In 2006, domestic flights between San José and the provincial capital of Limón recommenced, which has made the South Caribbean much more accessible by eliminating the 4-hour, occasionally-treacherous drive over the Cordillera Central. (That ground route has a reputation for being extremely foggy or cloudy, as well as heavily-trafficked by large trailers transporting fruit and

The South Caribbean, as the area is known, is small, comprising a handful of beach towns and settlements that dot the approximately 18 kilometers between Cahuita and Manzanillo. It’s about 250 km from San José, though thanks to the mountains that separate the South Caribbean from the Central Valley, the drive time is quite a

The South Caribbean is a breath-taking four-hour drive from San José, through the rain forest-draped mountains of Braulio Carrillo National Park, down onto coastal plains with their road-side Tico restaurants, and on to one of Costa Rica’s most important port cities, Limón. A further half-hour drive south along the palm-fringed coast takes you to the

Its stunning scenery and promised infrastructure development make the Dominical area one with a lot of potential, but so far that potential has yet to be realized. Real Estate development is not as far along as in the Central Pacific or Northwest Guanacaste, but investors are just starting to crowd in. At the time of

Golfito has a lot of real estate potential. Like the Dominical-Ojochal area, talk of a government-promised new international airport for the region is boosting prices. If it ever actually happens, tourism and real estate will explode, just as it did in Northwest Guanacaste after the opening of the new airport in Liberia. Another factor playing

As the tourist market in this part of Costa Rica hasn’t developed particularly fast as of yet, neither has the rental market. There’s actually a shortage of rental properties in the area. As more gated communities are constructed, there will be more to rent out. At the moment, it’s an important business opportunity. The lack

The residents of Dominical, Uvita and Ojochal have worked hard to increase security and prevent crime in the area. A number of years ago a gang of Costa Ricans and Colombians reportedly started robbing houses in the area. The problem was that there wasn’t even a police station or policeman stationed in the area to