Is March a Good Time to Visit Costa Rica?
If you’re looking for the single most consistently pleasant month to visit Costa Rica, March is hard to beat. It’s the driest month of the year, the surf is clean and well-formed, and the golden light at this time of year makes everything look spectacular. Weather March is deep dry season. Sunny skies, warm days […]
If you’re looking for the single most consistently pleasant month to visit Costa Rica, March is hard to beat. It’s the driest month of the year, the surf is clean and well-formed, and the golden light at this time of year makes everything look spectacular.
Weather
March is deep dry season. Sunny skies, warm days in the mid-80s°F (29–32°C), and almost no rain along the Pacific coast. The Dominical area benefits from its mountain microclimate — the wind patterns are gentler here than in Guanacaste to the north, which means you can surf through the middle of the day without battling aggressive onshore winds.
As with every month, Costa Rica’s microclimates create very different experiences depending on where you go. By March, the northern Pacific (Guanacaste, Nicoya Peninsula) is at its hottest — temperatures pushing well into the 90s°F, brown hillsides, strong Papagayo winds that make midday surfing difficult or impossible. The central and south Pacific coast is a different world: temperatures stay in the comfortable mid-80s, the mountains block the worst of the wind and hold moisture longer, and you get sunny days without the scorching heat or parched landscape further north.
Water temperature: 78°F (25–26°C). No wetsuit.
Surfing
Clean, consistent waves. Early southern hemisphere swells can begin arriving late in March, giving intermediate surfers a bit more power to work with while conditions remain manageable for beginners. The offshore morning winds create some of the best wave faces of the year.
One guest who visited in March — a self-described luxury resort connoisseur who has stayed at Four Seasons properties worldwide — wrote that her week at Kalon was “perfection — far better than I imagined.” Her teenage daughter said it was the best thing they’d ever done together.
At Kalon Surf, most beginners are riding green waves by mid-week. The combination of ideal conditions and structured coaching (pool sessions, dry land drills, in-water coaching, daily video analysis) makes March one of the best months for rapid progression.
What to know
March is high season but slightly less intense than January. Spring break weeks (mid-to-late March) attract families and younger travelers, so those specific weeks fill fast. Outside spring break, March offers high-season conditions with somewhat easier booking.
Beyond surfing
Golden light and dry weather make March ideal for photography, hiking, and wildlife viewing. Nauyaca Waterfalls are stunning year-round but especially photogenic in the dry season light. Manuel Antonio National Park is at its driest and most accessible. Whale watching continues through March (northern hemisphere humpbacks).
For the full month-by-month breakdown, see our complete seasonal guide to surfing in Costa Rica.
