Uvita

Introducing Uvita

This small hamlet just 17km south of Dominical will give you an idea of what Costa Rican beach towns looked like before the tourist boom. The village itself is nothing more than a loose straggle of farms, houses and sodas, though several of the nearby beaches are part of the Parque Nacional Marino Ballena, a pristine marine reserve famous for its migrating pods of humpback whales.

Unfortunately, the secret is out about the Brunca coast, and the recent paving of the Costanera Sur has seen in an influx of developers and speculators. Real-estate offices are popping up over town, and rich gringos like Jack and Susan think that Spanish tiles and sea-green stucco would look great against the rain forest backdrop. Visit quickly, because the building orgy is about to begin.

The area off the main highway is referred to locally as Uvita, while the area next to the beach is called Playa Uvita and Playa Bahía Uvita (the southern end of the beach).

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009