Tempate

About Tempate:

Tempate takes up the northwest corner of Santa Cruz canton, bordered by Cabo Velas, Tamarindo, Veintisiete de Abril and Cartagena, and by Sardinal in neighbouring Carrillo. The 2011 census counted 5,630 people, spread across villages such as Huacas, Portegolpe, Tempate, Potrero, Jobo, Cañafístula, Chorro and Rincón. Huacas is the busiest of them, 42 kilometres northwest of the city of Santa Cruz, at the junction of national routes 155 and 180 where the roads to Brasilito, Villarreal and Belén split. Work to widen that junction with turning lanes began in April 2025, as the first step before traffic lights go in. Liberia’s international airport is 45 minutes to an hour away by car, and Route 911 gives a second way to the coast, from Sardinal to Potrero and Flamingo.

Inland, the district still lives off cattle and farming, and many people work on the coast in construction, property management and tourism. Huacas is where the errands get done: banks, shops, the school, a shopping centre, private clinics and the Coopeguanacaste office, 300 metres from the junction on the Tamarindo road. At the end of January its fiestas pull in people from across the region for local food, dancing and bull riding in the rustic Guanacaste style. The village takes its name from the Chorotega graves, huacas, that still turn up nearby. Portegolpe, closer along Route 155, has its own school, park, church and police post, and the APAMI wildlife rescue centre sits beside the road.

On the coast, Playa Potrero curves around a sheltered bay of darker sand and calm water, and Flamingo’s marina sits at the southern end of the same bay. Potrero started as a fishing village and boats still go out from its beach, while the Costa Rica Sailing Center, next to the Bahía del Sol hotel, rents boards and teaches sailing. The beach was fitted out as the first accessible beach in Santa Cruz canton. From the village plaza the road carries on north to Playa Penca and Playa Prieta, and in the rainy season that stretch is a job for a 4×4. Behind the shore the land rises into dry-forest hills, where Pacific Heights and newer hillside communities look out over the bay and the Catalinas islands.

Surfside is the centre of the foreign-resident market. It is a flat grid of streets where Americans, Canadians and Europeans live alongside Costa Rican families, and where the beach, cafés and a mini-market are all on foot. People still give directions from La Perla bar, a corner landmark for decades. Retirees, remote workers and second-home owners make up much of the demand, and many rent the house out while they are away. Inland the buyers are mostly local families and people who want land: a house lot in Huacas, or a few hectares near Tempate village with room for horses.

Houses in Tempate:

Beach houses in Surfside stand on lots laid out in the 1970s, many with big trees the developers left in place, and prices climb the closer you get to the sand. Up the hill, Pacific Heights is a gated community of large ocean-view homes with pools, on lots of half a hectare. In Huacas and Portegolpe a house is a village home near the school and the shops, and the cheapest way to own in the district. If you are looking at houses for sale in Playa Potrero, walk the street in the wet months before you sign, because drainage in Surfside changes from one block to the next.

Condos and Apartments in Tempate:

Condos in Surfside and Potrero are the lowest-cost way to live within walking distance of the bay, from one-bedroom units to townhouses in small complexes. Many are sold furnished and with a rental history, which matters more than the finishes if you plan to let the unit. Most complexes charge a monthly fee and have rules on short stays, so read them before you make an offer. A condo in Surfside Potrero also puts you inside a subdivision with its own water association and its own community fee.

Land and Lots in Tempate:

Surfside still has building lots, many with utilities at the front and public-road frontage, and the ones that already have water secured say so in the ad for good reason. On the hills of Pacific Heights and above Potrero, homesites sell for the view. Towards Tempate village the parcels grow: equestrian lots of 5,000 square metres at Hacienda Tempate, and cattle farms of more than a hundred hectares. If you are weighing lots for sale in Tempate inland, drive the way in during the rains before you judge the price per square metre.

Rentals in Tempate:

Holiday letting drives the rental market, from beachfront houses on Playa Potrero to furnished one-bedroom apartments by the river in Surfside, let by the night or by the month. The dry season, from November or December to April, books first, along with Christmas and Easter. Long-term places are harder to find because many owners prefer holiday guests. If you are moving here for a year, start looking well before high season.

New Developments in Tempate:

Potrero Hills shows what is being built now: a first phase of twelve single-storey, three-bedroom homes with private pools on lots of 1,275 to 2,592 square metres, due at the end of 2026, followed by ten higher homes with ocean views. The community runs its own well, maintained through the HOA fee, which tells you what developers here plan around. Beyond that, new houses go up one at a time on Surfside lots and the hills behind Potrero. Before paying a deposit on anything off-plan, see the well concession and the building permit in writing.

FAQ:

• I have been offered a titled beachfront lot in Surfside. What should I confirm?

  That the titled area stops exactly where the public strip begins. Along the whole coast the first 50 metres above high tide are public, and the next 150 are as a rule held only under municipal concession, so lay the cadastral plan against the boundary markers on the ground. Order a registry study from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), ask the Municipalidad de Santa Cruz for the land-use certificate, and find out whether the Surfside or the Potrero water association serves the lot before you count on a connection.

• Can I get water to build a new house near Potrero?

  Not automatically. The coastal aquifers of Santa Cruz have been overdrawn for years, dry seasons brought rationing, and the AyA started building a coastal aqueduct from the Nimboyores aquifer in 2017 to supply water associations including Huacas and Potrero. That is why lots with water secured are advertised that way and priced higher. Without a current availability letter there is no building permit.

• Where do people in Potrero go for banks, shopping and doctors?

  Surfside and Potrero have mini-markets, cafés and restaurants, but banks, bigger shops, the school and private clinics are in Huacas. For a public hospital, residents drive to Liberia, 45 minutes to an hour away. Liberia and Santa Cruz are also where the big shopping trips go.

• How do I get to Tempate from Liberia airport?

  The usual route runs south through Filadelfia and Belén to the Huacas junction, then on through Brasilito to Potrero, 45 minutes to an hour in all. The other way in is Route 911 from Sardinal. Heading north past Potrero towards Prieta, expect the paving to end before you reach the last beaches.

• Is inland Tempate worth a look if I do not need to be on the beach?

  Yes, if land is what you want. Around Tempate village and Portegolpe this is cattle country, with equestrian lots at Hacienda Tempate and farms of more than a hundred hectares. Portegolpe has a school, park and police post, and Huacas is close for everything else. You will need a car.