Costa Rica / Puntarenas Province
Jacó
Jacó is a coastal resort area in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. Its longest mapped beach (Playa Jacó) stretches about 4.0 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 29.4 °C in April, its warmest month, and 27.8 °C in November; it stays at 21 °C or above all year.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Rainfall reaches 301 mm in October and stays above 250 mm in September and October.
The beach is tagged as supervised.
Services in the resort
- 117Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 4Public toilets
- –Showers
- 34Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 91Hotels & guesthouses
- 15Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 13Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 5Pharmacies & clinics
- 3Cash machines
- 3Bike rental
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 85 restaurants, 13 cafés, 15 bars and 4 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 91 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Month by month
October at Jacó
Beach-day index 7.1/10 · Costa Rica median 7.1
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 28.7 °C | 28.9 °C | 29.3 °C | 29.4 °C | 29.2 °C | 28.9 °C | 28.9 °C | 28.9 °C | 28.6 °C | 28.1 °C | 27.8 °C | 28.2 °C |
| High °C | 27° | 28° | 30° | 30° | 28° | 26° | 27° | 27° | 26° | 25° | 26° | 26° |
| Low °C | 18° | 19° | 19° | 20° | 21° | 21° | 20° | 20° | 20° | 20° | 19° | 19° |
| Rain mm | 38 | 22 | 29 | 76 | 220 | 209 | 184 | 198 | 256 | 301 | 188 | 70 |
| Cloud % | 47 | 37 | 41 | 69 | 85 | 87 | 87 | 87 | 85 | 87 | 79 | 59 |
| Wind m/s | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| Daylight h | 11.6 | 11.8 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 12.6 | 12.7 | 12.6 | 12.5 | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.7 | 11.6 |
| Record high/low | 31°/16° | 33°/16° | 34°/17° | 35°/18° | 34°/16° | 32°/19° | 31°/17° | 31°/18° | 30°/18° | 30°/18° | 30°/16° | 31°/16° |
| Beach index | 9.2 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 8.7 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 7.7 | 8.8 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in January–March; February scores 9.5/10 with highs of 28 °C, sea at 28.9 °C and 22 mm of rain.
In February that is 0.4 points above the median of the 89 beaches in Costa Rica covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 28.7 °C, warmer than 95% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
October is the wettest month (301 mm) and February the driest (22 mm); the yearly total is about 1,790 mm.
Daylight runs from 11.6 hours in December to 12.7 hours in June; in mid-February the sun rises at 05:58 and sets at 17:47 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-west (220°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 17:58 local time on a bearing of 294°.
Straight out to the south-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 22 m deep and 35 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 10 m above sea level 500 m inland and 18 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 46% built-up land, 28% grassland and 17% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 69% of that circle.
- Built 46%
- Grass 28%
- Tree 17%
- Bare 8%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quepos Managua Airport Quepos | XQP | 58.0 km | east |
| Juan Santamaría International Airport San José (Alajuela) | SJO | 63.0 km | north-east |
| Tobías Bolaños International Airport San Jose | SYQ | 66.3 km | north-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 13 bus stops within 1.5 km and 34 mapped car parks within 1 km.
1 town or village of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 4.1K residents); within 30 km there are 1 (about 4.1K).
Around the beach
Nature
- Parque Nacional Carara. nature reserve 560 m S
Diving & boat hire
- ATV Backcountry Tours 390 m NW
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 1.8 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature r14467835; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_16PGR_20250228_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.