Photo Tours - Puerto Viejo

A little piece of Rasta Culture sitting on the Eastern shores of Costa Rica. Puerto Viejo de Talamanca (commonly known just as Puerto Viejo) is a beach lover’s paradise. Located in the Limon province on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, the town of Puerto Viejo has a decidedly Caribbean flavor from the food, to the music and even the people themselves which are a unique blend of Latino, Afro-Caribbean and Bribri indigenous cultures. The well rounded list of local activities from surfing to jungle tours to rafting and a rousing night life has made this little town a hot destination for tourists. It now boasts the largest tourist traffic on the East coast of Costa Rica. But don't be scared off, it has a long way to go before it becomes a "tourist mecca". You still won't find a building over two stories high and pavement is patchy, usually found underneath dirt roads.

The Town

The town sits directly on the water which allows you to hear and see the waves from many of the local bars. Night life here is happening, but not fancy. The bars are basic. A fridge full of beer, plastic chairs and music pumping out of 1970's speakers. Many of the bars are restaurants converted at night by clearing out dancing space from the table area. Live music is easy to find and tends to focus on the Reggae genre. There seems to be a"hot spot" rotation where different bars claim a specific night of the week to have a band, DJ and be "the" place in town. So ask a local to find out where to be that night.

Restaurants and Sodas (Costa Rican term for a small cheap restaurant) are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. If you go for the local fare, usually a standard casada of bean, rice and some sort of meat pieces, you can easily get away with a $2-3 meal. If you want to eat a more "Western" style dish you will pay nearly "Western" prices. Cafe Hot Rocks (who's sign is clearly a rip off of Hard Rock Cafe) is a restaurant right in the center of town with a big red tent, can't miss it. Here you can enjoy a movie for free any night of the week (usually double features). Just pull up a chair and order something to eat. A good way to kill some time before hitting the bars which don't start jumping until later.

Beaches

  While the town of Puerto Viejo does sit on the water, its beaches are small and not really suitable for anything but watching the sunset. When you are ready to do some serious surfing and sunbathing you will want to take the road out of town South. After about 1 mile you will hit white sands with wide beaches and palm trees. This stretch of beach is known as Playa Cocles and caters to budget minded surfers. There are plenty of cheap sodas serving food of all types so there's no need to bring a cooler with you. Want to cool down with a fresh fruit smoothie and a beer. Just walk off the beach and pop into the first place you see.

Activities:

 Puerto Viejo is packed full of fun things to keep just about anyone occupied. Diving, snorkeling, swimming, surfing, jungle white water rafting, horse back rides, jungle tours and more are available for reasonable prices. The town has several open air tour offices happy to set you up with anything you wish to do. Note that all tour offices do require money up front, but I've never run across anyone having issues with this. If you are really concerned you can use your credit card to pay (giving you the option of a charge back), but mind you, credit cards are usually hit with a hefty sur-charge.

Surfing is the biggest draw (along with great beaches) and has brought people to this town for many decades. In fact surfers pretty much introduced this town to the world and started it's switch from local fishing village to tourist destination. The biggest wave in Costa Rica is found here, named Salsa Brava, and provides a great ride for experts willing to risk the sharp shallow reef on which it breaks. If danger is not your cup of tea, try the waves at Playa Cocles just South East of town. Waves are best from December to March and again in June and July. For more information try Surfing-Costarica.com