Intercultura Costa Rica: Beachfront Spanish Immersion

I visited both Heredia and Samara campuses. Both were fantastic and had their unique perks. Heredia I was immersed in city living. When i wasn't studying, I visited the local cafes, ate traditional food at the sodas and went on day trips (everywhere is accessible from Heredia!). Samara is beachy and chilled and a great place to study. It’s loads of fun. If you stay on the Intercultura campus (which I recommend highly) you will experience views like never before right on your doorstep. Exploring Costa Rica through Intercultura is a great way to go if you’re a first time solo traveler or seasoned explorer looking to connect with people and learn.

I went from zero Spanish to fluent in 6 months in Intercultura's Spanish program. Their classes are led by dynamic, talented teachers and their cultural activities (dance, cooking, excursions) and homestay families allow you to truly embrace the local culture and have the full immersion experience! Their TEENS program is especially impressive as it allows teens to connect with local Costa Rican teens and enjoy activites which fit their interests and needs. If you are an adult or if you have teenagers this is is the school for you, they have something for every type of learner!

My wife Laurean and I sent our son there in 2025, after I studied in 1994 (!) and now my wife went in 2026.

When it came time to send my son to a Spanish language program in a Spanish- speaking country, I started by reconnecting with Intercultura. I studied at Intercultura in 1994, and it was an experience that has stayed with me for life. I loved the school, the teachers, my host family, the leap I made in speaking Spanish, and the beautiful country.

After reading the recent student reviews and the biographies of the qualified teachers on their website, I was happy to see that Intercultura continued to thrive for over 30 years. I felt very comfortable sending him there - some of the wonderful administrators I had 30 years ago were still there including Adelita and Laura, two former teachers who founded the school themselves!

My son studied at Intercultura for two weeks in July of 2025. He spent one week at the beach campus in Samara and one week at the campus in Heredia. The class sizes were small - he was one of 4 students at the beach class and one of 3 in the Heredia class. The classes were very interactive and he had of focused conversation time with topics designed for teens. He said the school also offered lots of activities outside of class time and he was never bored. One of the things he loved the most was making friends with Costa Rican kids that were at the school studying ESL. He is still in touch with with a few kids there. His confidence speaking Spanish greatly improved and he had a lot of fun and a great learning experience at the same time.

When it came time to send my son to a Spanish language program in a Spanish- speaking country, I started by reconnecting with Intercultura. I studied at Intercultura in 1994, and it was an experience that has stayed with me for life. I loved the school, the teachers, my host family, the leap I made in speaking Spanish, and the beautiful countryside.

After reading the recent student reviews and the biographies of the qualified teachers on their website, I was happy to see that Intercultura has continued to thrive for over 30 years. I felt very comfortable sending him there - some of the wonderful administrators I had 30 years ago were still there, including the directors Adelita and Laura, two former teachers who started the school themselves.

My son studied at Intercultura for two weeks, this was in July of 2025. He spent one week at the beach campus in Samara and one week at the campus in Heredia. The class sizes were small - he was one of 4 students at the beach class and one of 3 in the Heredia class. The classes were super interactive with lots of focused conversation time and they were designed for teens, with topics he actually wanted to talk about. He said the school also offered lots of activities outside of class time and he was never bored, amazingly. One of the things he loved the most was making friends with Costa Rican kids that were at the school studying ESL (he is still in touch with with a few kids from there). His confidence speaking Spanish greatly improved and he had a lot of fun and a great learning experience at the same time.

I loved my time at Intercultura! I found it on Global Scholarships, where it was named one of the best seven Spanish schools in the world, and the only one in Costa Rica, which I really wanted to visit. I also liked that the school listed their teachers’ qualifications on their website, along with student reviews of the teachers, I think this is really important because you know they’re actual teachers. Anyway, the teachers I had were excellent - they really cared about how much I was learning and what our class was getting out of each lesson. They made the lessons fun and relevant and I got to practice speaking a lot. I also liked that they had a really clear structure - first we’d do pre-conversation vocabulary and grammar point review, and then a topic was chosen that included those points, then you progress from easier to harder activities related to it. We also had freedom to expand upon the topic and go with other subjects that would come up in the class related to our interests.

After class we had tons of fun activities (which were free) that exposed us to Costa Rican culture, and I got to continue to practice speaking Spanish. My Spanish improved so much, and my cooking Costa Rica style too!

I loved spending time at the beach and also being at the city campus - they were two different, but both great, experiences. The school was very well run and organized and felt personal but not too small at the same time. It was fun to meet people from other countries and local Costa Ricans as well, it really opened my eyes and made me realize how easy it is to get past the differences just by having contact with people from so many different backgrounds, including different religions and sexual orientations, it was a really open and diverse atmosphere, which I loved. It’s part of the school’s philosophy and you can see they really mean it, it’s not just a blurb on a website.

I studied at Intercultura and loved the experience so much I went back to teach English! The school has a perfect balance of professionalism, culture and comfort. It is obviously well run and truly makes sure you receive the Costa Rican cultural experience. The cooking classes were amazing and having the chance to do latin dance classes inside the school was a lot of fun! There were always resources and recommendations available for different interests in the area. The teachers were professional and adapted to the learning styles of the students in the class. This school is what brought me to CR and the reason I returned.

As a professional journalist with a strong interest in languages, I was terrifically inspired by the quality of teaching at Intercultura and the application that it had for my work as a writer and publisher. After spending just two weeks at Intercultura studying Spanish - a new language for me - I was able to deliver a short valedictory in Spanish and leave the school with an appreciation of both the language and the local culture. Intercultura is a vital part of this culture, and a tremendous opportunity for students from around the world to expand their knowledge of other cultures and their impact on everyday life.

Our time at Intercultura was absolutely, 100% beyond expectations. We loved studying and experiencing the "pura vida" at their wonderful campuses in Heredia and Samara Beach (literally, right on the beach!).

My family and I had one of the most, I don't know how to describe it... - immersive?- experiences learning Spanish, we lived at the school apartments at the beach because we wanted AC, but in Heredia we did a homestay and that was a highlight. Dona Eliana made us delicious meals, and took time every day to sit and practice with us, on the weekend she took us for a hike up in the mountains with her husband, it was like a whole new world opening up.

My kids travelled, had fun, made great friends they are still in contact with, and also learned a lot of Spanish (to my surprise!) at the teen camps. They had surf lessons, went zip-lining, even learned a little salsa dancing, went horseback riding, and they loved visiting the local fruit markets. Our favorite part was being at what we think is the most beautiful beach in Costa Rica (Samara).

One of the most important things for us was the connection with the staff at Intercultura. They always had a smile for us, like Giovanna and Fabiola in reception, and Estefania who is the manager and has been with the school since she was 19!! Actually almost all of the staff there has been there for many years, that says a lot about the school, and the founding directors are still there too, which was really interesting to hear their stories (one lady is from Costa Rica and the other was born in Switzerland but went to school in the US, they met here and have been partners for over 30 years!) They were always there for us and treated us like people, not clients —it felt like a big family. All the teachers were kind and supportive, and the teen camp has two directors, one at each campus, Holly and Amy, which was extremely important for my wife and me, because we were a bit nervous and really needed to trust the people taking care of your kids. Also a shout-out to Jessenia (Yessenia?), the head camp chaperone, she was literally with the kids or right close by 24/7, and one of her assistant chaperones was Leah, a dual Costa Rican/US citizen who was close enough in age to the teens that she became like an older sister, at least for our kids, they are still in touch and planning to go visit her next summer in Heredia where the city campus is.