Cahuita National Park is one of the best national parks in Costa Rica due to its stunning white sand beaches, lush jungle and plethora of wildlife.
It’s not very far from Puerto Viejo and it’s free, making it one of the must do’s in the Caribbean south.
If you love wildlife, hiking and nature, then you have to visit Cahuita National Park.
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National Park Information
As the most easily accessible national park in the Caribbean south of Costa Rica, Cahuita is a top favorite.
It consists of 2,732 acres (1105 hectares) of land and 55,200 marine acres and was created to protect the largest coral reef in the country.
With stunning white sand beaches, a plethora of wildlife and a well maintained walking trail, this national park is a must for anyone visiting Puerto Viejo in the South Caribbean of Costa Rica.
The 600 acre (242 hectare) reef has around 35 species of coral, over 100 species of fish and mollusks, crustaceans and sea turtles.
There are also a few rivers in the park so a variety of wildlife can be seen such as white face monkeys, herons, caimans, sloths, snakes and lizards.
Cahuita is not that touristic and is the perfect place for any traveler wishing to experience the Costa Rican wildlife, jungle and beaches in a pristine and peaceful area.
Location and Directions
You can easily go from Puerto Viejo to Cahuita by driving or bus.
From Puerto Viejo to Cahuita it is around 17 kilometers (10.5 miles). A 4×4 is not required. Get our Costa Rica car rental discount here!
By bus, you can take the Limon to Puerto Viejo bus and get off at Cahuita.
You can also book shared shuttles from San Jose or La Fortuna and get dropped off at your hotel in Cahuita. Get our Interbus shared shuttle discount here!
Another way to get to Cahuita if you are not renting a car is by a tour interconnection, specifically the Pacuare river white water rafting.
The rafting outfitter will pick you up in San Jose or La Fortuna, take you to do the tour and then drop you off at your hotel in Cahuita. Save $5 USD on the white water rafting tour here!
Cahuita Town
The national park is in Cahuita town which is a small local town. It’s a nice place to stay if you don’t want to be in the midst of all the Puerto Viejo ruckus.
It is very quiet and is exactly why many immigrants choose to live in Cahuita over Puerto Viejo.
Even with the national park, there aren’t as many tourists in Cahuita as Puerto Viejo as most people visit for the day.
Hours and Entrance Fee
The Cahuita National Park entrance is free, it’s by donation at the main entrance.
However, if you enter the park through the Puerto Vargas sector which is closer to Puerto Viejo, it is $5 USD for foreigners and 1,000 colones for Costa Ricans.
Sector Playa Blanca and Vargas are open everyday from 8 AM to 4 PM. Punta Cahuita closes at 2 PM, Rio Suarez closes at 3 PM.
The last entry into the national park is 330 PM. You are not allowed to bring snorkel equipment nor single use plastics. Swimming is not allowed in the green flag zones.
Map
Here is the map of Cahuita National Park.
You can see the hiking trails, the coral reefs, the various view points and the different entrances.
The entire trail is 8 kilometers (almost 5 miles) but it is not a loop, it’s a straight line. So if you want to hike the whole park, you will need to back track and that is pretty long.
Most people walk to Punta Cahuita from Kelly Creek or you can do the whole hike from K.Creek to Puerto Vargas and then take a taxi back to pick up your car (or vice versa).
There is a parking lot at the Puerto Vargas entrance.
Cahuita National Park Beaches
There are two beaches inside Cahuita: Playa Blanca and Puerto Vargas.
These are two of the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica with gentle palm trees, white sand and bright blue water.
Both have white sand, calm waters and contain coral reefs. You cannot swim in the banderas verdes areas.
Wildlife
One of the reasons why people love the Caribbean coast is the abundant wildlife.
Cahuita National Park is one of the best in Costa Rica to see animals because of the year long lush rainforest.
Animals you can see are sloths, howler monkeys, iguanas, lizards, sloths, anteaters, crabs, white face monkeys and caimans.
As you enter the national park, make sure to check out the river on the right hand side.
We saw a 2-fingered sloth, Jesus Christ lizards and a heron right there! I was stunned by how much wildlife we saw right off the bat and we had barely started the hike!
Since we did a guided hike, we were able to see a lot of wildlife thanks to our guide.
We saw howler monkeys, several sloths and two pit viper snakes, right from the trail in the park.
A word of caution: make sure not to stray off the path or go around touching trees and bushes. We saw a couple viper snakes curled up in the trees not too far from the path.
I don’t really know which other national park in Costa Rica where you can see so much wildlife in a short distance except Manuel Antonio National Park and Corcovado National Park!
We could have spent all day there looking for animals.
Cahuita National Park Tours
We highly recommend doing a guided hike in Cahuita.
There is plenty of wildlife but it can be hard to see to the untrained eye so it will be very nice to have a guide to find and point them out.
If you have your own transportation, you can hire a guide at the national park. Make sure they are ICT Certified (Costa Rican tourism board). Ask to see their badge.
Other tours you can do in Cahuita are snorkeling tours. Since this park protects coral reefs, the snorkeling is excellent but you must go on a tour, you can’t bring your own gear and go on your own.
Snorkeling depends on the conditions since visibility is not great on the Caribbean coast but the best months are September and October, the Caribbean summer months.
Cahuita snorkeling tours will take you on a boat out to Punta Cahuita to snorkel a bit and then take you on a guided hike through the national park.
Contact us if you’re interested in a snorkeling tour at Cahuita National Park and we’ll be happy to assist you!
Hotels and Restaurants
There are a handful of hotels and vacation rentals in Cahuita.
Hotel El Encanto: Small hotel with bungalows, standard rooms and suites. 5 minutes from the national park, has a massage area and restaurant.
Atlantida Lodge: This small hotel has suites and standard rooms, a restaurant, bar and a nice garden.
As for restaurants, there is a nice local restaurant called Soda Kawe. El Rincon del Amor is another good option.
Weather
The weather in Cahuita is typical Caribbean weather so it doesn’t follow the normal tropical seasons.
There are no distinct dry and rainy seasons on the Caribbean coast and it may rain at any time of the year.
The summer months are September and October and the rainiest months are normally June and November. This area is also very humid.
Average day time temperatures are mid 80s° F (29° C) and average night time temperatures are low 70s° F (21° C).
Mosquito repellent and suncreen is a must. Since this area is so humid, mosquitoes are very bad.
You can wear shorts and a tshirt. For shoes, you don’t need hiking shoes or boots. The trails are all flat and nicely laid out so you can even wear sandals.
What to Know Before You Visit Cahuita, Costa Rica
There are toilets, showers and picnic tables at the Kelly Creek station. When we went, there wasn’t any toilet paper or soap so bring tissues and hand sanitizer.
If you want to photograph wildlife, we recommend a telephoto lens of at least 300 mm and a tripod.
Read about other national parks in Costa Rica below!
Rincon de la Vieja National Park
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tracy perlich says
Hi, your webpage has been very helpful planning our trip. We are heading to Cahuita Aug 7-9. Do I understand correctly that we must have use a service in order to snorkel? And you recommend Caribe Fun Tours? Thank you!
Sammi says
Yes for snorkeling, you should take the tour, they’ll bring you on a boat abit outside of the national park to snorkel at the reefs with guides.