Dave and I recently enjoyed our vacation in Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, on the Caribbean cost of Costa Rica. I found myself wondering what to do and where to go while we were in Puerto Viejo, so I thought I would make it easy for you. Here you will find the best places to stay and eat on the southern Carriben coast, best tours to take and which shuttles to use to get around Puerto Viejo.
Puerto Viejo was our first stop on a many month long, ‘mega’moon, honeymoon. We decided to go there first because October is the ‘less’ rainy time of year on the Caribbean coast. We found that we would have days of mostly rain then the next day would be a beautiful blue bird sunny day. Either way it was hot, from 70-85 degrees Fahrenheit. Coming from an early snow storm in Colorado our bodies needed some time to acclimate. We would walk down the beach to town and find ourselves drenched in sweat. My hair was in a bun on the top of my head. I only wanted to wear a light dress or swimsuit. Just what we were wanting.
When you plan your trip to Puerto Viejo, I recommend adding a couple days at the beginning or end to go to Tortuguero and raft on the Pacure River. See my post about Tortuguero or the Pacure River.
Getting to Puerto Viejo: The San Jose airport is a little overwhelming but not a problem. When you get outside you’ll find 100 men asking where you are going. Have your shuttle lined up ahead of time and grab a quick meal in the restaurant where you wait. There is a great restaurant 100 feet from the exit of the airport. It just happens to be where we picked up the shuttle. The restaurant and shuttle both had internet to easily communicate with our rental house and family back in the states. We didn’t rent a car because the shuttles and tours provide an easy way of getting around. From the San Jose airport we jumped in a private shuttle. We used Pleasure Ride. The driver was friendly and the van had WiFi. Caribe Shuttle is another option. You have to leave San Jose by 2:30 to get over to the eastern side of Costa Rica. The shuttle service knows this and takes care of you. We stopped along the way at a typical soda or Costa Rican style food.
The winding road to Limon is bumpy and fast. Bring your DigestZen and peppermint. Put it on the roof of your mouth for motion sickness and neck to cool off.*
Puerto Viejo:
The town of Puerto Viejo is a bustling little town. It has a fun Rasta-Caribbean vibe to it. We enjoyed heading into town everyday for a meal and beachfront cocktails.
Some of our favorites were the Rasta Bar which was our place for beachfront cocktails. The service wasn’t great but the views made up for it.
I might have had the best coffee ever at the DreadNut Cafe. We had a nice omelet breakfast and I got the Cafe Dreadnut. I had to go back the next day for another. Stashu’s Con Fusion is just south of town with a great Asian atmosphere. You pick the sauce to go on the meat of your choice.
We also had some good pizza in town and on the road down to Manzanilla. The place in town claimed to have, “The best pizza in the world!” We decided it was a close second to the roadside stop just south of town. Maybe we were just more hungry from biking to the roadside stop. Either way they were both, “Que Rico” or “How delicious”!
We stayed in an VRBO just north of Puerto Viejo, in one of the few Playa Negros in Costa Rica. It was a bit of a walk to town, but it was quiet. There was a little grocery store nearby and bike rental, and great food at the Banana Azul Hotel down the street. The Banana Azul is part of the Explore Outdoors package, and it would be a great place to stay for a few nights. There are many hotels and AirBNB options in the area. While we were in Puerto Viejo we had talked about how it would have been nice to stay south of town and have a pool.
What to do while in Puerto Viejo?
There are many tour options in Puerto Viejo. We don’t like to be ‘too touristy’ so we stayed away from most tours.
We did rent bikes and ride to an animal rescue center one day. It’s called the Jaguar Rescue Center and is a must see. We are still throwing out the facts we learned from our Dutch guide. We saw a baby monkeys and sloths, snakes, deer, crocodiles and more. The animal not at the Jaguar Rescue Center is the jaguar. This is a private home of two Spaniard zoo workers who started taking in animals. They were not able to save a baby jaguar, hints the name of the sanctuary. They are thankful that they have not had another jaguar since.
Another activity is to rent mopeds. We rented mopeds and drove to Manzanillo. It is an extremely small town south of Puerto Viejo, the last town you can drive to before Panama.
We wish we would have hired a guide to take us on a tour of the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge. Instead we hiked the park in our flip flops, had a muddy mess, and feet full of splinters; plus we didn’t see much because we didn’t know what we were looking for. Horseback riding in the park is a great idea!
Once back in Manzanillo we eat like royalty at one of the 3 restaurants in town.
Cahuita:
After a week in Puerto Viejo we were ready to get to a smaller town. We headed north to Cahuita. There we stayed at the funky Bungalows Malu where we were served breakfast everyday, had the pool to ourselves, and were entertained by the 20 cats that the owner feeds at 4:00pm everyday. The lodge was a little out of town but close to the beach, and a couple restaurants.
Cahuita has a small downtown with a few restaurants and shops. We enjoyed to Cahuita National Park. We didn’t hire a guide, but accidentally kept close to another couple who had a guide and got to see a lot. The trail was much more mellower than Manzanillo and it was a great day. I would bring a lunch and eat at the picnic tables at the point. Just watch out for those sneaky White Faced Monkeys!
We hired Roberto to take us fishing and ended up getting his sons. Check out the story here.
When it was time to head out we hired Willies Tours to take us to Tortuguero. Check out that story here.
Cahuita is way more quieter and smaller than Puerto Viejo, but doesn’t have as much culture and town. If you stay in Cahuita, it is worth a couple day trips to Puerto Viejo. We had a great time in the Southern Caribbean and can’t wait to get back.
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