Up at the northwest end of Playa Espadilla is an often-uncrowded area known as Playitas. While Playitas is still the same beach as Playa Espadilla, there is a large gap between the main public beach and Playitas. You can see the gap on our Manuel Antonio Map page. This page will describe Playitas and how to get there.

You have two main options to get to Playitas. First, you can enter the beachfront at the main public beach near the entrance to the National Park. Then turn to the right and walk with the beach on your left for around 10-15 minutes. You’ll know that you’ve reached Playitas when you see the following large rock outcropping:

Playitas Rock

You will also get to the point where you can’t walk any further, which is the end of the beach known in total as Playa Espadilla.

The other alternative for reaching Playitas is to go down a road that leads basically directly to Playitas. The road is walkable, but we don’t really recommend walking it unless you’re in decent physical shape. It will take at least 15 minutes to walk up or down the road and possibly much longer if you’re a slow walker. Alternatively, you can drive down, but we recommend only doing that in a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The road is rough and bumpy in some places. Here’s how to get down to Playitas directly via road:

  1. Look for Cafe Milagro.  It’s about a 5 minute walk towards the main beach from Pacifico Colonial.  Across from Cafe Milagro is road onto which you should make a right turn (assuming you’re approaching from the Quepos direction).
  2. Drive down the road past La Mariposa and past Casa Buena Vista until you see a large yellow sign for Hotel Parador that looks like this: Hotel Parador
  3. When you reach that sign, make a LEFT.  Continue down the road for a few more minutes and you’ll eventually come out to the following: End of the Playitas Road
  4. Congrats, you made it.  There’s some room to park on the left and right side of the end of the road.  Be careful about pulling out too far into the sand — it’s easy to get your car stuck even if you have four-wheel drive.  Enjoy your time on the beach.