Playa Dominical
Dominical Area Hotels & Restaurants
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                                         Marker - Dominical        
                                        GPS Coordinates  
                                  Latitude  9.2500430    Longitude -83.8591230

                                        Dominical

Playa Dominical is laid back little surf town that is known for its consistent, and powerful beachbreak. The town consists of one street (dirt road) that leads to the beach and one street (dirt road) that runs along the beach. The beach is essentially a 1.5 km stretch of beachbreak peaks that produce very fun waves. It has a reputation for being Costa Rica's most consistent surf spot. It is a powerful beach break that almost always produces a good wave to ride. The waves always break harder and bigger at mid-tide, top to bottom, and can produce serious barrels. 

Dominical is basically unridable at low tide. The waves close out on shallow water making a face-plant, or worse, all too possible. Many a board, and surfer has been snapped on the break out in front of the lifeguard tower. 

Mid-tide is the best time to catch it at its hollowest and fastest. It is also it's least crowded tide, probably because of the seriousness of the wave. This is a wave, especially when with some size, for more experienced surfers.

The high-tide wave is mushy on small days, but usually crowded. It is difficult to get into and can be frustrating but it makes for a good longboard wave.

The more size a swell has, the better high-tide becomes. Bigger waves work best from mid-to high, moving in. Also, on big days the current can be very strong so walking down, or up the beach and drifting back to to where you started your walk is a good idea.

At a couple of feet overhead and bigger the waves tend to close-out. 

Dominical is definitely a laid-back surfers town. Many of the "Gringo" locals migrated there during the late 80's through the 90's because of the great surf and life style and settled there. Now with families and businesses, they are very much a part of the "Dominical" culture.

There are some very good places to eat, despite its rather small size and there is a good supply of accommodations from basic, get through the night hostels, to high end luxury hotels. This is all within a small town central and a 13km stretch of an easy to drive two-lane road with a beautiful  mountain rainforest on one side and the ocean on the other. 


Magic Seaweed Surf Report for Dominical:
magicseaweed.com/Playa-Dominical-Surf-Report/3346/
​Wave Type - Beachbreak w/peaks
Bottom - Sand
Swell Window - South to West 
Tide -  All, Mid to High
Wind - Northeast