In a word: yes. You could stay in Tamarindo for a month and eat at a different place every day and not have a bad meal. There's a killer bakery at the north end of town that's good for breakfast; next door is the bustling Restaurant Cocodrilo; across the street, the Tamarindo Vista Villas has satellite TV to go along with delicious seafood and has become a popular watering hole as well; a little farther south is Restaurant Coconut, one of town's better seafood places; the El Milagro a bit farther down has good breakfast and dinner; as you approach the traffic circle there are a few good places, like long-time favorite The Zully Mar, right on the beach; up that street and back a bit are a few scattered Italian restaurants that have killer pizza and pasta. (Tamarindo is, like, 40 percent Italian, so it kinda makes sense.) Plus, almost all the upscale hotels have really good restaurants of their own, so you're never going to go hungry. There are a couple supermarkets and sodas on the main drag for inexpensive fare.

Tamarindo is Costa Rica's most developed coastal resort town, so there's no shortage of accommodations to suit all budgets. A good place to start researching, especially for the upper-end places, is www.tamarindo.net. If you want to stay right at Playa Grande and avoid the walk/drive every day, a really good choice is the well-designed Hotel Las Tortugas ($70-$100/night; ph: 653-0458; email: nela@cool.co.cr), which is the closest hotel to the best peak on the playa. There are also a couple houses for rent right next door, run by Costa Rica Conexion (ph: 653-0496), who rent a bunch of houses around the country. In town, from north to south, you've got the clean, though small, Hotel Pueblo Dorado ($40-$60/night; ph: 653-0008) on the north end; next door is the Best Western-owned and super-plush Tamarindo Vista Villas ($100-$130/night; ph: 653-0114; email: tamvv@sol.racsa.co.cr), which has full-on apartment-type suites with TV/VCR, kitchen, and maid service, not to mention insane views of the rivermouth; just down from there is the Hotel Milagro ($30-$60/night; ph: 653-0042; email: flokiro@sol.racsa.co.cr), which has a groovy native vibe and some hammocks; down and on the beachfront, Cabinas Doly ($20-$30/night) is an old favorite and gives you the advantage of being able to check the reefbreaks from some of the rooms; closer to the traffic circle, the clean, though faded, Hotel Zully Mar ($40-$70/night; ph: 653-0140), another fine option; and across the street, the La Palapa ($40-$70/night; ph: 653-0362) has some great beachside rooms, though they tend to fill up quickly. Harbor Reef Surf Resort in Nosara offers a variety of surf trip packages and accomodations ranging from $95-$400/night(www.harborreef.net; ph:682-0059) There are way more options, from the super-opulent El Jardin del Eden ($100-$200/night; ph: 653-0137; email: hotel@jardin-eden.com) to one of the scattered camping places at the south end of town. It pays to show up and have a look around if you have time.

If you'd like to stay closer to Playa Avellanes or Playa Negra, there are a bunch of options as well. A couple surfer favorites would be Cabinas Las Olas ($40-$60/night; ph: 682-4366) in Avellanes and Hotel Playa Negra ($50-$70/night; ph: 382-1301; email: info@playanegra.com) in Playa Negra.

If you're in a buying mood, there is no shortage of real estate offices around, either. Remax (ph: 653-0238), Century 21 (ph: 653-0360), and Coldwell Banker (ph: 654-4912) are a few of the internationally known offices in town.

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If you're into turtles, you can check out the leatherback laying a few eggs at Playa Grande ($6-$26, depending on which tour you go with; National Park office ph: 653-0470); there's the Canopy Tour just east of town if you're in that sort of mood; there's sport fishing, ATV rentals, diving, chilling on the beach -- pretty much anything you'd ever want from a beach holiday town. Organized tour agencies sprout up all over the place, but Papagayo Excursions (ph: 653-0254) has been around a while and is a local favorite, as have Iguana Surf Aquatic Outfitters (ph: 653-0148) and Tamarindo Adventuras (ph: 653-0640). A new nighttime favorite for the ambient-music crowd is the Big Bazaar, at the south end of town right on the beach -- they have sporadic big DJ nights, complete with fire-jugglers and pierced freaks, if you're into that sort of thing. There's also a bunch of places that offer yoga, massage, and aromatherapy classes.

Blue Trailz Surf Camp is based in Tamarindo with 5 cabinas that sleep up to 12 people each. They also have a surf hostel that is 30 minutes south based in Avellanas. They are an official Surftech dealer with a large selection of surfboards to chose from for purchase or rental. Check 'em out at
www.bluetrailz.com/tamarindo-surf-camp.phtml

The phrase "surf shop" is a wee bit overused in Tamarindo -- plenty of the trinket stores selling nothing but crappy beads and other "native" handicrafts call themselves surf shops. That said, there are a few well-stocked shops around. Iguana Surf (ph: 653-0148; www.tamarindo.com/iguana ) has two stores (the first is right on your way into town) and used, new, and rental boards; they also organize tours and are a very good source of local info. Mariesas (ph: 653-0224), just down the road, has a wide selection of custom local and international shapes. The High Tide Surf Shop (ph: 653-0108), a block or so east of town's main T-junction, also has quite a few nice new shapes. All of the above surf shops will help out with surf taxis (if you're car-less and want a lift to Grande or Negra) and boat trips to Witches Rock and Ollie's Point, and they're associated with a learn-to-surf school. In the Best Western Tamarindo Vista Villas, there's the Robert August Surf Shop and Corky Carroll's Surf Camp. Also check out the Banana Surf Club for boards and surf schooling.