Some places make movement feel like effort. Las Catalinas makes it feel like romance.
Here, an active day for two doesn’t begin with a commute, a schedule, or a complicated plan. It begins with the bay just beyond Playa Danta, calm enough to invite you in, and with the kind of beach town where coffee, the court, the sea, and a long lunch all feel naturally connected. June in Costa Rica is especially good for this. The light is softer, the hills are greener, and the atmosphere has a way of making even a short escape feel brighter, fuller, and more alive.
At Santarena Hotel, we love this version of summer because it lets you move through the day together with ease. A paddle around the bay in the morning. Pickleball later, when the mood shifts from calm to playful. Then the familiar pleasures that make everything else land, a swim, a slow dinner, a rooftop pause, and the quiet satisfaction of being exactly where you want to be.
We loved seeing Costa Rica, and our very own Santarena Hotel in Las Catalinas, highlighted on the TODAY Show as part of Mark Ellwood’s roundup of standout vacation deals. He pointed to exactly what makes this place so special: our beautiful cove-like beach, walkable town by the sea, and the kind of setting that rewards planning ahead.
This is the world you step into when you stay at Santarena, a beachfront boutique hotel at Las Catalinas.
Just steps from Santarena Hotel, the bay beyond Playa Danta opens into one of the loveliest ways to begin the day together. Sheltered by the Islotes Pitahayas and framed by Punta Penca, Playa Dantita, and the rocky edges of the coastline, these calm waters invite you out at an easy pace, whether you’re trying paddle boarding for the first time or simply looking for a beautiful way to move across the water side by side.
As you set out from shore, the landscape begins to shift around you. Rock reefs, small islands, and gentle waves create a setting that’s both open and protected at once. Below the surface, reef fish, rays, and other marine life move through the bay. Above it, seabirds circle and glide overhead. In summer, it takes only a short paddle to reach the kind of view that makes the whole Pacific seem to light up around you.
What makes this experience especially appealing is how adaptable it is. Beginners can stay close to the bay, getting comfortable on the board in calm water or heading out with a guide to learn the basics while exploring the shoreline. More confident paddlers may choose a longer route around the bay toward Playa Dantita, or something more playful like yoga on the board.
For stronger, more experienced paddlers, guided outings can venture beyond Puntas Guachipelines and Penca, where the water becomes more active and nearby beaches begin to feel like hidden destinations of their own. Paddle boarding and kayaking are among the easiest water experiences to shape around different comfort levels, and that flexibility is part of what makes them such a natural fit here.
Whether you rent a board or head out with a guide, paddle boarding in Las Catalinas has a way of making the morning feel shared, scenic, and beautifully grounded in place. It is movement, yes, but it hardly feels like exercise. It’s more like setting the tone for the day.
If paddle boarding lets you move with the landscape, then pickleball lets you move with each other.
There is something instantly likeable about it. The court is compact, the rules are easy enough to pick up quickly, and the game invites the kind of back-and-forth that couples tend to enjoy most: a little competition, a little teasing, a few unexpectedly athletic moments, and more laughter than anyone planned for. At La Estancia, the pickleball package includes two hours on the court, paddles, balls, and cold water, which makes it easy to turn an afternoon into something active without making it feel overbuilt.
What we love most about pairing pickleball with a Santarena stay is that it fits the spirit of the destination so well. It is not overproduced. It doesn’t require a whole day. It gives you just enough challenge to feel energized, and just enough playfulness to feel romantic. For couples who already play, it’s a fun way to keep the momentum going. For couples newer to it, the game has a way of becoming enjoyable very quickly.
More broadly, tennis and pickleball at Las Catalinas have become part of the everyday movement culture here. The courts are a short walk from Santarena, and the atmosphere is welcoming for beginners and seasoned players alike. It feels woven into the way the place works.
One of the most appealing things about a stay like this is that it doesn’t ask you to choose between calm and energy. It lets you have both.
Paddle boarding brings quiet, beauty, and a sense of flow. You’re moving, but in a way that’s fluid and almost meditative. Pickleball brings brightness and spark. It’s more playful, more social, and a little more kinetic. Together, these sports create the kind of balance that many couples are looking for, providing connection amidst joy and movement.
That’s what makes the pairing feel so complete. One experience lets you take in the bay, the reefs, and the coastal beauty of Las Catalinas at a gentle pace. The other lets you engage more directly – with each other, with the game, and with the joyful side of movement. You return from both with something slightly different. From the water, a sense of perspective. From the court, a sense of shared momentum.
Of course, what makes all of this work so beautifully is not only the activities themselves, but the way the day flows before and after them.
Santarena sits in the walkable heart of Beach Town, where the beach, restaurants, shops, and cafés are all just minutes away. That changes the feel of your entire stay. You’re not driving from place to place or spending the best part of the day figuring things out. You step onto the sand. You walk to coffee. You head toward the court.
Later, you return for lunch, a swim, or a little time on the rooftop without ever losing the thread of the day. The pedestrian design of our downtown core and the ease of getting from beach to café to court are a large part of why Las Catalinas is so naturally suited to this kind of escape.
This is where we see the real appeal of summer at Santarena: not in one single experience, but in the way everything sits so close together that your day can unfold without friction. That’s what makes it so romantic. Not grand gestures, but little moments and beautiful choices, made easy.
A stay doesn’t have to be long to feel complete; it just has to have the right rhythm.
That might mean beginning one morning on the water, paddling past rock reefs and islands while the bay is still calm and bright. It might mean spending another afternoon on the court, laughing through a game that leaves you more energized than exhausted. It might mean returning afterward to a late lunch, a dip in the sea, and an evening that arrives exactly when it should.
This is the kind of Costa Rica trip many people miss when they focus only on peak-season buzz. It is active, but not hectic. Stylish, but not showy. Romantic, but never overdone. And if that sounds like your kind of summer, we’d love to help you shape it.