What to expect
Ventanas is the easiest beach to get to on this stretch of coast. You park a few steps from the sand, free, and walk on. Vendors set up along the beach selling salchipapas, french fries, fruit and cold drinks — bring colones, because that's what they take, and you can rent a chair from them too. There are lifeguards, which is not a given around here. We don't usually set up camp with a blanket and gear. We pop in, spend about two hours, and leave.
Set your expectations correctly: this is a local beach, not a national park beach. Whale's Tail, Playa Chamán and Playa Hermosa are all close by, all inside the park, and all more pristine. Ventanas has a fair amount of litter, most of it around the vendor end. That's the trade you're making for free parking, hot food, lifeguards, and a walk of about twenty steps from your car. We think it's a fine trade. You should know you're making it.
Check the tide chart before you drive out. Low tide is when the beach does its best work: the ventanas — the sea caves the beach is named for — open up and you can walk into them, and shallow tide pools appear with tiny crabs — the best ones are by the rocks at the south end, shallow enough for a small kid to sit down in. High tide isn't a wasted trip, there's still plenty to do. But if you have the choice, go low.
A river empties into the ocean here, and where it meets the sand it forms a shallow pool that changes size with the tide. That pool is the main event for small kids. We stay on the ocean side of it. On crocodiles: we have never seen one at this beach. We've heard there's one living further up the river. Locals swim here and so do we. We keep our eyes up, like we always do.
Good beach for a specific kind of day — squeeze it in around other plans, or go after a day of remote work. It's not a beach you need to give a whole day to.
Who this works for
The whole-crew test · toddlers to grandparentsThe river pool is shallow and holds them. Parking a few steps from the sand means no long carry with a toddler and a bag. Leave the stroller — it won't work here.
Low tide opens the caves. Ours walk through them and watch the crabs crawl up the walls — a little spooked, and completely into it. The river pool, a coconut and a rock worth grinding took the rest of the afternoon.
The teens we see here are playing soccer on the sand or swimming out past where the little kids are. Lifeguards on duty. Enough beach to spread out on.
Hot food you didn't pack, free parking, lifeguards, and a river pool that keeps small kids in one shallow place. Low effort by the standards of this coast.
The easiest beach here for limited mobility. You park a few steps from the sand — no long walk in, no stairs. Papaw is in his mid-60s with bad hips and walks the entire length of this beach at low tide without trouble. He finds a big driftwood log and sits. Vendors rent chairs if you'd rather not sit on wood. Treat the toilets as closed — they exist, but they're unmaintained and usually aren't working. Go before you come.
In their words
Verbatim · recorded on site or at dinner that nightCan I take this hermit crab home?
— Río, age 6
Río spent most of his time in the river pool. He found a coconut in it and turned the coconut into a cornhole game the whole family ended up playing on the sand. He also went hunting for the right rocks — the soft ones he can grind down into face paint, which he has done at every beach and river since he was small. And he wanted to bring a hermit crab home with us.
Where are the sand dollars?
— Mar, age 4
Mar played in the sand more than anything else. She waded in the river pool and found a big floating log there that became a crocodile she rode. She also found her own coconut, decided it was her baby, and carried it everywhere — throwing it into the waves and then chasing it back in.
The family, over time
Same place · same family · re-reviewed as everyone grows — and agesWe wandered the beach and let Mar explore the sand. She was one, so that was the whole activity, and it was enough. Río was nervous at the beach then — still working out how he felt about waves arriving and water in his eyes. We didn't think to bring a lifejacket this trip. We did the next time. What he loved was being carried through the caves.
VERDICT: Great easy beach to pop in and out of with tiny ones.
The year of the neon swimsuits. I put both kids in full-body zip-ups in colors you can pick out from anywhere on the sand, and it turned out to be the best thing I have ever bought for a beach day — easy to find them, and far less skin to sunscreen. We brought a lifejacket this time too, which made everyone more comfortable about exploring the waves. And we set up properly for once: a cabana and a lounger, where Mar took a nap. I got a couple of work calls done from that chair while she slept.
VERDICT: Still a great beach. We set up camp this year and Mar took a nap under the canopy on a lounger.
They ran through the caves on their own and owned the beach. They found a couple of tide pools to sit in near the rocks on the south side and made themselves at home.
VERDICT: The year the beach stopped being something we managed and started being something they did.
July and August. Río found a coconut in the river pool and turned it into a cornhole game we all played on the sand, then went looking for rocks soft enough to grind into face paint — something we started doing together in the river when he was very small, and he has never stopped. Mar found a coconut of her own, decided it was her baby, and carried it the whole afternoon, throwing it into the waves and chasing it back in. She also rode a floating log she had determined was a crocodile. At dusk on a high tide the sand fleas were brutal — we were itching for days afterward.
VERDICT: Easy, and both kids were happy the whole two hours. It's a local beach and the litter shows. The national park beaches nearby are more pristine and just as easy to reach — but the ventanas at low tide are worth the trip on their own.
Bad hips, and he walked the entire length of the beach at low tide without trouble. Then he found a big log and sat on it. That's his pattern here — the walk, then the log.
VERDICT: The beach on this coast that asks the least of him.
She walks the beach and she stays for the sunset. This is the beach she asks to go to.
VERDICT: Hers more than anyone else's.
Things we wish we'd known
- Parking is free and you're a few steps from the sand. Bring colones anyway — the vendors and the chair rentals are cash.
- There's a fair amount of litter, mostly near the vendors. Bring a bag and let the kids fill it. It's the most useful thing they'll do all day.
- At dusk on a high tide in July and August, the sand fleas are vicious. We were itching for days. Leave before dusk or cover up — and note that dusk is exactly when you'd be staying for the sunset.
- Don't count on the toilets or the showers. They exist by the lot, but they're unmaintained and usually not working — assume closed and plan around it. We bring towels and a change of clothes for the kids.
- Bring water to drink, and a separate gallon jug that stays in the car. That one is for rinsing sandy kids and feet before anyone gets back in the vehicle — the showers will not do it for you.
- A river meets the ocean here. We've never seen a crocodile at this beach, though we've heard there's one further up the river. We stay on the ocean side of the pool and keep our eyes up, like we always do.
- The sand here is black and it does not come out of swimwear. Leave the nice suits at home and bring the ones you don't mind losing.
- Full-body zip-up swimsuits in bright neon were the best thing we ever bought for this beach. You can find your kid anywhere on the sand, and there's far less skin to sunscreen.
- If you have a baby or a toddler who still naps, pay a vendor for a cabana and a chair. It turns this into a beach you can actually spend a few hours at with a one-year-old.
- Don't overpack. We rarely set up a blanket and gear — we pop in and out.
- Look for soft, chalky rocks along the river edge. They grind down into paint. This has occupied our son at every beach and river he has ever been to.
Nature School · Rocks you can paint with
Some rocks here are soft enough to grind into paint and most are not. Find a flat wet stone to use as a grinding surface, then collect a handful of candidates from the river edge and the tide line and test them one at a time. Rub each one on the flat stone and see which leave a streak of color and which just leave a scratch. Sort the winners by color. This is the whole basis of every paint humans made for thousands of years, and a four-year-old can do it with wet hands in ten minutes.
Conversation starter: "If you could only use what is on this beach, how many colors could you make?"
Pairs well with
Ventanas is a two-hour beach, so build a day around it rather than the other way around. Our version: work remotely through the morning, drive out to Ventanas in the afternoon at low tide, then dinner at one of the sodas near Super Jucaloa, the supermarket in Ojochal. It also pairs with a jungle river stop — Cascada El Pavón is the one we combine it with. See the full Ojochal guide. See the full Ojochal guide.