• Golfito bayThe inner bay is why the boats are tied here. Walk the waterfront early. It is a working port, often under rain, and it is not a town beach.
  • Golfo DulceThe gulf is calm, deep water, with dolphins more often than swell. A morning boat is the way to see it. An afternoon breeze can put a chop on it.
  • Piedras Blancas National ParkPrimary forest stands on the gulf, a boat from the dock. Go early, while it is cooler. Ask the hours that morning, and stay on the marked trail.
  • Casa OrquídeasA plant garden sits on the gulf shore, and you reach it by boat. The walk is guided, and a couple of hours is enough. It is not a beach stop.
  • Golfito duty-free depotThe depot is a warehouse for residents who stay overnight, not a beach shop. A visitor can walk the town and still leave without buying anything.
  • Playa CacaoThe swim beach is across the bay, by water taxi or a rough track. It is calmer than the open Pacific. Bring water. Go before the breeze roughs it.
  • Zancudo sandbarThe sandbar south of town is long, quiet gulf water, not the point break farther down. Shade is scarce at noon. You arrive by boat or a slow road.
  • Dolphin toursBoats leave in the morning, when the gulf is flattest. You may not see one. Watch from the deck, and do not swim after the animals.
  • Sportfishing fleetThe fleet pulls out early for the gulf or the open sea. Ask the night before if a boat is going. Looking is free. This is not a swim.
  • Wilson Botanical GardenThe garden is up in the cool hills toward San Vito, a winding day from the port. Leave early. You do not want that mountain road after dark.

The landscape is gulf, rainforest hills, and protected bay. You are likely to see scarlet macaws, dolphins, howler monkeys, toucans and frigatebirds. The plants around them are rainforest of Golfo Dulce, mangroves, orchids and giant ceiba.

Around Golfito, macaws are in the hills behind the bay at first light. Dolphins are a morning on the gulf, The dock cannot say you will see them. The town street will not show you the forest.

Piedras Blancas National Park and Golfo Dulce dolphin guidelines, with forest tourism replacing extractive use of the gulf.

In Golfito, stay on the trail and do not feed what you came to see. That is the rule that keeps this place the way it is.

The climate is tropical rainforest. It is hot and humid. Rain falls most of the year, heaviest from August to November. A shorter dry spell from January to March. Golfito sits at sea level.

In the greener months the morning is still usable, and the rain tends to wait until afternoon. The countrywide calendar is in the best time to visit Costa Rica.

By road, leave Juan Santamaría in Alajuela and drive south to the Golfo Dulce. Golfito has a small airstrip. Drake Bay is reached by boat or a short flight.

The drive is simple until the last kilometers. Arrive in daylight if you do not know the road. Buses, shuttles, and rental cars are compared in getting around Costa Rica.