• River boatA covered boat on the Sarapiquí looks for monkeys, birds, and crocodiles on the bank. It is not a swim. Morning is calmer.
  • La SelvaThe research-station trails open early and fill with birds before the heat. Stay on the path. Ask the hours that morning; it is not a park you enter at dusk.
  • RaftingGuided Class II–III runs take about two to three hours, with morning and afternoon departures, so there is time left for the river boat or La Selva. Book ahead, and wear closed shoes.
  • Tirimbina hanging bridgesThree hanging bridges cross the forest and the Sarapiquí River at La Virgen, a short drive up the road. Go in the morning. Wet boards are slick, so take it slow.
  • Night frogsAfter rain, a guide with a light finds frogs along a short trail. Do not wander the riverbank alone after dark. Shoes will get wet.
  • Town dockThe dock in town is where the local boats tie up. Walk it in daylight. It is not a beach and not a place to enter the water.
  • River gardenSome gardens are reached by a short boat, not by a trail from the square. Book the boat. An hour under the trees is the visit.
  • The other Puerto ViejoIf the plan is the reef and the south Caribbean, that is a different town and a different road. This page will not get you there.

The landscape is lowland rainforest and a wide brown river. You are likely to see howler monkeys, toucans, basilisk lizards, crocodiles on the bank and frogs after dark. The plants around them are lowland rainforest, cecropia, and heliconia along the river.

Around Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, monkeys and birds are a morning on the boat or at La Selva. The dock is not a swimming beach. Frogs are after rain, with a guide.

La Selva Biological Station and the private forest along the Sarapiquí, which is why the boat still has a forest bank.

In Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, 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 hot and wet. Temperatures are about 22–32°C. Rain falls most of the year. Mornings are the useful hours. Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí sits at 55 m (180 ft).

Pack for rain in every month. This is not a Guanacaste forecast. The countrywide calendar is in the best time to visit Costa Rica.

The airport is Juan Santamaría in Alajuela. The drive north drops through the mountains and then runs flat. It is not the road to the Caribbean coast.

Allow the morning for the forest, not for arriving at noon. Buses, shuttles, and rental cars are compared in getting around Costa Rica.