Del Mar Academy

"Del Mar Academy is a private international school situated in Nosara, a coastal community on Costa Rica's Guanacaste peninsula known for its natural beauty, surf culture, and tight-knit expatriate community."

Founded in 2016, the school has established itself as a distinctive educational option for families drawn to this unique corner of Central America, offering a rigorous academic program within an environment that reflects the values and rhythms of its remarkable surroundings. The school's academic program is anchored in the International Baccalaureate framework, one of the most respected and globally recognized educational systems in the world. Del Mar Academy offers both the Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme, providing a continuous and coherent IB pathway for students through their secondary years and into pre-university study. The IB approach is well suited to the internationally mobile families who make up much of Nosara's population, as credentials and transcripts are recognized by universities and schools worldwide, giving students meaningful continuity regardless of where their educational journeys take them next. Instruction at Del Mar Academy is delivered in both English and Spanish, reflecting Costa Rica's national language and the bilingual reality of life in this bicultural community. This dual-language environment offers students something genuinely valuable — the ability to develop academic fluency in two major world languages simultaneously, a skill with lasting personal and professional benefits. For expatriate families arriving from English-speaking countries, the English instruction provides a comfortable academic foundation, while the integration of Spanish ensures students engage meaningfully with their local surroundings and develop true linguistic versatility. Nosara itself is a compelling backdrop for education. The town has long attracted surfers, yoga practitioners, wellness professionals, and nature enthusiasts from around the world, and its resident population includes a notably international mix of families who have chosen a lifestyle defined by outdoor living, environmental consciousness, and community connection. Del Mar Academy sits within this context, serving a student body that is likely as diverse in nationality and background as the community itself. For children of relocating professionals or expat families seeking an alternative to large urban international schools, the smaller, community-embedded character of Nosara and its schools can offer a genuinely different educational experience — one where learning extends naturally into the natural world and where students are known as individuals rather than as faces in a crowd. What ultimately distinguishes Del Mar Academy is the combination of internationally rigorous academics with an uncommonly vibrant and unconventional setting. The IB programmes ensure that students are not sacrificing academic quality for lifestyle, while Nosara's coastal, ecologically rich environment offers experiential dimensions that few schools anywhere in the world can match. For families weighing the decision to relocate to this part of Costa Rica, Del Mar Academy represents a credible and purposeful educational home — one that takes seriously both the intellectual development of its students and the extraordinary place in which they are growing up.