Santa Teresa (Malpais) weather by month
The best time to visit Santa Teresa (Malpais) is January to March — 94/100 in February, 30°C and 2 rainy days. The best season is the dry season, December to April (90/100 on average).
The worst month is October at 55/100 — hot, soaked, clean air. See October →
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
Planning the wider trip? Best time to visit Costa Rica →
Best season: December to April (90/100 on average) · worst October (55/100)
- Days
- 30°C
- Nights
- 26°C
- Wet days
- 2
- Sun
- 11 h
- Humidity
- 72%
- Daylight
- 12 h

Santa Teresa, month by month
Comfort score out of 100 for the kind of trip Santa Teresa is best for, the average high, rainy days and hours of sun a day from the climate normals, and how busy it tends to be.
What's on in Santa Teresa through the year
Festivals, natural spectacles, holidays and the seasons to watch out for — curated and sourced. The month pages carry the detail.
Crowds in Santa Teresa in February
How busy the place itself is — school and mass holidays, the months an editor tagged, and how sought-after the weather makes them. Never part of the comfort score.
BusyDry season(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Traveller notes on Santa Teresa
What people who have been say about the place — the year-round notes first, then month by month.
Forum posters place February and March inside Guanacaste/Nicoya's dry season - genuinely dry and dusty by Costa Rican standards, a sharp contrast to the wetter months later in the year. The typical pattern posters describe even in the dry season: sun and partly cloudy skies dominate, with any rain that does show up more likely arriving late afternoon or at night rather than disrupting daytime plans - the standard advice is to schedule surfing, beach time and outdoor activities for the morning and early afternoon regardless of month. Posters consistently name this Pacific Nicoya Peninsula stretch (Santa Teresa included) as one of the more reliably dry corners of Costa Rica during the dry season months.
Santa Teresa forum threads describe August as genuinely rainy country-wide, with the typical pattern being sunny mornings, a real chance of afternoon rain, and possibly wet overnight stretches too - posters called mid-August 'nice and wet' rather than a washout. The consistent advice was to front-load activities for the morning and treat the area as a place to slow down and relax in the afternoons. Multiple threads flagged that the heaviest rainy season here doesn't really start until the very end of August into September/October, when some restaurants and hotels close for the slow season, meaning earlier August still runs noticeably better than what follows it.
Add your own note from Santa Teresa's card on the map.