Nandayure

About Nandayure:

Nandayure is the ninth canton of Guanacaste and the southernmost, a band of some 565 square kilometres that crosses the Nicoya Peninsula from one sea to the other. On the east it touches the Gulf of Nicoya near the mouth of the Tempisque, with Isla Berrugate offshore; on the west it reaches the open Pacific between the Río Ora and the Río Bongo, which is also the border with Puntarenas. Nicoya lies to the north and Hojancha to the west, and the Puntarenas districts of Lepanto and Cóbano close it off to the east and south. Six districts share the land: Carmona, Santa Rita, Zapotal, San Pablo, Porvenir and Bejuco. Route 21 runs through San Pablo and Carmona between the Nicoya junction at Pueblo Viejo and Jicaral, and buses link Carmona with Nicoya, Jicaral and San José.

The canton was carved out of Nicoya by Law 2826 of October 1961 and confirmed by a plebiscite in February 1962, when 1,402 voters said yes and 437 said no. The name recalls a Chorotega princess and a colonial shipyard on the river of the same name. Long before the colony, Gil González Dávila passed through the indigenous village of Canjel in 1522, and goods once moved across the gulf through Puerto Thiel, remembered as its first cabotage port. The colonists who came from the Central Valley after 1910 mixed their habits with those of the peninsula, and the peninsula won: marimba dances and bull riding are as much a part of Santa Rita, San Pablo and Bejuco as of Carmona.

It is a small, steady place. The canton counted 12,038 people in 1963 and 11,874 in 2022, and in 2011 only about one resident in five lived in an urban area. In 2011 farming and cattle employed a third of the workforce, and most of the rest worked in services. On the coast the larger employers are tourism businesses such as Hotel Punta Islita and the boutique hotel at Punta Coyote, and at Islita the village houses, community hall and plaza carry the murals and mosaics of an open-air contemporary art museum started in 2003. Inland the ground rises to Cerro Azul, a limestone mountain in Porvenir that is the highest point of the peninsula, and to hill villages at 500 to 1,000 metres where the air is mild enough for orange and coffee farms.

Two things shape building decisions here more than the weather. The first is the ground: the magnitude 7.6 earthquake of September 2012 struck just east of Hojancha and damaged houses across Nandayure, so how a house was built matters as much as where. The second is the road. The coast road from Santa Teresa crosses the Río Bongo and other rivers without bridges, so for most of the year the way to the coast is the paved road to Jicaral and then over the hills, or across from the Hojancha–Sámara road, with the last 15 kilometres into Islita on dirt. Coastal buyers, many of them from abroad, come for space and empty beaches, while Nandayureños buy and build around Carmona, Santa Rita and San Pablo.

Houses in Nandayure:

Most homes in the canton are family houses in Carmona, Santa Rita, San Pablo and the farm villages, set on their own lots and close to the school and the bus route. On the coast, a row of modest houses sits back from the sand at Playa San Miguel, and vacation homes cluster behind Costa de Oro and on the hills above it with views over the water. Further up, a handful of larger villas stand on several hectares each. When you look at houses for sale in Nandayure, ask when and how the house was built and whether it came through 2012 without structural repairs.

Land and Lots in Nandayure:

Land is what this canton sells most. Near San Miguel and Costa de Oro there are beach lots and developable parcels within reach of the sand, and behind them ocean-view lots on the slopes around Bejuco and Coyote. Inland, the choice runs from a town lot in Carmona to farmland measured in tens or hundreds of hectares. Before you agree a price on lots for sale in Nandayure, confirm the lot’s position on the coastal plan if it is near the beach, get a written water availability letter from the local ASADA, and walk the access road after a week of rain.

Farms in Nandayure:

Fincas come in two broad kinds. On the gulf side and around Carmona and Santa Rita they are cattle farms, often with pasture, creeks and patches of forest, and some of the bigger ones look out over the Gulf of Nicoya. In the hills above San Francisco de Coyote, around Quebrada Grande and Los Ángeles, smaller farms grow oranges and coffee, and some have a sea view from 500 metres up. Farms between three and 250 hectares come up in the hinterland of the Coyote coast, and many buyers plan to keep the land whole rather than split it.

Rentals in Nandayure:

Renting on the coast means a vacation home, a cabina in San Francisco de Coyote or a hotel room at Islita or Punta Coyote. Most furnished houses sit behind Costa de Oro and San Miguel or on the hills above them. If you plan to work remotely, ask about the connection at that exact property, because service changes from one hillside to the next.

FAQ:

• Can I own a lot right on Playa Coyote or Playa San Miguel?

  Usually not with a title. The 200 metres from the high-tide line are maritime zone: the first 50 are public, and the remaining 150 are granted as municipal concessions where a coastal plan is in force. Nandayure has approved plans for Puerto Coyote, Playa San Miguel, Corozalito and the northern cliffs, the eastern cliffs at Playa Coyote and part of Islita, and in February 2026 the municipality began a new plan for Playa Islita. A few beachfront parcels do carry a registered title, so have a lawyer confirm which kind you are looking at, and remember that a foreigner needs five years of residency to hold a concession directly.

• How do I reach the Coyote coast in the rainy season?

  Not along the shore from Santa Teresa. That road fords the Río Bongo, which is passable only in the driest months, and other unbridged rivers. The year-round way in is paved through Carmona and Jicaral, then hilly road down to the coast, or across from the Hojancha–Sámara road, with the last stretch into Islita on dirt. Liberia’s airport is about two and a half hours away, and charter flights land at the Islita and Corozalito airstrips.

• What should I check before buying land near Carmona or the coast?

  Start with water, because many communities depend on their own ASADA and no building permit moves without a written availability letter. Next, check the house or the site for seismic risk: the 2012 earthquake was centred a few kilometres away. Near Playa Camaronal, the wildlife refuge adds its own limits. Then order a study from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), check that the cadastral plan matches it and ask the Municipalidad de Nandayure for the land-use certificate.

• Where do I shop, bank and see a doctor?

  San Francisco de Coyote covers daily needs, with supermarkets, sodas, a high school, an ICE office and a mechanic. Carmona has the municipality, the agricultural technical high school and the bus terminal, and buses run to Nicoya, Jicaral and San José. For hospital care and larger errands, people drive to Nicoya.

• Are the hills cooler than the beaches?

  Yes, noticeably. Villages such as Quebrada Grande and Los Ángeles sit between 500 and 1,000 metres, where the air is mild and the slopes are green and full of flowers. That is why orange groves and small coffee plots grow there and not on the coast, and why some buyers pick a hill farm with a sea view over a lot by the beach.