Santa Teresa (Malpais) weather in September
September in Santa Teresa: sweltering, soaked, with clean air — a gamble, with 29 rainy days.
Updated September 2026 · climate normals from ERA5 reanalysis
#8 of 12 months in Santa Teresa · #1083 of 1413 destinations to visit in September · comfort 63/100 (tier C)
- Days
- 28°C
- Nights
- 25°C
- Wet days
- 29
- Sun
- 8.8 h
- Humidity
- 87%
- Daylight
- 12 h

Traveller notes on Santa Teresa in September
Notes from nearby Monteverde (84 km away)
Santa Teresa doesn't have its own notes for September yet — these are about Monteverde, close enough to share the season.
Monteverde-forum threads on September describe this as genuinely deep in the region's off-season, a real tradeoff of fewer crowds against a much higher chance of unsettled conditions on a given day. Posters are consistent showers here often fall overnight rather than through the day, so a visitor can still get a clear, workable stretch for the canopy walks and reserve trails even during a heavier week overall. One short-stay visitor called themselves lucky with a genuinely beautiful couple of days despite planning around the reputation. Regulars describe the elevation as keeping things noticeably cool whenever the cloud cover thins, real layers worth having regardless of how warm San Jose or the coast felt on the same trip. Unpaved roads into town are called noticeably trickier this time of year, a higher-clearance vehicle a real asset. The record: 23.5C days feeling like 25C, 17.9C nights, an extraordinarily high 391mm across nearly 29 days and 90 percent humidity.
Other months in Santa Teresa
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.
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.
Add your own note from Santa Teresa's card on the map.
Santa Teresa climate normals — September
Monthly averages from ERA5 reanalysis. AQI is the mean US Air Quality Index for the month.
Crowds in Santa Teresa in September
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.
Shoulder seasonschool holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month(estimated)
Peak crowdsBusyShoulder seasonQuiet
Best months for Santa Teresa's weather
Ranked by this destination's own climate comfort score across the year — a different thing from how busy it gets (see Crowds above).
Fair weatherSanta Teresa's weather peaks January–March, best around February.
Best weatherFair weatherToughest weather
What's on in Santa Teresa in September
Recurring seasonal events, natural spectacles, closures and holidays — curated and sourced.
- Season
Surf season
15 Mar – 31 Oct · usuallyThe southern swells arrive and the beach breaks from Playa Carmen up to Manzanillo work most days — consistent and forgiving, which is why the town exists at all. Dawn is when it is cleanest.
- Season
The shutdown months
15 Sep – 31 Oct · usuallyOff-season shutdownClosuresThe wettest weeks of the year, when the road in gets cut more than once and a good share of the restaurants and hotels close until November. Cheap, empty, and half of it shut.
- Season
Wet season
MonsoonRisk29 rainy days and about 295 mm in the month — the real kind of rainy season, not afternoon showers.
from the climate normals
Nearby, and something's on
Within 300 km of Santa Teresa — a day trip or a short hop — with something on this month. Never part of the comfort score.
Where is Santa Teresa?
Santa Teresa in September — FAQ
- Is September a good time to visit Santa Teresa?
- September in Santa Teresa: sweltering, soaked, with clean air — a gamble, with 29 rainy days. It ranks #8 of 12 months for Santa Teresa on SeasonMap's comfort score (63/100).
- What is the weather like in Santa Teresa in September?
- In September, Santa Teresa averages a daily high of 28°C and a low of 24.8°C, with about 295.1 mm of rain over roughly 28.8 rainy days.
- What is the air quality in Santa Teresa in September?
- Santa Teresa has a mean US Air Quality Index of about 26 in September.
Within 300 km: Jacó's Humpback whales around 15 Jul – 15 Nov, and Nosara's Arribada at Ostional around 1 Jul – 31 Dec.