Costa Rica is one of my favorite places in the world—and I’m clearly not alone. Well over 2 million visitors arrive each year to see the country’s incredible, diverse landscapes. After all, the tiny Central American nation boasts more than 300 beautiful beaches along its Pacific and Caribbean coasts, and an astonishing 57 percent of its landscape is blanketed by forests, making it one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. But tourists tend to concentrate in the coastal province of Guanacaste, the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Arenal Volcano National Park.
Even so, the delightful news is that plenty of Costa Rica remains wild. Depending on where and when you go, you can still see the country’s legendary locations while savoring a bit of seclusion. Here are a few tips to help you hit the beach, spot wildlife, and get a taste of that famous pura vida without having to fight the crowds.
Ocelots are among the elusive animals that visitors might have a better chance of encountering during Costa Rica’s green season.
Courtesy of Abhi Verma/Unsplash
Visit during the rainy season
Costa Rica has only two seasons: wet and dry, and one of them sees much greater traffic. The dry season, from mid-December to the end of April, has its obvious advantages. It’s usually sunny, meaning it’s a fine time to go ziplining through a forest canopy, soak up rays at the beach, or visit a coffee farm during harvest. Unsurprisingly, this is high season.
The rainy—or green—season, however, has lots of perks. It’s much less crowded and much less expensive. Hotels and tours can sometimes cost as little as half as much as they do in high season, and booking months ahead mostly isn’t necessary. Mornings are generally sunny, and while showers almost always come on suddenly in the afternoon, they’re often quite brief.
Besides, one of the main reasons to go to Costa Rica is its abundance of rainforests. They call it the green season for a reason, after all—this is the time when the forests are most verdant and alive. You might get a little wet, but fewer people means less cluttered trails, more active wildlife, and a slower pace to potentially chat with Costa Ricans, or Ticos. On top of all that, the central and southern sections of the Pacific Coast see a consistent swell from March to October, making this a prime season for surfers.
Check out the Caribbean coast
The Pacific coast, with its hotel-lined shores and famous surf breaks, is by far the more heavily touristed side of Costa Rica. The often-overlooked Caribbean coast, however, has many eco-attractions and opportunities for deeper connections with locals.
Take Pacuare Reserve, a sprawling wilderness on the southern Caribbean coast that can be reached only by boat, from Barra del Pacuare village. It’s home to more than 2,500 species, ranging from jaguars and ocelots to rare agami herons, among more than 200 other bird species. There’s also Tortuguero National Park, on the northern coast, where you can witness turtles—not only leatherbacks and hawksbills but also green sea turtles—laying their eggs under the moonlight and then hatchlings emerging to make their treacherous sprint to the sea. (The best time to visit Tortuguero is from June to October, the peak of nesting season.)
Even farther off the beaten path, near Nicaragua’s border, is Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, which Leo Chaves, a Costa Rica native and the operations director for Costa Rica Sun Tours, calls “one of the last frontiers for tourism.” Reaching this wilderness area takes about a two-hour drive from Arenal. The best way to see the refuge is on a boat tour with a local guide; Natural Habitat Adventures and Caño Negro Experience both offer excursions to this unique ecosystem of canals, waterways, and lagoons. Those who make the trek to Caño Negro, which is often partially submerged due to flooding rivers, will get the chance to see endangered pink-feathered roseate spoonbills, three-toed sloths, caimans, freshwater sharks, and howler monkeys. “It’s one of the most important wetlands in Latin America,” says Chaves, who also suggests visiting a few farms, or fincas, in the area to get to know the people in the local community.
Costa Rica’s eastern coast is also home to a distinctive Afro-Caribbean culture. While Spanish colonizers brought some enslaved Africans before slavery was abolished in 1824, this community largely formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Caribbeans, mostly from Jamaica, came in search of work, first building the Atlantic Railroad to transport coffee from the highlands to the coast and then laboring on the United Fruit Company’s banana plantations. Today, their descendants maintain a unique culture via their Creole language, calypso and reggae music, punta dance, colorful paintings, and Jamaican-inflected dishes like beef patties and a coconut-milk soup known as rondón—not to mention their champion women’s soccer team, Puerto Viejo Football Club. A great time to experience this side of Costa Rica is in August, when the Wolaba Parade celebrates the country’s Afro-Caribbean heritage.
The Whale’s Tail is also a place, appropriately, where people can see migrating humpback whales.
Photo by Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock
Explore the southern Pacific coast
Travelers who have their heart set on experiencing the Pacific can still find areas that are remarkably unspoiled. The most popular stretch of the western coast is up north, in Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula, home to the surf beaches and resorts of Tamarindo and Nosara. Further south, however, you’ll discover a more mellow, local vibe.
On my family’s last visit, we planted ourselves in Uvita, about 83 miles south of the Gulf of Nicoya. The town has the feel of a fishing village, with small shops, family-owned restaurants, and a lack of resorts. “That’s the place I love,” says Francisco Di Pio, adventure director for Costa Rica for Natural Habitat Adventures, “because it’s not as crazy as Santa Teresa or Puerto Viejo or Tamarindo.”
Uvita is also the gateway to a variety of nature and adventure activities. The famous Cola de Ballena, a giant sandbar shaped like a whale’s tail, is in Marino Ballena National Park, a 25-minute walk from the town center. One morning, we took a boat ride to snorkel in the fish-laden tropical reefs off Caño Island. And there are all manner of waterfalls you can hike to, such as the Santa Lucia Falls and Catarata Esmeralda Uvita. Surfers will enjoy both Marino Ballena, whose gentle waves make it a great spot for beginners and longboarders, as well as Playa Dominical, just south of Uvita, which has sandbars that create lefts, rights, and lots of barrels.
To truly get off the grid, head to Corcovado National Park, about a 1.5-hour boat ride from Uvita. Perhaps the country’s wildest, most isolated park, Corcovado bursts with 140 mammal species, 370 bird species, and 10,000 insect species. If you’re as lucky as we were on our visit, you could see tapirs, squirrel monkeys, anteaters, and scarlet macaws sitting in coconut trees. Puma sightings are rare, but thanks to the telescope our guide carried, we saw two—one of them chomping on an iguana. Corcovado is accessible only by boat, and you’ll need to make a reservation with a guide; we used Pacific Expeditions.
The owners of Lapa Rios Lodge named the eco-resort after a flock of macaws they saw flying through the rainforest the first time they visited the site.
Photo courtesy of Lapa Rios Lodge
Book a stay at an Airbnb or a small, locally owned hotel
Stay at a luxury resort, and you’ll be surrounded by tourists. Book a private property, however, and you might be able to disappear into the wilderness. On my family’s trip to Uvita, we rented a two-bedroom house with a casita and a lap pool. We were perched at the top of a rutted road, surrounded by jungle, with a sweeping view of the Pacific. Our neighbors were white-faced capuchins, howler monkeys, and keel-billed toucans—my daughter saw a pair of the latter fly right past her window. Our experience wasn’t necessarily one of a kind, either; almost no matter where in the country you decide to stay, there are spectacular options to consider.
If you don’t want to go the Airbnb route, there are also smaller, locally owned, eco-conscious hotels available. On the Caribbean side, near Caño Negro, check out Hacienda Caño Negro, which is set within the refuge and works with local biologists and conservation groups to protect wildlife, or Tocú Tent Camp, which offers guests the chance to help work on reforestation projects. On the other side of the country, just outside Corcovado National Park, stands Lapa Rios Lodge, a 17-bungalow property named for the scarlet macaw (or lapa) . The 1,000-acre private rainforest reserve exclusively hires Costa Rican employees and offers a variety of sustainability tours and interpretive hikes.
