A car-free sandy lane in Tortuguero lined with brightly painted wooden shops, a palm tree and a parked bicycle

The Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

Tortuguero

A path through Tortuguero village, lined with small shops and painted wooden houses. (John Menard from Phoenix, USA / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0)

A small village on a sand bar between the Tortuguero River and the Caribbean Sea in Costa Rica's far north-east, reached only by boat or plane. Founded around 1930 and once a logging and turtle-hunting outpost, it now lives almost entirely from eco-tourism as the gateway to Tortuguero National Park, its canals and its turtle-nesting beach.

Neighbourhoods

  • Tortuguero village
    • First-time visitors
    • Budget stays
    • Local life

    The village itself, a strip of sandy paths between the river landing and the beach, with no cars. Small guesthouses, sodas, grocery shops and souvenir stalls selling hand-carved wood sit around the boat docks and the football field, and the national park entrance is at its southern end.

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  • The lodges along the canals
    • Quiet and nature
    • Package stays

    Most of the larger lodges stand outside the village on the banks of the river and lagoon, usually reached by boat. They tend to sell packages that bundle the transfer from San José, meals and guided tours, and offer a quieter base surrounded by forest.

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Things to do

The national park

  • Tortuguero National Parkpark

    A protected Ramsar wetland of rainforest, swamps, lagoons, mangroves and a long nesting beach, and one of the most visited parks in Costa Rica despite having no road access.

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  • The canal water trailstrail

    The park's three aquatic trails, Harold, Mora and Chiquero, are explored by guided motorboat or quieter canoe, often early in the morning, for birds, monkeys and other wildlife.

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  • Gavilán Trailtrail

    The park's hiking trail, a little under 2 km long, starting from the Cuatro Esquinas entrance at the edge of the village.

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The beach

  • Turtle-watching on the nesting beachbeach

    Night tours with certified local guides watch turtles lay their eggs — green turtles in the second half of the year and leatherbacks earlier, in spring; white lights and flash photography are not allowed.

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Short trips from the village

  • Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refugepark

    A large wildlife refuge of wetlands and forest north of the village, created in 1985, home to manatees, caimans, crocodiles and many fish.

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  • Parisminaattraction

    A village of about 500 people at the mouth of the Reventazón River, on the canals about halfway between Tortuguero and Limón, with no road and its own Caribbean traditions.

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Eat and drink

Long-standing places and food districts in Tortuguero. Hours, ratings and directions come from your maps app, always current.

Tortuguero classics

  • Sodas around the main boat dockneighborhood

    Simple diners near the landing serve empanadas and cheap plates of rice and beans.

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  • Village Caribbean kitchensneighborhood

    Several small family-run places around the village serve traditional Caribbean dishes alongside standard Costa Rican plates.

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Experience Tortuguero

History

The name Tortuguero means "the land of turtles". In the early 20th century people came to cut timber, hunt turtles and sell the skins of large mammals and reptiles. The village itself was founded around 1930, when a Colombian family settled on the sand bar between the Tortuguero River and the sea.

Some of the canals were dug by the timber industry around the 1940s. In the 1970s the canals were improved under the engineer Rogelio Pardo Jochs, whose name they now carry, and they link a chain of lagoons and rivers that allows boats to travel all the way from Moín, near Limón.

The decisive change was conservation. Sea turtle research brought scientists to the beach, and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, now the Sea Turtle Conservancy, set up a turtle-tagging station near the village. The surrounding coast was protected as a national park in the 1970s. Tourism followed, and the park became one of the most visited in Costa Rica, while illegal clearing and poaching inside its boundaries remain a concern.

Culture & Customs

Tortuguero is a Caribbean village in its manners and cooking, part of a coast whose small communities keep some of the most authentic Caribbean traditions in Costa Rica. With no road, life moves by bicycle and boat, and the village has the unhurried pace of a place where most journeys begin at the water's edge. The canals that run through the rainforest of the neighbouring national park have earned the area the nickname of 'Central America's Amazon'.

Its identity is bound up with the turtles that gave it its name. Local guides lead the turtle walks, and the nesting season shapes the year. Strict rules govern the nesting beach: tours go out at night only with certified guides, and lights and flash photography are restricted to avoid disorienting the animals. Several biological stations around the village work on research and conservation.

Evenings are low-key. The bars play reggae, loudest and most crowded on Saturday nights, and shops sell hand-carved wooden souvenirs.

Daily Life

The population of the village is estimated at around 1,200 to 1,500 people. It sits in the canton of Pococí, whose main town, Guápiles, lies far away on the mainland, and Tortuguero is sustained almost entirely by eco-tourism: guiding, boat transport, guesthouses, sodas and the larger lodges along the canals. Fishing remains important for families around the park, where residents may collect forest products for their own use and to supplement their income.

Every supply, from groceries to building materials, arrives by boat, which keeps prices high. The village has small grocery stores, a hardware store and souvenir shops, and power cuts are common. There are no cars: people walk or cycle the sandy paths, and the river landings are the centre of the day as boats come and go with passengers and goods.

The rhythm follows the visitors and the wildlife. Canal tours set out early in the morning, and in the nesting season groups gather after dark for the turtle walks. The beach is not a place for swimming: the surf is rough and the currents strong.

Food

Food in Tortuguero is the cooking of the Caribbean coast with plenty of everyday Costa Rican plates. Rice, beans and chicken are on almost every menu, and fresh fish is served when the boats have a catch. Several small family-run places in the village serve traditional Caribbean meals.

The coast's classic is rice and beans cooked in coconut milk, quite different from the gallo pinto of the Central Valley, served with chicken or fish in a spiced sauce. Rondón, a rich soup of fish, plantain, heart of palm and chilli cooked in coconut milk, and patí, spicy pastries filled with meat, belong to the same tradition.

The simplest meals come from the sodas around the main boat dock, where empanadas and plates of rice and beans are served under awnings. Because everything is brought in by boat, a meal costs more than on the mainland. Costa Rican beer is the usual drink in the waterfront bars.

Planning tools

Budget

Tortuguero costs more than most of the Caribbean coast because everything arrives by boat. Many visitors buy packages that bundle the transfer, a lodge, meals and guided canal and turtle tours; the village guesthouses and sodas, reached by public bus and boat, are the cheaper way to stay. Guided tours are the main extra cost.

Daily Budget Midrange
USD 100–200 (lodge package with transfers and meals, or a village room plus guided tours)
Daily Budget Shoestring
USD 40–70 (village guesthouse, soda meals, public bus and boat)

Turtle tours must be taken with a certified local guide; ask to see a guide's certification card before paying.

Best Time to Visit

Turtle nesting sets the calendar: green turtles come ashore in the second half of the year, most reliably from about late July to mid-September, and leatherbacks earlier in the year. Rain falls in every month, but September, October and February to April are usually the driest spells. Rooms fill up during the turtle season.

Suggested Number of Days

Most visitors stay two or three nights, since the journey in takes much of a day. Allow longer for more time on the water, a stop in another canal village or a slower trip by boat along the coast.

First Visit
2–3 days
With Surroundings
3–4 days

Transportation

There are no cars in Tortuguero. The village is covered on foot or by bicycle, and boats do everything else: water taxis link the village with the lodges, and guided boats and canoes run into the park's canals.

Bring a torch: the paths are dark after nightfall and power cuts are common.

Airport & Station Connections

Tortuguero is reached only by boat or plane. Public buses run from San José to Cariari and on to the La Pavona dock, where boats continue up the river to the village; boats also run along the canals from Moín, near Limón, about 80 km to the south. A small airstrip 3 km north-west of the village has flights from San José, and lodge packages usually include the transfers.

Walkability

The village is small enough to walk anywhere, along sandy paths with no traffic. Paths run from the boat landings to the beach and south to the park entrance. The lodges outside the village are mostly reached by boat rather than on foot.

Safety

Costa Rica still compares well with its Central American neighbours, and crime that reaches visitors is usually petty theft or the occasional armed robbery — break-ins to parked rental cars, bag-snatching on beaches, and pickpocketing in San José. On the Caribbean coast, crime has risen sharply in recent years in Limón city, while the sea at Tortuguero is dangerous for swimming, with rough surf and strong currents. Touts on the way in sometimes claim that boats are not running or rooms are full in order to sell packages.

Do not swim off the village beach, book turtle tours only with certified guides, and confirm boat times directly. Check current official travel advice before travelling.

Climate

A very wet tropical rainforest climate with heavy rain all year. There is no true dry season, but September, October and February to April are usually drier, and heat and humidity are constant.

Summer
September–October and February–April: the drier spells, around 29–31°C along the Caribbean coast, with calmer seas
Winter
July and November–January: frequent heavy rain, rough seas and occasional flooding, around 26–29°C along the Caribbean coast

Local Customs

Turtle-watching has strict rules: visitors go to the beach at night only with a certified guide and use no white lights or flash. Digging up nests or touching hatchlings is not allowed, whatever a self-styled guide may offer. Greetings are expected in shops and on the paths.

Ask before photographing residents, and keep to the guide's instructions on the nesting beach.

Common Payment Methods

The currency is the Costa Rican colón, and US dollars are widely accepted, with change usually given in colones. Prices in the village run higher than elsewhere because of its remoteness, and with only small shops and sodas it is sensible to carry colones in cash.