Playa Flamingo, Cabo Velas, Guanacaste 50308, Costa Rica
Las Catalinas, Cabo Velas, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Santa Cruz 50304, Costa Rica
8 BD | 10 BA | 11,700.32 Sq.Ft.
Hacienda Pinilla, Tamarindo, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste 50309, Costa Rica
6 BD | 6 BA | 650 Sq.M.
Punta Penca, Las Catalinas, Guanacaste 50304, Costa Rica
7 BD | 7 BA | 857 Sq.M.
Playa Potrero, Tempate, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste 50304, Costa Rica
28,976.33 Sq.Ft.
Peninsula Papagayo, Sardinal, Carrillo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Peninsula Papagayo, Guanacaste 50503, Costa Rica
6 BD | 7 BA | 9,737.6 Sq.Ft.
Lake and volcano views on the Guanacaste side of Costa Rica’s largest lake.
Lake Arenal is Costa Rica’s largest lake, a reservoir of about 85 square kilometers stretching roughly 30 kilometers from the dam near Arenal Volcano to the hills above Tilarán. Most of the lake lies within the canton of Tilarán, in Guanacaste province. Its north shore is lined with hillside homes, small inns, and farms looking south across the water toward the volcano, with the town of Nuevo Arenal at its center.
Tilarán sits at about 580 meters at the lake’s western end. As the canton seat, it is the area’s commercial and administrative center, with banks, supermarkets, schools, and the municipal offices.
Life here centers on the lake, the wind, and the view of the volcano rather than the beach. At roughly 550 to 620 meters, the area is cooler than the Guanacaste coast and stays green for more of the year. The steady wind across the western end of the lake has made it one of the world’s best-known windsurfing and kitesurfing waters, and it turns the wind turbines on the ridges around Tilarán. Much of the north shore is pasture and forest rather than development, and homes are typically set on larger lots facing the lake and Arenal Volcano. Buyers here want space, a mild climate, and an active outdoor life, with La Fortuna on one side of the lake and the Guanacaste coast on the other.
Lake Arenal. About 85 square kilometers, enlarged to roughly three times its original size by the Sangregado Dam in 1979 and part of Costa Rica’s largest hydroelectric project. Windsurfing, kitesurfing, kayaking, stand-up paddling, and fishing for guapote (rainbow bass).
Arenal Volcano National Park. A 121-square-kilometer park protecting the volcano and its forests at the lake’s eastern end, with the volcano in view from much of the north shore.
Nuevo Arenal. The north-shore town built when the lake was enlarged, with groceries, restaurants, and daily services.
Tilarán. The canton seat at the lake’s western end, with the area’s broadest range of services and schools.
La Fortuna. Hot springs, restaurants, and tours on the far side of the lake, about an hour from Nuevo Arenal by the lakeside road.
Property around the lake and Tilarán includes hillside homes with lake and volcano views, lakeside lots, farms and pastureland, small hotels and inns, and homes in and around Tilarán.
Inland due diligence applies here: the source and legal status of the water supply, registered road access, and whether any part of the parcel is forest, since Costa Rica’s Forestry Law restricts clearing. The same law sets a protection zone along the shores of lakes and state-built reservoirs, so lakefront parcels need particular review. KRAIN works through each of these with the buyer and their attorney.
Tilarán is about 85 kilometers, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours, from Liberia International Airport (LIR), via the Inter-American Highway to Cañas and then Route 142 to Tilarán. Route 142 continues along the lake’s north shore through Nuevo Arenal to the dam and La Fortuna, about 90 minutes from Tilarán. The Guanacaste beaches are reached through Cañas and Liberia.
KRAIN represents buyers and sellers around Lake Arenal and Tilarán. [Agent or office contact for this area.] Contact KRAIN to discuss properties on the lake.
Our full Lake Arenal and Tilarán buyer’s guide covers current listings and buying around the lake.
