Golfito in the south pacific of Costa Rica

The area of Golfito is at the south of Costa Rica and is known as its last frontier as it is a remote and distant region of the country. Southern Costa Rica is a little inhabited where the facilities are basic, but it is also an interesting place to experience something different in comparison with the rest of bustling and popular destinations that are popular in the country. It is a coastal village located on the great bay of Golfo Dulce, located in the extreme south of Costa Rica. It was built in 1930 as a deep water port. Golfito is located about 400 kilometers from San Jose.

One of the main reasons why this beautiful region remains so remote from San Jose is due the distance. A typical trip from downtown San Jose to Golfito, the main town in the south, can take you 8 hours or more. However, you should not worry if you want to travel through the area, because there is the Golfito Local Airport which is located 4 km north of the town center with regular flights with airlines like Sansa or Nature Air. The flight from San Jose takes 50 minutes.

Golfito in Costa Rica south pacific

Golfito was an important port in the south until mid-1980. Golfito was the center for this growing region for banana cultivation. The United Fruit Company had its headquarters here in the north of the city. Since its closure, this city has suffered great economic losses and unemployment, but with the advent of tourism, this community is slowly rebuilding with more modern lines. It is a rustic, quiet place with an abundance of hotels and accommodations as many people use Golfito as a stopover before heading to the stunning beaches of Playa Zancudo, Pavones, and the National Park Piedras Blancas.

With an amazing diversity of flora and fauna, the magnificent National Park Piedras Blancas is an important nature reserve and wildlife refuge located just north of Golfito. Sport fishing is also another important feature to the south of Costa Rica, with many recreational fishermen who use Golfito as a base while they captured the magnificent Pacific sailfish. The best season for this is from November to May.

In this port, people are engaged in commercial fishing, which makes Golfito a very important in this area and is also a gateway to the beautiful beaches in the South that has a wide variety of marine life. The National Wildlife Refuge Golfito is an impressive site near the city.
The National Wildlife Refuge Golfito is located in an area where is a heavy rain abounded. This land was formed by the succession of layers of basalt dating from between 50 to 65 million years.
The forest is very thick in the wildlife refuge; a plant that grows commonly in these lands is the Palma Negra. You can also find botanical rarities such as the Quira (Carydaphnopsis burgeri), a tree that belongs to the family of Lauraceae, that is a very primitive plant.

There are many mammals living within the park boundaries, as the aguti, which is a rodent that belongs to the same family of the paca, very useful to spread the seeds of different plants and fruits that consume. It is also possible to find raccoons, rats and some reptiles like snakes. From this splendid area you can get to places like the Osa Peninsula, the Corcovado National Park and La Amistad International Park.

La Cruz

La Cruz is an important part of the province of Guanacaste. It is a beautiful area with typical landscapes of the north pacific of Costa Rica. Near La Cruz there are multiple points of tourist interest such as beautiful beaches and national parks.

La Cruz is the tenth region of Guanacaste, constituted as such since 1969. Approximately 70% of its economically active population works in animal husbandry, agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Its high economic development is due to the opening of the Inter American Highway and the arrival of tourist attracted to the beauty of the area.

The southeast limit of La Cruz, is made up of the dividing line of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, where there are located the Orosi Volcano, Rincon de La Vieja Volcano Miravalles Volcano and the Arenal Volcano. La Cruz has a complete supply of public and private services, especially in the area of health and education.

The town of La Cruz in Guanacaste - Costa Rica

This border region, it is located on the limits of what is known as Mirador La Cruz, from where the tourists can see beautiful and stunning sunsets, with the sun hiding in the Pacific Ocean, under the breadth of the horizon.

This beautiful landscape and the Santa Rosa National Park are their greatest tourist attractions, where the Casona de Santa Rosa, preserved since mid-nineteenth century, is a monument to the country’s history. The park protects a wide variety of flora and fauna of the tropical dry forest making it extremely attractive for ecotourism.
The beaches at La Cruz are wonderful and are quite known to the local and external tourism and overseas. The best known beaches near La Cruz are: Cuajiniquil, Bahia Salinas and Manzanillo. In this region is located also the biological reserve Isla Bolaños.

The development of tourism with the rest of the region has helped generously to the population of La Cruz, as many are working occupations related to tourism and others have turned their homes into small hotels and restaurants. The arrival of tourists (domestic and foreign) to the beaches of this region has been growing steadily, generating demand for luxury hotels and houses that have been developed across the coastal zone. This has caused a significant increase in the prices of real estate

South Pacific - Costa Rica

Costa Rica ’s south pacific coast features some of the more lush and biodiverse land in the country.  Much of the area, specially on the Osa peninsula, has been deemed as National Parks or wildlife refuges.

• Pacifico Sur

  • Dominical

  • Uvita

  • Sierpe

  • Drake

  • Corcovado

  • Puerto Jiménez

  • Golfito

  • Zancudo