Over the weekend, the sleepy beach town of Tamarindo in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica was alive with the thrumming of DJs and acts from around the world. The much-beloved Ocaso Festival got pumping on Wednesday and is still rolling today with a detox/ re-acclimation-themed beach party. All weekend, crowds revelled beneath the tropic skies and on the powdery beaches. It was a full-on scene (we’ll have photos for you later today).
For DJ FRiGiD the festival is something of a homecoming. The artist rose to prominence in the Costa Rican electronic music scene of the mid-90s. He made his name with sets at Club Regina 51 — the sun around which Costa Rica’s house and electronic music scene orbited at the time. After traveling the world with residencies throughout Europe, FRiGiD returned to Costa Rica for Ocaso — a pretty fantastic place for a homecoming if you’re into thrilled crowds and perfect surf.
With FRiGiD’s Costa Rican return wrapping up today, we asked him to share his advice for future party-centric travels around the country. He shouted out some classics and came back with a few surprises too.
1. Ocaso Festival (Tamarindo)
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This year’s fest is wrapping up, but this is flat out the biggest and finest electronic music festival in Costa Rica. Ocaso is dedicated to underground music culture at beautiful Tamarindo beach, where the sea and sunsets are the perfect setting for what I consider the most important event of the year. The event has been growing in fans eager to listen to the national and international DJs on the line-up. Bigger names are added to the lineup each year, which is a major plus for the local and international crowd, who expands each edition.
2. El Garito (Tamarindo)
Legendary electronic music club in Tamarindo beach — open air and great vibes. This is my favorite club in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and it is one of the few clubs dedicated exclusively to quality electronic music. Their resident DJ, Ezequiel Maronini, is one of the finest of the whole country and has tailored a club with an exquisite music selection.
DJs are able to perform in an environment full of electronic music fans at a club that has no roof, so you can feel like you’re right at the beach while watching the stars.
3. Chringuito (Tamarindo)
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Perfect spot to watch the sunset, have delicious food and drinks, and decompress by laying back beachfront. My favorite spot to chill out, hang with friends, relax after a night of partying. It is right in front of the beach and they serve delicious cocktails and meals. It has one of the best views of the sunset on the entire Pacific coast. You can watch the sunset colors changing in a breathtaking palette while you hang on the beach or swim at the sea.
4. Tamarindo Night Market (Tamarindo)
Amazing offer of food and drinks in the night market, which provides a great environment. Very cool place with a nice variety of bars and restaurants with all kinds of food and drinks. Perfect spot for going out for dinner and drinks because you have a lot of options to choose from. Also you can find very cool music oriented people here, just before the party begins.
5. Club Vertigo (San José)
One of the best clubs in the region, needs no introduction. Amazing GSA sound system where some of best DJs in Costa Rica come to play along with international artists every weekend. This club located in Paseo Colón, San José — an institution for electronic music lovers, not only from Costa Rica, but also all of Latin America.
This club’s true dedication to music makes it one the best in the region. Has been chosen as one of the best 100 electronic music clubs in the world.
6. Club Venue (San José)
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Preferred LGTBI club in the capital that has electronic music playing every weekend. Super cool club and the second biggest and most important club in San José. Although primarily known for its LGTBI crowd, it is also known for its electronic music. It has two main spaces inside the club — one where attendees can take a more underground approach at the main floor and one with a more commercial style of music at lounge.
7. Antik (San José)
This club is located at a beautiful building in downtown. It has several environments of music, including a basement exclusive for electronic music and another area for charanga and reggae music. Younger crowds dig this club very much, and since its opening, it has been gaining a good name for cool people and nice music. Its restaurant is also very good, and I fully recommended.
8. Karomi Lounge (San José)
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A petite lounge with great food and electronic DJ music every Thursday night. It has amazing Japanese fusion food and it’s the perfect setting to go out at night to have dinner, tapas, and drinks with your friends. Oriented to a more 30+ crowd, the place is small, but very nicely decorated. On Thursday evening, there is always a DJ playing house and melodic styles of electronic music.
