December at Santarena Hotel, a beachfront boutique hotel in Las Catalinas, arrives with all due pomp and circumstance.
The sky clears into that just-right blue people wait months for. The breeze returns. The sea looks brighter, lighter, and more inviting by the day. Mornings make you want to get outside immediately. By noon, the beach is gleaming, the trees are moving, and the whole town seems to be leaning into the season with a kind of joyful certainty.
For couples staying with us, that shift changes the feel of everything. The end of the year isn’t only festive; it’s invigorating. It makes you want to move, to get into the water, to head toward the river, to try something new together instead of merely watching the season happen around you.
That’s what makes December at Santarena so appealing for couples who like a little movement in their holiday plans. One day might bring you deep into a river sanctuary full of birds, crocodiles, monkeys, and centuries-old craft traditions. Another might send you out to Playa Grande to learn to surf, laugh through the wipeouts, and come back sun-tired and happy.
These aren’t add-ons around the trip. They’re what give your season its shape.
There are holiday destinations built around interiors. Firelight. Heavy meals. Long evenings spent mostly inside.
This isn’t one of them.
At Santarena, December is the time when everything starts pulling you outdoors. The weather has turned. The breezes are back. The skies are clean and bright. The water looks irresistible. And because the hotel sits in the heart of Beach Town, with the beach, coffee, and the rest of the day all within minutes, the season feels like something you step into physically.
That’s part of what makes the holidays here feel so distinct. They aren’t separated from the landscape, but woven right through it. The sea is part of the celebration. So is the river. So is the walk back through town after a day spent outdoors.
The Wildlife Observation Riverboat Trip & Culture experience begins at Palo Verde National Park, and it quickly introduces a different side of Costa Rica than the one most beach travelers expect.
The boat moves through a bird sanctuary with more than 275 aquatic and terrestrial species, and that alone would make the outing worthwhile. But the real pleasure is in the variety of what begins to appear around you. Iguanas. Crocodiles. Monkeys. Birds that seem to arrive one after another, as if the whole river were organized around surprise.
It gives you something to notice together, to point out, to talk about later. It’s not high-adrenaline. It’s not performative. It’s simply one of those experiences that makes the place feel bigger and more layered than it did before.
And then the day changes shape. After the river, you head into Ortega, where Doña Katia welcomes guests into her home for lunch and shares her way of preparing corn tortillas. From there, the experience continues into Guaitil, where Chorotega pottery traditions are still very much alive.
It’s an unusual and very effective combination: wildlife, local hospitality, and craft heritage, all within one half-day. The result is a December experience that’s active and culturally rich at the same time.
If the riverboat experience is about discovery, the private surf lesson is about shared play.
From Las Catalinas, the nearest and most popular surf beach is Playa Grande, where the wide, gently curving coastline opens itself to swells from every direction. The lesson begins with choosing the right board and learning the basics, then moves into the real work of paddling out, timing waves, popping up, and trying to find your balance.
That’s where the fun begins.
For couples, surf lessons work beautifully because they ask very little except willingness. You don’t need to know what you’re doing; you just need to be open to the rhythm of it, to trying, laughing, falling, and trying again. Your instructor is in the water with you, guiding the process, and the whole experience is softened by the details that surround it: a tent on the beach, chairs already set up, a cooler with water, beer, and iced tea, fruit waiting for you, and the promise of a shower afterward before heading back.
That means the lesson feels playful, not punishing. It becomes a holiday memory rather than a physical test or competition. You come back carrying salt on your skin, sun in your shoulders, and the distinct satisfaction of having done something together that belongs only to the two of you.
December at Santarena isn’t only about festive dinners and beautiful light. It’s also about what the season makes possible during the day.
Wildlife observation gives you a different scale of wonder. Slower, more observant, more tied to the natural and cultural richness of the region. A surf lesson gives you motion, laughter, and a direct relationship with the sea. One is about looking closely. The other is about getting into it. Together, they create a holiday stay that’s as lively as it is grounded.
That balance is what makes the season here so appealing for couples. You can celebrate beautifully without sitting still. You can mark the time of year not only with a special dinner, but with a river, a wave, and the kind of day that leaves you feeling more awake.
Of course, what makes all of this work so well is that it all returns to Santarena.
Come back from the river or the beach, and enjoy a late lunch. A swim. A rooftop pause before dinner. The beach still right there if you want one more walk. You aren’t moving through a disconnected holiday. You’re staying in the middle of a place where everything belongs to the same rhythm.
That’s what gives December at Santarena its particular shape. Not only festive atmosphere, but bright days, blue skies, movement, wildlife, and the pleasure of ending it all somewhere that feels intimate, beautiful, and fully part of the season.
If your idea of celebrating the season includes sun, surf, nature, and the kind of holiday energy that feels best outside, Santarena might be exactly where you want to be. December here doesn’t ask you to choose between festivity and adventure. It gives you both.