Why We Love San Juanillo
Why we love San Juanillo
A bakery, a trattoria and a beach we won't name.
There is a type of person who hears "the road is unpaved" and turns the car around. San Juanillo was built for everyone else.
It sits up the coast from Nosara, past Ostional, at the end of the kind of drive that rearranges your spine and your priorities. What waits at the other end is a village with no stoplights, one very good bakery, one very good Italian kitchen and a beach we have promised not to describe too precisely.
Nosara is not exactly a metropolis. Still, on a Saturday in high season, Playa Guiones can feel like a very tanned airport. San Juanillo is the antidote. Fewer boards, fewer cameras, more fishermen. The main bay is small and tucked into a protected cove, and at high tide it fills with water the color of an expensive pool.
A word about the road
Route 160 north is mostly dirt, some rock and occasional philosophy. In the dry season a car with decent clearance will do. From May through November, bring a 4x4 and a sense of humor.
Leave early. Nobody has ever regretted arriving at a quiet beach before the sun got serious.
The little bakery
Every good day trip needs a first stop, and ours is the little bakery at Corner of the Sky across from the Futbol field. It's the sort of place you'd walk past in a bigger town. Here, it is the reason to set an alarm.
Go in the morning while the bagels are still warm. Order a few bagel sandwiches or sourdough loaves with jam and get extra for the drive home. Michael pours the arabic coffee with cardamon and it will transport you back 100 years.
This little sliver of heaven combines excellent sourdough bagels and bread, coffee, art and gives us home away from home vibes. Not surprising given Michael Flutie's legendary career as a New York model agent, making stars of the faces now familiar to anyone who lived through the 90s. Gian's sourdough fermentation is other worldly. There's a reason all of us drive 30 minutes for this.
Corner of the Sky, across from the futbol field, San Juanillo
The secret beach
We're going to be vague here, and we are not sorry.
San Juanillo's main bay is lovely. But walk a little, follow a path that looks like it might be a bad idea, and you will find a second stretch of sand that is longer, quieter and often completely empty. Locals know it. Now you almost do.
With coffee in one hand and something warm in a paper bag in the other, head to the north entrance of the beach. Any local can point you in the right direction. Park and walk down the 200 meter path to the sand where you'll often have it all to yourself.
The water on this stretch of coast is some of the clearest near Nosara. The snorkeling is famously good, with rocky reef edges, bright fish and starfish if you look carefully. At high tide the bay turns into a calm, turquoise bowl, at low tide you can walk out to the point. Bring a book, a hat and some water. You'll need little else.
Take everything you brought. Leave the shells. Keep your voice down, because the whole point of a secret beach is that it stays one. And please, no drones.
3Amici
The last thing you expect after 30 minutes of potholes in this little village (aside from the little bakery), is a proper Italian trattoria. And yet here is 3Amici, a trattoria and pizzeria doing the simple things right in a village most people can't find on a map.
This is not a white tablecloth situation. It is better. It is the kind of place where dinner stretches, the wine is cold and nobody is checking the time because, frankly, there is nowhere else to be.
Our rule for any small Italian kitchen, anywhere in the world: ask what they are proud of today and order that. A pizza for the table, a pasta you can't pronounce, and dessert even if you swore you wouldn't.
Go for a late lunch after swimming, when you are salty and starving and everything tastes like the best meal of your life. Sometimes it is.
A perfect San Juanillo day
If you want the order of operations, here it is. We have tested it extensively, purely for research.
1. Leave Nosara early and take the coast road north.
2. Stop at the little bakery. Overbuy.
3. Swim the main bay, then walk to the secret beach.
4. Snorkel until your fingers wrinkle.
5. Late lunch at 3Amici. Order anything they recommend.
6. Drive home slowly with the windows down and sand in places it likely shouldn't be.
What to pack. A good towel that doubles as a blanket. Reef-safe sunscreen. Water, because the village is small and shops keep their own hours. A snorkel mask. A tote big enough for leftover pastries and a dry change of clothes for dinner.
Stop by before you go
We moved to Nosara because we wanted a life with more texture and less noise. San Juanillo is that idea at its purest. Small businesses run by people who care, a coastline that hasn't been flattened into a resort strip, and the feeling that you found something instead of being sold something.
It is the same reason we design the way we do. Things made by hand, by people with names, meant to be used and loved for a long time.
Headed up the coast? Come see us first. Our stores in Playa Guiones are stocked with the kind of pieces that belong on a day like this, easy light Turkish towels, sunblock, hats and books.
Visit lobo in Nosara, or shop online at lobonosara.com.
Frequently asked questions
How far is San Juanillo from Nosara?
About 30 minutes up the coast from Nosara, past Ostional, on Route 160.
Do I need a 4x4 to get to San Juanillo?
In the dry season a car with decent clearance will do. From May through November, bring a 4x4.
Where is the little bakery in San Juanillo?
At Corner of the Sky, across from the futbol field. Go in the morning while the bagels are still warm.
How do I get to the secret beach?
Head to the north entrance of the beach, park and walk down the 200 meter path to the sand. Any local can point you in the right direction.
When is the best time to swim in San Juanillo?
At high tide the bay turns into a calm, turquoise bowl. At low tide you can walk out to the point.
Where should I eat lunch in San Juanillo?
3Amici, a trattoria and pizzeria in the village. Go for a late lunch after swimming and order what they recommend.
What should I pack for a day in San Juanillo?
A good towel, reef-safe sunscreen, water, a snorkel mask, a book, a hat and a dry change of clothes for dinner.