In some sense, the cost of living on the beach (rent, eating out, consumer goods) is always higher than in the Central Valley, especially if you insist on paying for the kinds of creature comforts easily accessible in urban areas. Still, in the Caribbean you’re essentially living in the countryside, so fresh, local ingredients are

Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast is the location of what may be the country’s biggest claim to fame: Christopher Columbus made his fourth and final visit to the New World somewhere near present day Limón, in 1502. The earliest recorded peoples of the Talamanca region are the indigenous Bribri and Cabecar, who lived inland and near

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