Sights in Caribbean Coast
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Playa Negra
The entire southern Caribbean coast - from Cahuita all the way south to Punta Mona - is lined with unbelievably beautiful beaches. Just northwest of town, Playa Negra offers the area's safest swimming, as well as excellent body boarding.
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Avarios del Caribe & Buttercup Center
About 10km north of Cahuita, this small wildlife sanctuary sits on an 88-hectare island in the delta of the Río Estrella. The now-famous orphaned sloth named Buttercup reigns over the grounds, ever since she was adopted by owners Luis and Judy at the age of five weeks.
Their passion for these funny creatures is contagious; informative guided tours (US$20 to US$30) allow visitors to meet some of the resident sloths. The center also offers a variety of excursions through the canals and lagoons of the Estrella delta, where 312 (and counting!) species of birds have been recorded. Besides the prolific birdlife, this lowland rain forest is home to monkeys, caimans, river otter…
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Playa Negra
At the northwest end of Cahuita, Playa Negra is a long, black-sand beach flying the bandera azul ecológica, a flag that indicates the beach is kept to the highest ecological standards. This is undoubtedly Cahuita’s top spot for swimming. Most importantly, it is generally never crowded. When the swells are big, this spot also has an excellent beach break. It is not one of the regular stops on the Costa Rica surfer circuit, which means more waves for you. Centro Turístico Brigitte in Playa Negra rents boards (half-day US$10) and offers lessons (two hours US$25).
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Cacao Trails
Visit this exquisite new botanical garden and outdoor museum, where educational tours demonstrate the various uses of medicinal plants and the workings of a cacao plantation (plus you can see and sample the final product), with plenty of opportunities for wildlife sightings along the way.
An additional expedition allows further exploration by kayak. It's midway between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo; any bus between the two can drop you at the entrance. This is a great outing for kids.
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Parque Vargas
The city’s main attraction is the waterfront Parque Vargas, an incongruous expanse of bench-lined sidewalks beneath a lost little jungle of tall palms and tropical flowers, centered on an appealingly decrepit bandstand.
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Jungles of Talamanca
West of Puerto Viejo, the Jungles of Talamanca is actually a small tropical nursery and cacao finca (chocolate farm). This Bribrí family welcome visitors to their home, where you can see them toast the cacao over an open fire then hand grind it into delicious chocolate or rich cocoa butter. For flavor, they might add nutmeg, black pepper or cinnamon, all grown on site. The resulting product is truly decadent.
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Parque Nacional Cahuita
Parque Nacional Cahuita contains one of the last living coral reefs in Costa Rica. It's accessible from the beach, but the best way to see the creatures under the sea is to hire a guide with a boat in Cahuita. If you prefer to walk, hike along the beach trail - you'll reach a sandy stretch cut off from the coastline by a rocky headland known as Punta Cahuita. The offshore coral reef has Cahuita's best snorkeling.
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Isla Uvita
This island is most famous as the site of Columbus' landing on his last trans-Atlantic voyage. It's also a popular destination for surfers, for its thrilling (and often punishing) left reef break. Those in the know claim that this is the most powerful left in Costa Rica, with 3m (9.8ft) waves on good days. Ask around the pier to hire a boat for the trip. Pack a picnic, as there are no facilities on the island.
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Playa Bonita
While not the finest beach in the Caribbean, Playa Bonita offers sandy stretches of seashore and good swimming, conveniently close to Limón. Surfers head to Bonita for its point/reef break, which makes for a powerful (and sometimes dangerous) left. Just north, Portete is a small bay with a wicked right working off the southerly point.
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Playa Cocles
Playa Cocles has impressive waves for surfers who aren't so keen to break skin and bones on nearby Salsa Brava (Costa Rica's biggest break). It has lefts and rights, which both break close to the steep beach. Conditions are usually best from December to March, and early in the day before the wind picks up.
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Mariposario de Cahuita
On the highway, at the entrance to town, you’ll find this wonderful garden aflutter with lovely butterflies (great for kids). Stroll around the fountain-filled grounds and admire the local residents, including many friendly caterpillars. Descriptions are posted in several languages; guided tours are available.
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Sea Wall
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Cacao Trails
Halfway between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in Hone Creek, this botanical garden and chocolate museum has a couple of small museums devoted to indigenous and Afro-Caribbean culture, a lush garden bursting with bromeliads and heliconias, as well as an onsite chocolate factory where cacao is processed in traditional ways. Two-hour tours include a visit to all of these spots, plus a hike to a nearby organic farm. Additional expeditions allow for further exploration by kayak on the adjacent Río Carbón. Any bus between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo can drop you at the entrance. This is a great outing for kids.
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Aviarios del Caribe Sloth Sanctuary
About 10km northwest of Cahuita, this wildlife sanctuary sits on an 88-hectare property bordering the Río Estrella. Here, proprietors Luis Arroyo and Judy Avery help injured and orphaned sloths – providing travelers with an opportunity to see these unique animals up close. (Irrefutable fact: there is nothing cuter than a baby sloth.) Though many of the rehabilitated sloths remain on the grounds (animals orphaned at a very young age don’t have the skills to return to the wild), Luis and Judy have been successful at releasing more than 80 of them back into area forests. In addition to sloth tours (US$25), they also offer early morning bird-watching tours by canoe (US$30 inc…
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Studio of Fran Vásquez
On the road between Bribrí and Cahuita, just north of the Sixaola turn-off, find the studio of this self-taught folk painter whose colorful acrylic landscapes are well known in Puerto Viejo and San José. Look for a brightly painted sign outside a small, one-story house with chickens in the yard.
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Caribbean Conservation Corporation
About 200m north of Tortuguero village, the CCC operates a research station that has a small visitor center and museum. Exhibits focus on all things turtle-related, including a video about the history of local turtle conservation.
CCC also runs a highly reputable environmental volunteer program, recommended by none other than National Geographic. During nesting season, interested folks can assist with turtle tagging and egg counts, and during bird-migration seasons, help with mist-netting and point-counts. Volunteer fees start at US$1450 per week and include bunk-house accommodations, all meals, first and last nights’ hotel room in San José and transport to and from the c…
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Canadian Organization for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation
This not-for-profit organization operates the Estación Biológica Caño Palma, 7km north of Tortuguero village. This small biological research station houses a diminutive museum that contains, among other things, an impressive collection of skulls. From here, a network of trails wind through the surrounding rainforest. Coterc is surrounded on three sides by water, so you’ll have to hire a boat to get here.
The group also runs a volunteer program, in which visitors can assist with upkeep of the station and ongoing research projects, including sea-turtle and bird monitoring and plant-diversity inventories. Volunteer fees start at US$250 and include accommodations in dorm…
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Reserva Biológica Hitoy-Cerere
One of the most rugged and rarely visited reserves in the country, Hitoy-Cerere is only about 60km south of Puerto Limón. The 99-sq-km reserve sits on the edge of the Cordillera de Talamanca, characterized by varying altitudes, evergreen forests and rushing rivers. This may be one of the wettest reserves in the parks system, inundated with 4000mm to 6000mm of rain annually.
Naturally, wildlife is abundant. The most commonly sighted mammals include gray four-eyed opossums, tayras (a type of weasel), and howler and capuchin monkeys. There are plenty of ornithological delights as well (the area is home to more than 230 avian species), including keel-billed toucans, spectacl…
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Ranario
This new greenhouse space is filled with a lush garden and has 14 species of native frog hopping around on the loose. (No cages here.) Admission includes a guided tour – a necessity, since guides know where the frogs like to hide.
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Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo
Enter this underexplored national park and you will have an idea of what Costa Rica looked like prior to the 1950s, when 75% of the country’s surface area was still covered in forest: steep hills cloaked in impossibly tall trees are interrupted only by cascading rivers and canyons. It has an extraordinary biodiversity due to the range of altitudes, from steamy 2906m cloud forest alongside Volcán Barva to lush, humid lowlands on the Caribbean slope. It’s most incredible feature, however, is that this massive park (the size of Rhode Island) is only 30 minutes north of San José.
Founded in the 1970s, Braulio Carrillo’s creation was the result of a unique compromise bet…
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Jardín Tropical
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Jardín Botánico Las Cusingas
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