Playa Cabuya or Playa Malpais: Santa Teresa Verdict
Published 2026-09-27. Conditions described are typical and never guaranteed.
The verdict up front
Neither of these is the beach you picture when someone says Santa Teresa, and that is exactly why they are worth your time. Both sit at the rocky southern edge of the peninsula, both press up against the Cabo Blanco reserve, and both trade the surf town buzz for something slower. But they are not interchangeable. Choose Playa Cabuya if you want a quiet rural hamlet, a low tide walk to an island cemetery, and the trailhead of Costa Rica's first protected area on your doorstep. Choose Playa Malpais if you want a working fishing village, the catch of the day off the boats, tide pools among dark rock formations, and a recognised surf break a little further south.
So the short answer: Cabuya is the walker's and the wildlife lover's beach, the place to go quiet and deliberate. Malpais is the eater's and the surfer's beach, more social and more of a scene while still staying local. Neither is a classic sandy swimming beach, and that single fact should reset your expectations before you drive down the coast road. If a long soft wade into calm water is what you are after, both of these will disappoint you, and you would be better served at a town beach further north.
Come to Cabuya for the walk and the silence. Come to Malpais for the grill and the waves. Do not come to either expecting a swimming beach.
Sand and shoreline: rock defines both
This is where people trip up. Both beaches are built on rock, not on the wide gold ribbon that makes the town stretches famous. Cabuya is described as a rocky, low key rural shore rather than a long sandy beach, edged by shortleaf fig trees and the quiet of a tiny hamlet. There is no strolling promenade of sand here. The shore is the reef, the trees and the hush.
Malpais is a touch more varied. Think dark rock formations, small coves and pockets of gold sand rather than one continuous beach. It is at its most photogenic when the tide pulls back and reveals the structure of the coast. So if you insist on some sand underfoot, Malpais gives you more of it, in scattered patches, while Cabuya keeps things resolutely rocky and rural. Neither will ever feel like the broad open sweep you would find on the wider stretches north of town.
The takeaway on sand is simple. If a photogenic, dramatic coast with coves and rock pools appeals, Malpais wins. If you want the sense of arriving somewhere almost forgotten, where the shore is a hamlet's back garden, Cabuya wins.
Water: tide pools, reef and current
Ask whether either is good for swimming and the honest answer for both is not really, and never in the way you might hope. At Cabuya the water is shallow and rocky over much of it, with a reef that uncovers at low tide to open the walk to the island rather than an easy sandy swim. The gentlest moments come at the right state of tide, but conditions here are typical rather than guaranteed, and you should mind the rocks, the tide and the current at all times.
Malpais reads similarly, with a twist. The open stretches carry surf and current, but at low water the natural pools among the rocks make calm, shallow soaking spots, and those pools are the gentlest water on this part of the coast. So the closest thing to a safe, easy soak at either beach is a Malpais tide pool at low tide on a settled day. That is a genuine point in its favour for anyone travelling with restless feet who still wants a dip of some kind.
A shared, binding caveat applies to both: do not count on any lifeguard watch, treat the sea and any crossing as natural and unguarded, and swim strictly within your limits. Neither beach makes a promise about the water, and neither should you.
Facilities: a soda hamlet versus a fishing port
Here the two part ways clearly. Cabuya's facilities are minimal by design, a scattering of casual sodas in the hamlet, with the fuller food and lodging a short drive north in Montezuma. You come self sufficient, you eat simply, and you plan your day around the reserve's opening days and the tide. It is a place for a quiet walk, not a long lunch.
Malpais, being a working fishing village, has more going on around its small port: sodas, beach kitchens and a handful of good restaurants, quieter and more local than the Santa Teresa strip. The draw is the catch. Red snapper, sea bass, snook and tuna come off the local boats, often simply grilled. If a lazy seafood lunch by the coast is central to your idea of a good day, Malpais is the clear choice. If you would rather eat almost nothing and hear almost nothing, Cabuya answers.
As ever, we never invent venues, so check current names and opening days locally at both, because in small places like these listings change often and with the season.
Crowd and mood
Both are quieter than the town beaches, but they are quiet in different registers. Cabuya is the deeper hush, a rural backwater where solitude is the whole point and the reserve gate keeps things measured. Malpais has kept a quieter, more local and laid back feel than Santa Teresa, but it is still a village with a port, restaurants and surfers, so it carries a gentle social hum that Cabuya simply does not.
Wildlife colours both. Malpais lives alongside the Cabo Blanco reserve, so monkeys and birds are part of daily life. Cabuya sits right at the reserve entrance, which begins here with its trails and wildlife. For nature on foot, Cabuya's position at the trailhead gives it the edge.
When the other one wins
The answer flips on a few specific conditions, so let me be precise about them.
- You want to walk to the island cemetery: only Cabuya offers this, and only at low tide, when a rocky strip of reef uncovers and you can cross in around ten minutes. Check the tide, tread respectfully on a burial ground in use since pre Columbian times, and turn back in good time as the crossing floods again.
- You want to actually surf: Malpais wins, with the best known break at Mar Azul toward the southern end, sharing the same consistent lefts and rights as the coast to the north. The bottom can be rocky, so take local advice on the day.
- You want a seafood lunch by the sea: Malpais wins on its fishing port kitchens. Cabuya cannot match it.
- You want the calmest possible soak: Malpais wins narrowly, thanks to its low tide rock pools.
- You want the deepest quiet and the reserve trails: Cabuya wins.
Season matters too. Cabuya is at its surest from December to April, the dry stretch that gives the calmest conditions for the island walk and the reserve, with greener, quieter months from May to November. Malpais follows the same pattern for the tide pools, driest and clearest from December to April, while its surf is most reliable in the green season from May to October. If your trip lands in the rains and you have come to ride waves, that tilts the choice toward Malpais. If you want dry days for walking and wildlife, either works, with Cabuya the more contemplative pick. Our Santa Teresa seasons guide goes deeper on timing.
Two honest alternatives
If reading all of this has convinced you that you actually want sand and a swim, be honest with yourself and adjust. The gentlest, most convenient beach in the area is Playa Carmen at the town crossroads, where the surf schools cluster and the cafes and market sit steps from the sand. For a wider, calmer sweep with room to breathe, Playa Hermosa a few minutes north thins the crowd. And for near empty white sand with snorkelling on a calm clear day, the far northern end at Playa Manzanillo rewards those who come self sufficient. It would be dishonest to send a swimmer to Cabuya or Malpais when these exist.
If you are still torn on the two southern shores, our companion pieces weighing Cabuya against the town break and Cabuya against the wider Hermosa sand may settle it.
Plan a club day in Santa Teresa
These two beaches are for walking, eating and slow mornings rather than sun loungers and service, but if you want to build a proper club day into your trip, browse the options and enquire through the Santa Teresa beach clubs page, or start wider from the destination hub to shape the rest of your stay.