Where is Hacienda Pinilla?

Hacienda Pinilla is a 4,500-acre resort community on the Guanacaste coast of Costa Rica, between Tamarindo and Playa Avellanas, with about three miles of Pacific coastline. It is roughly ten minutes north of Playa Avellanas and about 30 minutes south of Tamarindo.

Does Hacienda Pinilla have pickleball courts?

Yes. Hacienda Pinilla has tennis and pickleball courts as part of its resort amenities, alongside the golf course, beach club, horseback riding and mountain biking trails.

How many golf courses does Hacienda Pinilla have?

One. The Hacienda Pinilla golf course is an 18-hole par 72 championship layout designed by Mike Young, playing up to 7,200 yards. It is certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. Published rates are $160 for 18 holes and $85 for 9, including cart and practice balls, with twilight rates after 2pm.

Do you have to stay inside Hacienda Pinilla to use it?

No. The golf course takes outside tee times by phone or email, and groups staying nearby in Playa Avellanas regularly drive in to play golf, tennis or pickleball. Beach club access is generally tied to staying inside the development or to the JW Marriott.

What hotels are inside Hacienda Pinilla?

The JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort and Spa sits inside Hacienda Pinilla, as does the Rythmia Life Advancement Center. The rest of the development is residential communities and villas.

The wide empty beach at Playa Avellanas, backed by mangrove and trees

Hacienda Pinilla

Hacienda Pinilla is a 4,500-acre resort community on the Guanacaste coast, with about three miles of Pacific shoreline between Tamarindo and Playa Avellanas. This is a guide written from ten minutes down the road — we are not inside the development, and that turns out to be the useful part.

What is actually there

Golf — one 18-hole par 72 championship course by Mike Young, playing up to 7,200 yards, certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary
Tennis and pickleball courts
The Hacienda Pinilla Beach Club
Horseback riding from the stables
Mountain biking trails through the ranch land
Surf — beach access at Playa Mansita and Playa Langosta
Pinilla Market and the Hole 19 golf clubhouse
JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa and the Rythmia Life Advancement Center, both inside the development

Details above are from Hacienda Pinilla's own published information. Rates and hours change — confirm with them directly before you plan around anything.

The golf course

The course is the main draw and it is genuinely good. Mike Young routed it through tropical forest along the Pacific, par 72, up to 7,200 yards. It has held Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary certification since 2001, which in practice means you will see a lot of wildlife on the back nine.

Published green fees are $160 for 18 holes and $85 for 9, including a cart and practice balls, with a twilight rate after 2pm and a super-twilight rate after 3pm. Tee times go through the pro shop at (506) 2681-4500 or golf@haciendapinilla.com. You do not have to be staying inside the development to book one.

Pickleball and tennis

Excursions near Playa Avellanas, Costa Rica — The courts at Hacienda Pinilla, about ten minutes north of Playa Avellanas. Groups staying at Johnny's play here in the mornings before the heat.

Pinilla has both, and pickleball is the reason a lot of groups end up here. The pattern that works: play early while it is cool, drive back for lunch, spend the afternoon in the water. Ten minutes each way makes that a normal daily rhythm rather than an expedition.

If you are bringing a club or a group, we have a page on how pickleball trips work here →

Where to stay — inside or nearby

This is the practical question, and the honest answer depends on your group.

Inside Pinilla — the JW Marriott, or a villa rental in one of the residential communities. You get beach club access and you are on top of the golf. You are also paying resort rates, and a larger group gets split across rooms or villas.
Nearby in Playa Avellanas — ten minutes south, outside the gates. Quieter beach, lower cost, and a whole property instead of a block of rooms.

Johnny's — ten minutes down the road

One house, 28 people, ten minutes from the courts

Johnny's Beach Bungalow is a whole private property on Playa Avellanas — six bedrooms, each with its own ensuite bathroom, sleeping up to 28. Breakfast is cooked every morning by staff who live on site, there is a pool, a gym and a covered yoga deck, and the beach is a three-minute walk.

For a golf group, a pickleball club or a family reunion, that means one booking and one address instead of a block of hotel rooms — and the Pinilla courses and courts are a ten-minute drive.

Check availability How whole-property bookings work

Aerial view of Johnny's Beach Bungalow and its pool set in jungle near Playa Avellanas

Getting there and getting around

From Playa Avellanas — about 10 minutes north
From Tamarindo — about 30 minutes south
From Liberia airport (LIR) — roughly an hour and a half

The roads around Avellanas are partly dirt and can be rough in the rainy months, so four-wheel drive is worth having if you are renting. If you would rather not, our two 12-passenger vans handle the airport run and can shuttle a group to the courts and back. Directions and transport →

The beaches

Pinilla's three miles of coastline include Playa Mansita and access toward Playa Langosta, and the development markets itself on having some of the quietest beaches in Guanacaste. That is fair. Playa Avellanas, immediately south, is the same stretch of coast — a half-mile of sand between a river mouth and a rocky point, with a surf break that works most of the year and olive ridley turtles nesting from July to December. More on Playa Avellanas →

Mangrove boardwalk north of Playa Avellanas at sunset

Beach chairs under the trees at Lola's, a seven-minute walk from Johnny's Beach Bungalow

Near Johnny's Beach Bungalow in Playa Avellanas

Playing at Pinilla?

Tell us your dates and group size and we will put a quote together.

Check availability Ask a question

Booking direct saves you 10% against the Airbnb price.