The Perfect Guide to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
The Caribbean side of Costa Rica in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is nothing like you have experienced in Costa Rica before. As soon as you step foot in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca you will feel like you have arrived in Jamaica.
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Top Things to Do in Puerto Viejo
Most of the things that you can do around Puerto Viejo de Talamanca are all about nature, animals, relaxation at the beach and enjoying the Caribbean lifestyle.
1. Jaguar Rescue Center
The Jaguar Rescue Center in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is one of the must-see things to do in Puerto Viejo if you are an animal lover. This Rescue Center takes care of animals on the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica that have been injured by cars, electrocuted by powerlines or have been attacked by pets such as dogs or cats. Although the main goal of the Jaguar Rescue Center is to reintroduce the recovered animals into the wild, it is currently the permanent home of around 90 animals, that won’t be able to return to the wild. Amongst others, the Jaguar Rescue Center provides a new home for sloths, monkeys, ocelots, macaws, toucans and reptiles.
The Unique Story of the Jaguar Rescue Center
The origin of the Jaguar Rescue Center has a unique story. The two owners of the Jaguar Rescue Center, Sandro Alviani and Encar García, arrived in Puerto Viejo long before tourism became a thing in this area. As the local people became aware of their profession as biologists, they brought, what they believed, was an injured jaguar baby to them. It turned out that it was an ocelot, but the name of the Jaguar Rescuers stuck with the locals. As more and more locals brought injured animals to them, the ‘Jaguar Rescue Center’ was founded in 2008.
Every year around 30.000 tourists are visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center to get an up-close experience of the fauna of the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. The revenue of the entrance fees is directly invested into the Rescue Center and helps to pay for the food and also for the medical care of the animals. Furthermore, the Jaguar Rescue Center depends on volunteers from all over the world to help with the maintenance of the park and the care for the animals.
There are two options for visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center. You can either visit the Rescue Center on a public or on a private tour. The public tours are run every day at 9:30 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. and last for about 1.5 hours. The cost of the public tour is 24 USD per person. The private tours are run every day at 2 p.m. and has a cost of 75 USD per person. The private tours last for around 2 hours. You can book your tickets online on the webpage of the Jaguar Rescue Center. With both options, you will have a knowledgeable guide on your hand that will tell you all about the Jaguar Rescue Center, about the animals and their unique stories and what kind of experiences they had with animals that they reintroduced into the wild.
Top Tip: You only will be able to see animals that will stay permanently in at the Jaguar Rescue Center. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t interact with the animals to give them the opportunity to live a life that is very close to life in the wild. Also, it is forbidden to take pictures of animals together with humans.
2. Punta Uva
Punta Uva which is only 8 km south of Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica has arguably the best beach in the area of Puerto Viejo. A white sandy beach surrounded by lush rainforest and palm trees reaching wide over the blue water of the Caribbean sea makes for the picture-perfect location and invites you to relax on the beach. You can also see many birds along the beach such as macaws, tucans, white herons and huge flocks of pelicans.
When you had enough relaxation you can rent a kayak and paddle down the river to spot many more animals such as monkeys and sloths in the rainforest that borders Punta Uva.
Read More: If you are interested to spot many more birds including the very rare resplendent quetzal think about visiting the Cloudforest of Monteverde as well.
3. Cahuita National Park
The Cahuita National Park is a Caribbean dream is located in close proximity to Puerto Viejo. Within 20 minutes in the car or by bus from Puerto Viejo you can find the Cahuita National Park which offers crystal clear turquoise blue water of the Caribbean sea, 15 km of white sandy beaches with lush green rainforest and idyllic palm trees and a big coral reef which attracts an abundance of colourful fish.
Even though the chance to spot wildlife isn’t as high as in other national parks in Costa Rica, you can spot different kinds of monkeys in the palm trees on the coast, such as capuchin monkeys or howler monkeys. Furthermore, you might be able to see sloths, coatis, tucans, snakes and racoons as well.
The entrance to the Cahuita National Park is free, which is a big exception in Costa Rica. However, a donation is kindly requested for the upkeep of the national park. The park itself is open every day from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Read More: If you want to see one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica, check out the Ultimate Guide to La Fortuna in Costa Rica to get to know more about the La Fortuna Waterfall.
4. Manzanillo
The tiny village of Manzanillo literally feels like the end of the world (in a good way). In Manzanillo, the road simply ends and there is no way to continue except for walking through the jungle to the border of Panama. But this is exactly what makes Manzanillo so special.
If you walk down the Playa Manzanillo you will find an old shipwreck which ran aground on the beach in Manzanillo on the 6th of December 2017. Since then the cargo ship slowly started to deteriorate and has been covered in graffiti by local graffiti artists. This makes the colourful shipwreck a wonderful sight along the Manzanillo beach.
Read More: If you are planning to visit more places in Costa Rica, check out the Guide of the Top 10 Things to Do in Uvita, Costa Rica.
5. Spot the Great Green Macaw at Ara Manzanillo
On the pacific coast of Costa Rica, you can normally find the Scarlet Macaw, whereas the Caribbean coast is the home to the Great Green Macaw. However, the Great Green Macaw is a critically endangered species. Because of that, the Ara Manzanillo Project has dedicated itself to restoring and conserving the wild Great Green Macaw population of the Caribbean Cost in Costa Rica.
If you want to visit the Ara Manzanillo Project you can book your tour here. They run tours every day at 3 p.m. at a cost of 20 USD per person.
Arriving in Puerto Viejo
When you arrive in Costa Rica, you will probably arrive at San Jose International Airport (SJO). From there you have multiple different options to get to Puerto Viejo. My recommended options are listed below.
Rental Car
Getting a rental car from the San Jose Airport is the easiest way to get to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. This is my recommended way of getting to Puerto Viejo, as it will give you all the freedom to visit the places around Puerto Viejo. You won’t need a 4×4 car to drive to Puerto Viejo, but if you can afford it, I would still recommend it, especially if you want to visit other parts of Costa Rica as well.
From the San Jose Airport, it will take about 4 h to get to Puerto Viejo depending on the traffic. The best option is driving down the route 32 to Limón and then take the route 241 to Puerto Viejo.
Private Shuttle
Another option is to get a private shuttle from San Jose Airport to Puerto Viejo. By doing so you can relax on the way to Puerto Viejo and take in the scenery.
Public Bus
If you travel on a budget and you prefer to take public transportation, you can take the MEPE Bus from downtown San Jose. The bus runs regularly between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and takes about 4.5 hours. You can check the timetable on the website of MEPE Bus. The cost of the bus is around 10 USD.
Getting Around Puerto Viejo
Puerto Viejo is super easy to get around. Either you use your rental car to get to all the above-mentioned places or the even more environmentally friendly option is to rent a bike or an electric scooter. All the places around Puerto Viejo can be reached within 50 minutes on a bike or within 20 minutes in a car. However, be aware that after sunset on many roads there are no streetlights which can make it quite dangerous to cycle around in the dark.
Best Food in Puerto Viejo
In Puerto Viejo, you will find many restaurants, that serve delicious food. Below you will find a list of the best restaurants that I tried in Puerto Viejo or that got recommended to me. In many of those restaurants, you can taste the Caribbean Influence of the food.
- Soda Shekina – Classic Costa Rican food
- Cocomar Comida Caribeña – Authentic Caribbean cuisine
- Bread & Chocolate – Delicious bakery with sandwiches, bagels and cakes
- Puerto Pirata Tiki Bar – Great view of the beach, with delicious drinks and food
Best Season to Visit Puerto Viejo
You can visit Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica all year round, as the temperatures at about 30°C during the day and about 20°C during the night, are very even throughout the year. However, the dry season with the least rain lasts from February to April and from late August until October.
Your Budget for Puerto Viejo
In Puerto Viejo, I spent around 60-70 USD per person per day. This included my accommodation in a private hostel room, entrance fees for the parks and tours, as well as for food which I cooked by myself in the hostel kitchen.
If you want to eat out in a restaurant, expect to pay between 10 – 30 USD for a meal.
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