8 Best Sights in Tortuguero and the Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

There is no better place in Costa Rica to observe sea turtles nesting, hatching, and scurrying to the ocean. The July–October nesting season for the green turtle is Tortuguero's most popular time to visit. Toss in the hawksbill, loggerhead, and leatherback—the three other species of sea turtle that nest here, although to a lesser extent—and you expand the season from February through October. Hatching takes place September to December. You can undertake night tours only with an authorized guide, who will be the only person in your party with a light, and that will be a light with a red covering. Photography, flash or otherwise, is strictly prohibited. The sight of a mother turtle furiously digging in the sand to bury her eggs is amazing, even from several yards away, and the spectacle of a wave of hatchlings scurrying out to sea is simply magnificent.

Outside of turtle nesting season, there is an abundance of wildlife to observe in this raw and mostly impenetrable landscape. Boat tours on the canals run alongside towering raffia palms, their iridescent golden-green fronds stretching out over stoic caimans in the water below. Sloths are balled into tree branches, mustering the energy to forage their next meal, while the humid air echos with the digitized birdsong of oropendulas and the wild screeching of great green macaws. Smaller and quieter watercraft like kayaks or canoes allow for navigating the dense vegetation of teawater lagoons and palm swamps, and overhead, frequent bursts of rain are shielded by the outstretched branches of towering ceiba trees.

For more information see the feature at the beginning of this chapter.

At the confluence of the Puerto Viejo and Sarapiquí rivers, La Selva packs about 700 bird species, 700 tree species, and 500 butterfly species into just 15 square km (6 square miles). Sightings might include the spider monkey, poison dart frog, agouti, collared peccary, and dozens of other rare creatures. Extensive, well-marked trails and swing bridges, many of which are wheelchair accessible, connect habitats as varied as tropical wet forest, swamps, creeks, rivers, secondary regenerating forest, and pasture. The site is a project of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), a research consortium of 63 U.S., Australian, South African, and Latin American universities, and is the oldest of three biological stations OTS operates in Costa Rica. (OTS also operates one research station in South Africa.) As a biological station, researchers and their assistants are often in residence, and if you encounter them over breakfast or in the field, there can be an opportunity to learn more about their projects. To see the place, take an informative three-hour morning or afternoon nature walk with one of La Selva's bilingual guides, who are among the country's best. Walks start every day at 8 am and 1:30 pm. For a completely different view of the forest, set off on a guided two-hour walk at 5:45 am or the night tour at 7 pm. Walk-ins are not accepted, and reservations are required for all visitors. Lodging is also available on-site, and the standard private room rate includes a morning tour and unguided access to the park, the latter a perk not offered to day visitors.

Just beyond the northeastern boundary of Braulio Carrillo National Park, about 15 km (9 miles) before the Caribbean-slope town of Guápiles, a 1,200-acre reserve houses a privately owned and operated engineering marvel: a series of gondolas strung together in a modified ski-lift pulley system. Each of the 24 gondolas holds six people and the ride covers 2 km (1 miles) in 80 minutes. For an extra $11, you can hire a guide to accompany you on the tram to help you to find and identify the wildlife. Several add-ons are possible, too, with frog and butterfly exhibits, an orchid garden, and a zip line canopy tour on-site, as well as a half-day birding tour. There is also on-site lodging.

For visitors based in San Jose, you can arrange a personal pickup there for $29 round trip, or there are public buses (on the Guápiles line) every half hour from the Gran Terminal del Caribe in San José. Drivers know the tram as the teleférico. Many San José tour operators offer a day tour that combines the tram with another half-day option; combos with the Britt Coffee Tour, near Heredia, are especially popular. These folks operate a similar facility near the Central Pacific town of Jacó as well as in Panama and the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and St. Maarten.

An ambitious project begun two decades ago has slowly improved the survival prospects for the once-endangered great green (Ara ambiguus) and scarlet macaws (Ara macao). A daily 3 pm tour (reservations are required) of the field station acquaints visitors with the breeding and reintroduction into the wild of these colorful birds. A viewing platform set among a forest of mighty trees provides a superb vantage point from which to observe the birds crunching their almonds on nearby branches and to feel the whoosh as they zoom above your head. Throughout the 98-acre property are approximately 100 macaws.

Cacao once ruled the Talamanca region, but few plantations are left these days. One friendly Swiss couple continues the tradition and shows you the workings of their chocolate plantation on their chocolate tour. Follow the little-known life cycle of this crop from cultivation to processing. There's sampling at the tour's conclusion. Call or email to reserve a two-hour tour, and aim to come with a group to avoid the $80 minimum tour fee. Since these folks are Swiss, they can tailor the commentary in German, French, or Italian, in addition to the standard English or Spanish.

One of a growing number of Costa Rica’s serpentaria, the Snake Garden shows off some 30 species of reptiles, including all the poisonous snakes (and most of the nonpoisonous ones) found in Costa Rica, as well as pythons, turtles, caiman, and rattlesnakes from elsewhere in North and South America. This self-guided tour is a secure environment to get up close to snakes this large and deadly.

Capuchin and howler monkeys, peccaries, sloths, iguanas, raccoons—they're all here at this wildlife sanctuary just off the Playa Negra road. As much as possible, the goal is to reintroduce these rescued animals back to nature, although the fragile condition of some means this will be their permanent home. Your admission for an 11 am guided tour supports the good work these folks do. As is the case in such facilities, visitors may not touch or hold the animals.