ideal spots to dig your toes into white sand and take a dip in pristine blue waters.
Availability: Christmas
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Casa Xanadu
Tamarindo | 4 Beds | 3.5 Baths | Sleeps 10
Life’s unwritten rule declares you can’t have it all. Casa Xanadu begs to differ. Because here, tucked onto a quiet hillside, this luxury vacation home serves up views over two beaches, one national park, one wildlife estuary, and one imposing mountain line. It’s the diverse wonder and wild nature of Costa Rica, all wrapped into a single panorama. Talk about a holiday gift!
Spectacular in every sense, Casa Xanadu is one of our most breathtaking Tamarindo rentals: In addition to its ocean views, the home perches over rare tropical dry forest that teems with life: flocks of parakeets, troupes of howler monkeys, clouds of fluttering butterflies, and lazy iguanas all act as next-door neighbors, at least while you’re here.
And when you’re not outside, enjoying the views, Mother Nature, your private infinity pool, and an expansive sun terrace, you’ll be inside, enjoying the home’s spacious interiors and ample social spaces. And everywhere, always, there’s that view. That view that beckons, that calls you forth. So go ahead, answer the call. This is what the holidays in Costa Rica are all about.
Availability: Christmas
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Casa Serena
Hacienda Pinilla | 5 Beds | 5 Baths | Sleeps 10
The word decadent might call to mind pecan pies and sugar plum fairies, but it’s also a perfect description for Casa Serena – a home as indulgent, as luxurious, and as downright decadent as your holidays deserve.
Because Casa Serena sits beachfront on the Pacific Ocean – a rare luxury in Costa Rica, and even rarer still in the exclusive community of Hacienda Pinilla. Experience true extravagance, every time you wander out your doorway and onto the sand. With each dip in the custom infinity pool, which wraps around a tree. And whenever you discover those telltale grains of white sand between your toes. This is life.
Of course, Casa Serena is not content to deliver just one of the best outdoor experiences; she demands to be the best indoors, too. Here, every bedroom suite has a private bath, the WiFi is lightning-fast, the kitchen is gourmet equipped, and the spa and full gym are yours, any time. Because Casa Serena is all about serenity – about wanting for nothing and sparing no luxury, no exquisite detail, no touch of comfort.
Availability: Christmas
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Must-See Costa Rican Holiday Tradition: Lit Town Trees
Far be it from dampening the holiday spirit, tropical weather puts an outdoors-all-the-time spin on end-of-year celebrations.
One of our favorite traditions is the annual tree lighting, which occurs throughout Costa Rica in almost every major town and provincial capital. Most light artificial evergreens but, depending on where you are and the personality of the province, you’re also likely to find lit palm trees, decorated street lamps, and other sparkling somethings of the holiday variety. Whether you celebrate the holiday or are here to escape the trappings, a little twinkle is sure to shine a special light on your holiday in Costa Rica.
Flamingo Blu
Playa Flamingo | 5 Beds | 6 Baths | Sleeps 10
Beautiful and beachfront, open-air Flamingo Blu is your ticket into the blue: an oceanfront-all-day kind of place where you’ll split your hours between the sun-splashed pool, palm-thatched lounge chairs, and the sparkling Pacific Ocean.
Set onto the hillside and reaching down to the sands of Flamingo Beach, this is one of those Tamarindo rentals (or Tamarindo-area rentals) that has it all: ocean breezes and a beachfront location, incredible panoramas (ocean, mountains, and sky) and direct access to the sands. In a word, it’s perfect, especially for the holidays.
Gather, whip up holiday meals, and enjoy yourself in Flamingo Blu’s open-air living areas, private infinity pool, and an expansive curved terrace, with front-row seats to some of the coast’s best sunsets. This is where incredible memories are made, from the moment the howlers hoot in the morning to the time you bid goodnight to the winking stars at night.
Availability: Christmas
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Casa Bonita Beach
Hacienda Pinilla | 6 Beds | 6 Baths | 19 Guests
When’s the last time you celebrated the holidays with an afternoon of pool fun, barbecuing, and your very own waterslide?
Welcome to Casa Bonita Beach, where breezy pool terraces and shaded outdoor dining promise the perfect foil to your private pool and delightful waterslide (designed both for kids and for kids-at-heart!). Because when you holiday in the tropics, you deserve the tropical lifestyle, complete with all-day sun, lounge chairs, and an outdoor wine fridge.
Inside, Casa Bonita Beach is just as extravagant, opening onto high ceilings, a beachy color palette, a gourmet-ready kitchen, and verdant views. And for our multigenerational families and travelers with disabilities, this elite property has now added a wheelchair-accessible independent apartment – ramp access to a king bedroom and second full-twin bunk room, plus a kitchenette, private terrace, and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.
Availability: New Year’s
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Sunrise 3
Tamarindo | 3 Beds | 2 Baths | Sleeps 6
Set right in the heart of Tamarindo, Sunrise 3 is the epicenter of all things convenient and wonderful. Because, when you’re the type of holiday traveler who prefers to dine out on a holiday and toast to the coming year with a sunset stroll, this is exactly where you want to be.
A warm and central condo – and one of our top downtown Tamarindo rentals – Sunset 3 is a special place: walking distance to absolutely everything, it puts you just across the street from the beach and the Pacific, which you can enjoy from your ocean-view terrace. Venture out into the oversized resort pool or simply tuck into a cozy evening overlooking the brilliant streaks of a tropical sunset.
So, what does the holiday season have in store at Sunset 3? Greet the day with your toes in the sand or your feet in the sea. Spend the day discovering tropical traditions – sandy “snowmen,” anyone? – or simply enjoying the slow life in a hammock beneath a tropical sun. Whip up a feast in the well-equipped kitchen – or dine out at one of Tamarindo’s many international restaurants. Celebrate however you’d like or in no way at all; the choice and the day are yours.
Availability: Christmas
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Villa Marlene
Playa Conchal | 4 Beds | 3 Baths | Sleeps 11
If you’re perusing Tamarindo rentals this holiday season, look a little north and into the promises of Playa Conchal, Costa Rica’s pink-hued beach and quiet haven. For here, within the exclusive beach and golf resort community of Reserva Conchal, Villa Marlene welcomes you to a quiet a picturesque holiday season.
When you first arrive, you’ll immediately know why you’re here: This is paradise, in a grand paradise that comes with a private pool and Pacific Ocean views. Indeed, Villa Marlene is designed around its open terraces, dining pavilion, and sparkling pool, which overlooks Reserva Conchal’s forest panoramas and stretches all the to the blue Pacific and beyond.
You’ll fall in love with the hammocks and grill station, open interiors and beachy color palette, fine finishes and spacious rooms. And you’ll be forever drawn outdoors, into the tropical sun, whether you’re lounging on your private deck or venturing out to enjoy Reserva Conchal’s many amenities, including a luxurious beach club and championship golf course.
Availability: Christmas and New Year’s
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Spending the Holidays in Costa Rica? Looking for Tamarindo Rentals with Availability?
The holidays are a very particular time: Either you love them (and can’t wait to love them in a tropical setting) or you escape the rush (and want to do so in a tropical setting). Either way, we get it! And we’re happy to help.
We’re here to share all our planning know-how and to help you jump onto last-minute holiday travel. Whether you’re looking to narrow down your options for Tamarindo rentals or are looking for a few yes-they-still-have-availability suggestions, we’re here and we’re ready.
So please, get in touch! We love to chat about Tamarindo, getaways, and vacation rentals. We readily share our experiences and advice. And we promise, we’re friendly, to boot. We look forward to hearing from you!
