What to do at the Caribbean Coastline of Costa Rica?
What to do at the Caribbean Coastline of Costa Rica?
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We highly recommend including the Caribbean Coast to your Costa Rica itinerary, especially this chilled, laid back, hippie city Puerto Viejo near the border to Panama. Puerto Viejo belongs to the district Limón and is also called the second Jamaica. This place is a backpackers paradise, since there are a lot of young people around, co-working spaces, vegan restaurants, cheap places to stay at, good food and a wonderful relaxed vibe. All year long, you will face temperatures around 27-30 degrees. We would recommend to spend here at least 3 nights, since there are a lot of beaches and two National Parks to check out!
1. See all the animals in Cahuita National Park and Playa Negra
A must-see is the Cahuita National Park a little West of Puerto Viejo. There are beautiful beaches, the Playa Negra in front of the National Park and the Playa Blanca in the National Park. In the Cahuita National Park you can choose between different trails. We hiked from the entrance to Punta Puerto Vargas and went for a swim there, because the sun was so hot. Then we went back the same way. You can also walk further until the second entrance Puerto Vargas and take the bus back to Cahuita town. However, in our opinion the most beautiful part of the National Park is the section in the beginning. The two riffs Punta Cahuita and Punta Puerto Vargas are also known for snorkeling, but you can only do it with a tour.
We saw a lot of animals: many raccoons, monkeys, an Agouti (looks like a big Guinea pig), butterflies, locusts, extremely big ants and lizards. The entrance is free but they will ask for a donation. You can go here with a guide or without. In our opinion it’s not really necessary to book a guide, since there is only one trail and you see if someone else discovers an animal. Be there as early as possible, since animals are more active in the morning when temperatures are lower. At one point at the hike you have to cross a small river, where you have to get off your shoes.
2. Playa Cocles
There are way too many beautiful beaches near Puerto Viejo, one of them is Playa Cocles located in between Puerto Viejo and Cahuita National Park. The water is clear blue here, the beaches small and remote, palm trees everywhere.
3. Playa Punta Uva and the perfect palm tree
The most beautiful beach in this area is Playa Punta Uva for sure! But be careful, you will find 3 different Punta Uva beaches on maps. We had to search a lot, until we find the one Punta Uva beach with the horizontal palm tree to sit on. It’s the one in the middle of the three near the Punta Uva dive center or Camping Arrecife. There are some small gravel roads to get there with a car. We’ve been there three times and most of the time we were completely alone.
The other Punta Uva Beaches
The other two Punta Uva beaches are beautiful as well, but the palm trees aren’t as perfect as the one above, also there was more wood lying on the beach. On the left beach in the drone shot, you see the Punta Uva beach with the perfect palm tree.
4. Playa Punta Uva de Arrecife
Punta Uva Arrecife is the headland seperating two Punta Uva beaches. The right beach on the drone picture is the one with the perfect palm tree. You can see the beautiful riff even from the air, get some snorkel gear and explore the under water world.
5. Playa Puerto Viejo
At Puerto Viejo beach close to the village, you can see an old rusty sunken ship wreck. People chill at the beach and swim around the wreck.
6. Manzanillo National Park and Beach
You definitely should visit the Manzanillo National Park in the East of Puerto Viejo! There is a nice hiking trail in the forest leading to a beautiful viewpoint with a boardwalk. The hike to the viewpoint is doable without a guide. If you want to go deeper in the jungle, it’s better to get a guide because of dangerous animals. We saw a white snake on the ground and a lot of spiders hanging in the trees. The entrance is free as well, but they ask for a donation. In front of the National Park you can see an old colorful shipwreck at the beach.
7. Puerto Viejo Village
Puerto Viejo village is such a cool place for shopping, eating, strolling through the streets or working in co-working spaces. It’s a hip and trendy place like Canggu in Bali. You can get everything you need in this village. However in the evening it’s kind of known for the party place for backpackers. It might be better to stay in a hotel a little outside the town when you don’t look for party in the night. In the evening the streets get pretty full of young people, tourists, persons who opted out and relaxed locals.
8. Rescue center for sloths
In the west of Cahuita National Park there is an amazing “Santuario de Perezosos de Costa Rica”, a sloth sanctuary. They offer guided tours on special times a day, so ask them before your visit, when there will be the next tour to meet the animals and see their work.
9. Test all the nice restaurants and cafés!
Puerto Viejo has some nice options for vegan and vegetarian food. These are our favorites:
Café Como en mi Casa
This vegetarian and vegan café sits close to the ocean on the first floor. It has a great balcony to sit on while watching the bustle on the streets. You can park your rental car just in front of the restaurant at the ocean.
Puerto & Co Coworking Space
This Co-working space is also our favorite restaurant/café in Puerto Viejo since it is completely vegan and the people there are the cutest. The food tasted sooo good! It’s also such a nice place to work from, they have outdoor working places with a view and indoor places with air conditioning.
Tiki Bar & Restaurant
Tiki Bar & Restaurant has a changing menu but offers every day several vegan options. It’s really nice to sit there in the evening and look into the night over the ocean.
GypSea Café
GypSea Café is all about smoothie bowls! Unfortunately it was close when we wanted to visit it, but the smoothie bowls looked soooo good on pictures, we had to listed it here for you!
10. Stay at a nice hotel near the ocean!
If you are not into the party backpacker thing, we recommend to stay a little outside of Puerto Viejo village. If you have a rental car, it’s not a big distance, otherwise you can rent a bike or a scooter in the village. However, a lot of places are already really expensive here. But there are still some affordable options. Our favorite hotel Awa Beach Hotel just opened a few days before we stayed there. We hope the prices will not rise.
Awa Beach Hotel !!!
This hotel is a dream!! We saw the pictures of this just opened new hotel and were impressed. Arrived there, we were definitely fascinated how beautiful and perfect it actually was. It sits directly at the beautiful Punta Uva beach (not the one with the famous palm tree though), just 10 meters from the beach. When we arrived they showed us a sloth in the tree above our balcony. Everything is so beautifully designed with elements of wood, natural fabrics plants and beautiful textiles. The rooms are clean and modern and everything is perfectly organized. And the breakfast…oh wow…it’s sooo good! I’am still dreaming of this bruschetta and the muesli.
Almonds & Corals
Almonds & Corals was the second place we stayed at, when we visited Puerto Viejo. Although we liked Awa Beach Hotel more, we liked our villa in the jungle here too! It was so nice going to sleep with the sound of the heavy rain in the night (we’ve been there in the rainy season) and the sounds of the howler monkeys and jungle birds in the early morning. In the villa you can simply here every sound because there are only fly screens and curtains, no glass in the windows.
More time left?
Check out these things:
- Bribri Waterfall
- Visit an Indigenous Village, book a tour to the Bribri village
- Jaguar Rescue Sanctuary
Drive around with a car
We rented a car in San José at the airport and drove 5.5 hours first through the hilly inland, then along the Caribbean Coast, until we reached Puerto Viejo. At first the roads were bigger, but got smaller when we reached the coastline. We really liked being independent with our own car. However, there are also cheap busses from San José to Puerto Viejo, but it takes longer. To visit the National Parks Cahuita and Manzanillo, which are a little outside of Puerto Viejo, it’s really nice to have a rental car. But you can also get there by bike, scooter or public busses. We rented a 4×4, which is recommend in the rainy season, and it wasn’t that expensive. It seems like simply everyone drives a 4×4 here.
What about the weather?
You can visit Costa Rica and Puerto Viejo the whole year. However there is a rainy and a dry season. In the dry season the chance of blue skies and little rain is very high, but there are also more tourists around. Temperatures are all year long between 27-30 degrees.
Dry season : December – April
Blue skies, less rain, more tourists.
Rainy season : May – November (August + September are really nice)
As hot humid air rises up, it cools and condenses. Eventually the moisture precipitates out as rain in the rainy season. By late May and June light afternoon showers are common, but mornings are generally sunny. September and October are the depths of the rainy season at the Pacific Coast, but at the Caribbean Coast these two month are really nice, because there is a small dry season in between the rainy season here. We visited in August and only had rain in the night. In November there will be heavy rainfalls in the day.
If you travel in the rainy season, start the day early in the mornings to be save if rainfall arrives in the afternoon. Also the animals are much more active in the early morning.
Anzeige / ad: The hotels and companies we mentioned above didn’t sponsor us. Our recommendations are based on our own opinion.
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