Everything we tell our friends before they visit.

Fly into either San José (SJO) or Liberia (LIR) and take Sansa to the Nosara airstrip. The flight is short (about 45 minutes from SJO, quicker from LIR) and there are always tuk tuks waiting when the planes land.

Sansa flies Cessna Grand Caravans with new avionics: it's a small plane, but it runs a turbine rather than a piston engine, so you get jet-class reliability in a 12-seat package. One catch: baggage limits are tight (about 30 lbs checked plus a 10 lb carry-on), so it's not the right move if you're traveling heavy.

At SJO: pick up your bags, clear customs, and exit into the main terminal. Head to the far side of the terminal near the check-in desks and leave through the furthest doors; a walkway leads about 150 meters west to a separate building, the domestic terminal.

Check in for Sansa there and re-check your bags. At LIR it's easier: clear customs, walk into the main terminal, and check in at the Sansa counter, the last check-in desk at the end.

Drive or take a shuttle. LIR is the much shorter run (about 2.5 hours versus roughly 5 from SJO), and shared or private shuttles run daily from both airports. Fair warning: the last stretch of road into Nosara can be quite bumpy in certain seasons. It's part of the charm. Mostly.

High season, roughly mid-November through April, is the dry season: almost no rain, and the waves are so consistently clean that you stop checking the forecast; you just grab your board off the rack and walk out the gate.

Restaurants are busy and the popular spots need reservations. The green season, May through early November, is generally cooler with afternoon rains. Here's the insider part: July and August often bring the Veranillo, the "little summer," with dry-season conditions (including the surf) at green-season rates.

September and October are the rainiest, the green season's last hurrah before the rain shuts off in November.

Adobe is generally considered the best and easiest: 100 percent Costa Rican owned, the second-largest agency in the country, and you can typically waive the damage insurance with the right credit card. Book through the Mytanfeet discount page for the best deal and service (at least 10 percent off, free extra drivers, free child seats, and more).

We've also had good luck with Sixt. Already in town? There's a National/Alamo/Enterprise office in Guiones near Orgánico and an Economy Rent a Car by La Brasa.

Not for most people. Adventures that truly require four-wheel drive are rare, and you usually know before the trip if you're planning one. We've been coming here for years and have seldom shifted a rental into four-wheel drive.

Rental cars aren't exactly off-road monsters anyway; if that's the terrain you're after, a specialized tour is the better move.

All stores take both USD and colones, but the exchange rate at the register may not favor you. We almost exclusively use Apple Pay or Google Pay and pay in whatever currency is listed on the menu, so the exchange rate is handled by the bank.

Show your phone and the store or restaurant brings the card reader to you, so you never hand anyone a credit card. We also carry small amounts of both USD and colones for little things like tuk tuks.

Generally, yes. Costa Rica has some of the best tap water in Central America. And at the villa you're double-covered: there's a whole-house water filter, plus a reverse osmosis filter at the bar sink for drinking and coffee water.

It's very common in Costa Rica to lose power for a few seconds, which is exactly why the villa has battery backup that keeps the internet uninterrupted for remote work.

There's also enough battery capacity to keep the lights, internet, refrigerator, and water pump running for several hours in the rarer event of a longer outage. Most guests never notice a blip.

Two convenient ATMs. Banco Popular is right on the main entrance road (VISA cards, dispenses colones), and the BCR bank next to the gas station takes MasterCard too and dispenses both dollars and colones.

One warning worth memorizing: Costa Rican ATMs hand you your cash before your card, the reverse of the US order, so it's easy to grab the money and wander off while the machine swallows your card. If that happens, you'll be retrieving it from inside the bank the next day. Ask us how we know.

Nosara is far better covered than most beach towns. Paradise Medical Services runs a very capable and affordable clinic in central Guiones with bilingual doctors, labs, minor surgery, and an ambulance parked outside (clinic +506 2682-1212, ambulance 2100-1212). Lifeguard Costa Rica operates 24/7 urgent care and medical evacuations from its Nosara clinic, also with an ambulance parked outside, and is on the US Embassy's list of medical transport providers.

For anything serious, a medical flight can leave directly from the Nosara airstrip for Hospital CIMA in San José, a JCI-accredited private hospital with hundreds of physicians, and medical transport back to the USA can be arranged from there.

The casado is the traditional plate: a protein of your choice with beans, rice, a vegetable, and a salad, and it's on the menu almost everywhere. Rosi's is the classic comida típica spot; it serves an amazing lunch and has locations in both Guiones and Pelada.

You should definitely go. Gallo pinto is the other essential: beans and rice with onions and peppers, served as a main, usually at breakfast. It's easy to make at the villa if you pick up a bottle of Salsa Lizano, the slightly sweet, tangy sauce that has been Costa Rica's national condiment since 1920.

And when you're at a bar, order the chifrijo, the pub equivalent: a cup of rice, beans, crispy chicharrón, and pico de gallo with tortilla chips. It's enough of an institution that the inventor's family once sued dozens of restaurants (including KFC and the Four Seasons) over the name and lost; the court ruled chifrijo belongs to everyone.

Imperial is the beer, Costa Rica's flagship lager since 1924. Locals call it the águila after the eagle on the label. Pilsen and Bavaria round out the usual lineup.

And keep an eye out for Kombucha Culture, an amazing Costa Rican hard kombucha (the first in Latin America, brewed on a certified organic farm) that you can get most places around town.

Coffee, chocolate, and fruit, especially pineapple. Try the pineapple with a touch of salt. Trust us.

Yes, and this is a good one. Both Rindemás and Super Nosara sell young coconuts with the husk already removed, in the produce-section coolers on the bottom shelf. They're inexpensive, so buy a bunch; the middle drawer of the villa's fridge is the perfect temperature for them.

Opening one is surprisingly easy and involves no cutting. Hold the coconut with its eyes against your palm so the flatter end faces up. Take the unsharpened spine of a reasonably heavy kitchen knife and strike the flat end several times about an inch and a half from its center, slowly rotating the coconut in your hand as you go.

Done right, a circular crack two to three inches across forms on top; lift out that plug of shell and you have a neatly opened coconut cup with no spillage, which sits perfectly on top of a coffee mug. And if you get lucky, you'll open one where the meat is a translucent jelly; grab a spoon, because that's a fun snack once the water is gone.

Pejibayes, the fruit of the peach palm and a Costa Rican superfood, rich in beta-carotene and fiber. They're boiled and sold warm; peel, pit, and eat with a dab of mayonnaise or a little salt and lime.

The taste is starchy and creamy-nutty, somewhere between a roasted chestnut and a sweet potato, and they're a classic snack. Fun fact: the same palm gives Costa Rica its hearts of palm. Try one.

Bodhi Tree's gym up the street takes drop-ins with day, weekly, and monthly passes (day passes from about $20 to $25, open 6am to 9pm daily). There's also the new Nosara Gym Club near Super Nosara.

We've had good experiences with Tica Massage, on the main entrance road near where the farmers market sets up, in the Heart of Guiones Wellness Center. Expect about $60 for an hour, and bring cash.

The 506 Tennis Center is right up the road: five courts across red clay and hard surfaces plus pickleball, with court bookings, daily clinics, and lessons. The nearest full golf course is Reserva Conchal, a Robert Trent Jones II design up the coast at the Westin, about two hours north.

Two favorites. In season (roughly July through December, biggest in September to November), the mass turtle arribadas at Ostional are fifteen minutes north; a certified local guide is required on the beach, so book ahead.

And there's a wonderful animal rescue center tucked into the Huacas neighborhood on the hill across the main road: IAR Costa Rica runs educational visits a few times a week (mostly rescued howler monkeys, plus parrots, toucans, anteaters, and coatis). Reserve in advance; visits are small-group by design.