What El Niño Has Done
for Nosara This Year

El Niño is a periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean that shifts weather patterns across Central America. In Nosara, a strong El Niño year tends to mean a drier, calmer green season — less of the heavy, sustained rainfall that can define June through November in a normal year, and more of the kind of weather that most guests associate with the dry season. That's exactly what we've seen in 2026.

What August looked like

August was, by any measure, an exceptional month at the property. The mornings were consistently clear. The surf — typically variable in green season — was good week after week, with long-period swells producing clean, rideable conditions at Playa Guiones far more often than we'd expect this time of year. Guests who came expecting to manage around the weather found they barely had to. Several told us it was the best surf trip they'd ever had.

We don't say this to overpromise what September will bring. El Niño doesn't eliminate the rainy season — it moderates it. There will still be days that are grey, flat, or wet. But the overall pattern this year has been notably better than the norm, and we're seeing that continue as we move into September.

What this means for green season travel

Green season in Nosara has always had advantages that dry season can't match — the rates are significantly lower, the crowds are gone, and the landscape is at its most vivid. The one trade-off has always been weather unpredictability. In an El Niño year like this one, that trade-off shrinks considerably. You're getting the quiet, the rates, and the green — with much better odds on the weather and surf than a typical green season delivers.

We're still being honest: we can't guarantee the sun. But the conditions this year have given us more confidence in recommending green season travel than we've had in a long time. If you've been considering it and timing has held you back, the window right now — late August through October — is genuinely one of the best we've seen.

The property right now

The villas are at green season rates — the most affordable they'll be all year. The studio schedule is running its full September programme. The beach, even on a good surf day, has a fraction of the people it sees in January. And the jungle around the property is extraordinary right now — the kind of green that only comes when the rains have done their work and the sun has had time to follow.

If you've been watching from the sidelines waiting for the right conditions to come to Nosara, this is as close to a clear signal as the weather will give you.

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Write to us if you want to know what current conditions look like before booking. We'll give you an honest read — the same one we'd give a friend.