When can you see whales in Costa Rica?

Uvita, in Marino Ballena National Park, is the place people mean. Humpbacks from the north are offshore from about December to April. Humpbacks from the south are the second window, about July to October. The boat leaves in the morning, from Uvita or from Dominical, before the wind puts a chop on the water. A sighting is not guaranteed. A calm morning is the better chance. The sandbar shaped like a whale tail exists

Where do you see sloths and quetzals in Costa Rica?

Sloths are in the trees, not on a schedule. Manuel Antonio is the easy place to look up, in the first hour, before the trail is crowded. Look into the canopy and the cecropia, and walk slower than the group ahead of you. The Cahuita trail, which starts in town, is the other easy look, on a morning that is not pouring. Do not expect one because you paid the gate. Quetzals, when they are around, show early in the Monte

Do you need a guide to see wildlife in Costa Rica?

On a nesting beach, yes. The guide sets where you stand, and the lights stay off the sand. That rule is the same in Tortuguero and at Playa Grande. Ostional is the same rule, with a local guide, not a walk from the parking lot. Corcovado also requires a guide, from Drake Bay or Puerto Jiménez. The parks are in national parks. For sloths, a morning walk in Manuel Antonio or on the Cahuita trail is enough to look up on

Wildlife in Costa Rica by Month

Leatherback turtles nest on the Pacific from about October to March, at Playa Grande. Green turtles nest at Tortuguero from about July to October. Humpback whales show off Uvita from about December to April, and again from about July to October. Sloths are a morning of looking up. Quetzals, if they are around, are at the Monteverde gate when it opens.

Leatherbacks use Playa Grande, in Las Baulas, from about October to March. The visit is at night, with a guide, and the lights stay off the sand. No flash, and no white light from a phone. Other months that beach is a walk, not a tour. It is not a noon swim in any month. A boat crosses the estuary from Tamarindo, or you drive around.

Green turtles nest at Tortuguero from about July to October. Do not expect them on the beach in March. The canals still run in every month: monkeys, birds, and caimans are the daytime boat, and that boat does not depend on a nesting night. You stay overnight. There is no road in.

Olive ridleys come ashore in a mass at Ostional, north of Nosara, mostly at night in the rainy months, and only with a local guide. The road up is slow and dirt. Leave in the morning if you are driving it. A mass nesting is not guaranteed. If the night is quiet, you do not get a second chance by walking the beach on your own.