Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast travel guide

Places to visit on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast

Puerto Limón

Puerto Limón is pure Caribbean. With its rich, ripe jumble of sights and sounds and smells, it is a hot, steamy, laid-back place. Most middle-class Ticos who live in the Central Valley consider it something of a disgrace, adversely affected by poverty and crime. But multimillion-dollar plans are afoot to give Limón a face-lift and make it more visitor-friendly. The main tourist focus here is the huge cruise-ship dock that disgorges thousands of visitors every year.

In the center of Limón you won’t find the usual cathedral or soccer field facing a plaza such as you see in all the towns of the Central Valley. Instead Parque Vargas, named after a local governor, is filled with huge banyan trees with buttress roots that the locals use for seats while they wait for a bus. 

There are few decent hotels in Limón. Most travelers stay at the Park Hotel overlooking the seafront, or at more upscale hotels north or south of the city center. Beware, however, that thefts from cars and muggings have been a problem in the city.

Puerto Viejo

The tumbledown community of Puerto Viejo consists primarily of wooden houses amidst tall grass. Not long ago there were no roads, cars or tourists here, but things have changed. The area’s beautiful undeveloped beaches and easy-going ways have been discovered and now there are cabinas, hotels and new commercial developments springing up.

Puerto Viejo is famous in surfing circles for the Salsa Brava, a fast, explosive wave that breaks over the reef from December through April and again in June and July. It attracts surfers from all over the world. At other times of the year the sea is quiet, particularly inside the reef, and good for snorkeling. 

If you want accommodation in town, there are a number of relaxed, cheerful places complemented by a handful of casual bars and restaurants, including Bread and Chocolate, near the post office, which is known for its oatmeal pancakes, muffins, and incredible brownies, as well as excellent coffee.

To the south of town there are sophisticated hotels and restaurants lining the road across from beautiful stretches of white sand beach edged by palm trees. La Pecora Nera is a romantic spot where you can enjoy excellent Tuscan cuisine, and is incongruously, one of the best restaurants in the country. If you haven’t got a car, rent a bicycle and join the legions of cyclists meandering along the potholed roads around Puerto Viejo and to the nearby beaches. 

Tortuguero National Park   

North-west up the coast from Puerto Limón, a vast expanse of the coast and hinterland have been designated as Tortuguero National Park. There are many ways to navigate its maze of waterways, including renting a dugout canoe or kayak. The best way to tour the canals is on a boat with an electric motor, guided by an expert naturalist. Note that you cannot enter the land portion of the park without wearing rubber boots, which can be hired at the park office or in the village. Or take a package tour that includes a room at one of the jungle lodges that range from modest to luxurious, plus meals, naturalist guides, and the trip through the canals. 

All of the Tortuguero hotels offer guided river trips and transportation either by bus and boat or by small plane from San José. Launches going up to Tortuguero also depart from Moín, just a few kilometers north of Limón. NatureAir and SANSA have short, scheduled flights from San José to Tortuguero. It is also possible to explore the canals by hiring a boat in Barra del Colorado, famous for its remote fishing lodges north of Tortuguero, near the Nicaraguan border.

Green basilisk lizard, Costa Rica. Photo: jo Crebbin/Shutterstock

Things to do in Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast

Carnaval in Limón   

Puerto Limón’s annual Carnaval (Carnival) is arguably the best reason to visit the city. This week-long celebration is held every October (rather than in February, the usual carnival month elsewhere). Carnival first began here in 1949, under the leadership of a barber called Alfred Henry King, who timed the festivities to coincide with the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s landing near Limón on 18 October 18, 1502. El Día de la Raza, ‘The Day of the People,’ which falls during Carnival Week and traditionally includes the participation of the indigenous people who live in the region, has been renamed Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in recognition of the fact that not everyone remembers Columbus with equal affection. It is also a tribute to the contributions made to Costa Rica by people of various different cultures.

The highlight of Carnival Week is the parade, when local people joined by thousands of visitors take to the streets to revel in an uplifting music and dance spectacle. The drums, the heat, the shimmering dancers and drummers in bright costumes, urge spectators to abandon their inhibitions and surrender to the Caribbean beat. And they do. Limonenses and visitors alike, fill the streets, shimmying, shaking, singing, and carousing, while the irresistible rhythms of steel drums fill the warm, humid air.

Tortuguero canals

Travelling on the Tortuguero canals, up through the area north of Puerto Limón, has been likened to floating dreamily down the Amazon. It is certainly one of the most wonderfully lyrical trips to be taken anywhere in the world. As you drift lazily along, awash in the fragrance of white ginger blossoms and lavender water hyacinths, the tranquility here soothes away all your cares. With the help of an expert naturalist guide, you may catch glimpses of sloths, crocodiles, caimans, and basking freshwater turtles. High up in the exuberant vegetation, multicolored parrots squawk noisily, while cranky howler monkeys shake the branches. 

Tortuguero canals, Costa Rica. Photo: Kenneth Vargas Torres/Shutterstock

Viewing green sea turtles

Costa Rica is home to five species of sea turtles: green, hawksbill, olive ridley, leatherback, and loggerhead. They are more easily viewed here than anywhere else in the world. They nest at several well-known beaches on both Caribbean and Pacific shores. 

The 35km (22-mile) stretch of Tortuguero Beach, from tortuga which means turtle in Spanish, on the country’s northern Caribbean coast, is the most important nesting area for green turtles in the Western Caribbean.  The specias has been listed as endangered since the 1950s. The Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) was established at Tortuguero for the purpose of studying and protecting these vulnerable creatures. The STC runs a Tortuguero Visitor Center between the village and the more remote John H. Phipps Biological Field Station on the Tortuguero River. The center has a wildlife photo gallery and you can watch a video with information about the region’s plant and animal life, including, of course, the green sea turtle. The area has been known for its turtle-hunting grounds since at least the mid-16th century, and turtles were exploited for their meat, shells, and eggs with impunity until as recently as 1970, when the area was established as a national park. Although poaching still happens, visiting green sea turtles and their leatherback cousins are now afforded a degree of protection.

If possible, visit Tortuguero during the turtle-nesting season, in the company of a knowledgeable naturalist guide to help you understand the habits and sensitivities of these magnificent creatures. Official turtle watching season runs from February through November, and you must go with a certified guide. 

Green turtles mate and nest several times from September through November. Impregnated females wait offshore until dark before beginning the long journey up the beach to the nesting site. If undisturbed during the crawl up the sand, the females will dig their nests, lay their eggs and then cover them over with sand. In undisturbed nests, baby green turtles hatch in a couple of months. A critical mass of about 100 turtles all working together excavate the 1 meter (3ft) of sand covering them. Usually before dawn, they erupt onto the beach, head for the horizon over the sea, and scramble for the water running the gauntlet of crabs and birds, perhaps then only to be met by sharks and predatory fish once they do reach the water. Less than three percent survive.

Sea turtles remain on the endangered species list, although worldwide conservation programs are under way. Hopefully these, plus the efforts of the many volunteer programs and the commercial demands of ecotourism, will yet save the endangered turtles.

Green sea turtle over coral reef in the Caribbean, Costa Rica. Photo: Damsea/Shutterstock

Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Gandoca-Manzanillo

South of the village of Manzanillo, a short walk along the beach, the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Gandoca-Manzanillo protects swamplands, coral reefs, turtle nesting grounds, and the only mangrove forest on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. The hiking trail along the coast crosses streams, clambers over rocks, and then climbs uphill into forest, where birds and wildlife are abundant. To get the most out of a hike, hire a local guide from the Association of Indigenous Naturalist Guides of Manzanillo, but be sure to bring your own drinking water as there are no facilities available in the refuge. 

Things to see on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast

Cahuita National Park

To the immediate south of its namesake town, Cahuita National Park is famous for its fine, sandy beach and coral reef, making it one of the best places to visit on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast. The reef extends 500 meters (1,500ft) out to sea from Punta Cahuita and offers great snorkeling, although the point of the reef was severely displaced during an earthquake. There are many species of tropical fish, crabs, lobsters, sea fans, anemones, sponges and countless other marine creatures to observe amidst the coral formations. You can admire it all and keep your feet dry aboard a glass-bottomed boat, or you can swim from the Puerto Vargas end of the beach. Diving equipment can be rented at the nearby Punta Uva Dive Center.

The main entrance to the park is at Puerto Vargas, 5km (3 miles) south of town. Lifeguards patrol the beach and there is good snorkeling at Punta Cahuita. Camping is permitted in the Puerto Vargas sector, which has toilets, showers, and picnic tables. Coatis and racoons frequent the campgrounds looking for fruit and other food, and are not above overturning a tent to get them. From Puerto Vargas you can hike along a nature trail into the jungle.

North of Cahuita is a black-sand beach with gentle waters that are great for swimming. Accommodation is available throughout town and on the beach. Reservations are essential during the Christmas and Easter periods and during Carnival, which takes place in the second week of October. The best time to visit Cahuita is from February through April, and in October when the weather is driest. 

Punta Uva

To the south of Puerto Viejo is heavenly Punta Uva, probably the best, most easily accessible beach along Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. Crystalline, aquamarine water laps quietly on the palm-fringed beach, and both the air and water temperatures seem fixed at a constant, perfect 27°C (80°F). This is the best snorkeling beach on the coast, with a healthy reef just meters offshore. It is also the only Caribbean beach where you can catch the sunset – it is actually sited in a westerly direction. You can cycle here from Puerto Viejo and there are plenty of charming and affordable places to stay all the way down the road to Punta Uva. 

Manzanillo

Farther south, the tiny fishing village of Manzanillo can be reached by walking along the sand for about two hours from Punta Uva, or by a 20-minute car journey from Puerto Viejo along the paved road. Coral reefs offshore create a natural harbor in which the water can be as calm as a lake for swimming in the early morning and late afternoon. Surfers enjoy it, too, for its fast beach break.

You will see small fishing boats pulled up onto the sand all along the beach. The supply of fresh fish is put to good use at the casual local restaurants overlooking the beach. There are also a few relaxed bars back from the beach, as well as cabinas offering simple accommodation.

Manzanillo coastline, Costa Rica. Photo: Damsea/Shutterstock