Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast

We opted to spend the last two weeks of our time in Costa Rica on the Southern Caribbean Coast, taking some time to chill have a pretty hectic first three weeks!

We'd learnt over the first few weeks of the trip that the more 'formal' elements of homeschooling - maths and english - worked much better when we had a base for at least a few days, as the days spent travelling/moving around and then settling back in/packing up were pretty much write-offs in terms of any school work.

I'd originally got a few stops booked on the Caribbean Coast - including Tortuguero - but we took the decision to scrap a couple of stops and focus on staying longer in the Southern part, to give ourselves some time to chill out on the beaches, catch up on school work and also to save some cash!

Manzanillo

Our first stop for five nights was Manzanillo, right at the end of the road on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica before Panama (and there really is only one road!). 

The beach at Manzanillo
(after the clean-up!)

After a four hour shuttle from Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, I have to say that our first impression of Manzanillo wasn't actually great - it was a Monday and there had clearly been some partying over the weekend as the beach was covered in litter. This was a  bit of a shock as it was the first litter I think we'd seen anywhere in Costa Rica! 

There had also been some stormy weather which meant that the sea was pretty churned up and as well as the litter there was a lot of sticks, branches and massive tree trunks washed up on the beach too.

The first couple of days it rained. And it rained. And it rained. It was so heavy, and the thunder was so loud that I struggled to sleep at night in our little wooden cabin (part of which was just mosquito net instead of outer walls!). We filled this time with a good chunk of school work, more Exploding Kittens and a couple of meals out in the evenings.

Once it cleared we saw a much better side to Manzanillo - the beach had been cleaned up completely and the black sand was gorgeous, with jungle right up to the edge. The riptides weren't too strong so the boys could swim and play on the shore without me stressing too much.

We spent one day in Manzanillo National Park, which was pretty lush. The waves were still pretty powerful when we visited and so it was quite dramatic watching them roll in and crash against the rocks. The park is scattered with lovely little beaches that feel really hidden away and secluded (on the stretch we hung out on there was literally no-one else there). We spent hours watching the crabs darting in and out of their holes and scurrying around on the sand.

The walk through Manzanillo National Park was a bit more challenging than Manuel Antonio as there were more inclines, but still very manageable for the boys. Entry to the park is based on a donation, so you can pay whatever you can afford.

Puerto Viejo de Salamanca

The main 'tourist' town on the South Caribbean Coast is Puerto Viejo, and this is where you'll find the biggest concentration of accommodation options. We spent a day/evening here and it was pretty nice - lots of choice of eateries, souvenir shops and bars. We'd chosen not to stay there as the Lonely Planet had described it as more of a party town; I can imagine you could have a good time here but it's still pretty small and didn't seem particularly loud/crazy so we probably could have stayed here no problem.

We did also enjoy the night time tuk tuk ride back to Manzanillo, with all four of squeezed in to the back of the very small tuk tuk!

Cahuita

I'd booked 8 nights at Cabinas Cahuita - they longest stay we had booked anywhere. We really wanted to have some chilled out beach time at the end of a hectic few weeks and be based in one place without the constant packing/repacking that we'd been doing during the rest of the trip.

I was a bit nervous about booking anywhere for such a long stretch,
but I'm so pleased we did! We struck gold with Cabinas Cahuita, which is definitely one of our favourite places we've stayed during this leg of the trip.

We'd both been yearning for a bit of the whole communal travel experience - it's much cheaper for us to stay in private rooms but we missed the vibe of hostels/more communal spots. Cabinas Cahuita definitely struck the right balance here- we had a small but perfectly formed room with a double and bunk beds, which was right off the big open plan kitchen/dining/living area. We had a great time hanging out in the space with other people from all over the world, doing some school work and doing yoga every day (me! They have yoga mats so I was keen to make the most of them!)

There's also a little pool and more space to hang out outside (plus two super lovely dogs - love a dog at a hotel). 

It was only a 15minute walk down to Playa Negra where we hung out most days. This is a massive stretch of beach with a few little bars/snack places dotted along the road behind it, lots of space and sloths hanging out in the trees! 

The rip here was OK most days but very powerful on a couple of others where we had to keep a very close eye on the boys (there were a couple of times when the boys were dragged out a few metres and we had to grab them!). There are lifeguards on duty at the weekend but not on weekdays. 

The boys had hours and hours of fun on the sand here, and in the little natural swimming pools just off the far end of the beach. We definitely preferred the beach here to Manzanillo - it was just easier as a family with a few snack bars dotted around and loads of space. The sloths we spotted here were really low in the trees so easy to spot and fab to watch for a while. We even found a geocache just off the beach here that had a sloth literally sitting right on top of it!

There are loads of little restuarants in Cahuita and a Reggae Bar just off Playa Negra which is quite lively. 

Cahuita National Park

We all spent one of the days of our stay in the small but excellent national park, which was about a five-minute walk from Cabinas Cahuita. Again, entry is a donation.

We did a 2-hour-ish hike into the park (all flat, mostly on wooden walkways or well-trodden trails). There is a beautiful white sand beach - Playa Blanco - right by the entrance and more stretches of sand further along the trail. We hiked up to the top point of the park and spend a couple of hours in the sea here - it was very calm and good for swimming for the boys.

And, again, the wildlife - we spotted a couple of sloths, an eyelash pit viper (which a tour guide pointed out to us, even though we weren't on his tour!), loads of capuchin and howler monkeys, a coati and several raccoons. The raccoons and the monkeys WILL try to steal your stuff so if you go in the sea keep a close eye on it! A couple of raccoons had a good go at our bag (and I even had to rescue my book from them!).

Steve did the full trail through the park on his own one morning (as a grown up treat!) and it took him around 4 hours, including swimming stops. Steve spotted a massive rat snake and a raccoon feeding it's cubs on his walk - I think the earlier in the morning you go the better the wildlife spotting (and the temperatures are a lot more bearable too!).

Jaguar Rescue Centre

The only other day trip we did in the region was to the Jaguar Rescue Centre, about halfway between Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. There is a little bus that runs down the length of the coastal road (a bit infrequently) that you can get between the towns, and we took this down to the rescue centre from Cahuita. 

We weren't actually going to include this one (as we felt we'd seen plenty of wildlife over our few weeks in Costa Rica) but a few other people at Cabinas Cahuita had been and raved about it so we thought we'd check it out.

First up - there are no jaguars at the Jaguar Rescue Centre. And there never were! But this doesn't stop it from being a fab morning out, mostly because the volunteer guides are so enthusiastic and knowledgable. We saw sloths (including a very tiny baby), a marguay (my cat-loving youngest was very impressed by this), snakes, monkeys, deer and macaws (including a very agressive one that we had to back away from pretty sharpish!). It was really educational for all of us and really interesting to hear about how they go about ensuring that as many of the animals they receive can be re-released in to the wild.

There is also an excellent gift shop (always a bonus). Entry was £40 in total (plus we left a tip for the guide).

Cahuita ended up being one of our favourite stops in Costa Rica - it's still small and not that developed at all, but it has enough little restaurants/bars/shops to make life pretty easy.