3 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.

With rainforest extending right to the edge of a curving, utterly undeveloped 3-km (2-mile) white-sand beach, this popular national park is the stuff of picture postcards. The park was created to protect the 2½-square-km (1-square-mile) coral reef that encircles the coast and offers excellent snorkeling off Cahuita Point. Trails into the rainforest reveal a wealth of wildlife. February through April and September and October are slightly drier months, and offer the best visibility for snorkeling. A nice touch to the infrastructure here is the "plastic walk," a boardwalk path made of recycled plastic. Visitors in wheelchairs can be wheeled down to the surf in the park’s own chairs. The location means you’ll find a great selection of in-town dining and lodging options within a few blocks of the park’s northern entrance, making this one of the country’s easiest protected areas to visit. Choose from two park entrances: one is in downtown Cahuita; the other is at Puerto Vargas, just off the main road, 5 km (3 miles) south of town. If you don't have a car, you can get here easily via bike or taxi.

In a country where deforestation is still rife, hiking through dense, primary tropical cloud forest is an experience to be treasured. The park owes its foundation to the public outcry provoked by the construction of the highway of the same name through this region in the late 1970s—the government bowed to pressure from environmentalists and, somewhat ironically, Braulio Carrillo is the national park that is most accessible from the capital, thanks to the highway. Covering 443 square km (171 square miles), the extremely diverse terrain ranges from 180 feet to about 9,500 feet above sea level and extends from the central volcanic range down the Caribbean slope to La Selva research station near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí. The park protects a series of ecosystems ranging from the cloud forests on the upper slopes to the tropical wet forest of the Magsasay sector; it’s home to 6,000 tree species, 500 bird species, and 135 mammal species.

Despite the park's immense size and proximity to the capital, visitor facilities are extremely limited. Stories abound of visitors becoming lost trying to do Braulio Carrillo on their own. Few venture deep into the park beyond the highway that cuts through it.