Dominical – A Hub On The Pacific Coast

The drive from Curu Wildlife Refuge, on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula to Dominical was a real pain: 6 hours of driving plus stops on the way.

Approx. 80 km north of Dominical, not far from Manuel Antonio National Park, a few cars parked on an unlikely spot caught our attention and we somehow decided to stop and check why. Well, we were in for a treat! A group of 30 to maybe 40 Ara Macaws (Scarlet Macaws) fluttered above our heads, playing with each other, fussing with one another, flirting with one another, all that accompanied by the din of their shrill cries. One of the best photo opportunities we had in Costa Rica, just on the side of the road!

Dominical is a tiny village, with not much to offer, and unlike the other places we had visited so far, very orientated on backpacking. Believe it or not, it was here that we had picked the best hotel we had in Costa Rica, especially in terms of price quality ratio: the Villas Rio Mar. Beautiful rooms are scattered in a large tropical garden offering good bird watching opportunities, featuring 2 swimming pools, one of them a big circular pool like on advertisings. The place is very quiet, very well kept, very comfortable. The kids loved it immediately (especially the swimming pools). All that for 520 USD for 4 nights for 5 people, breakfast included.

The trip was slowly moving to an end, as was August, and now the rainy season was unfolding at full power: it now rained every end of the afternoon / evening / night, sometimes heavily. The number of visitors also had significantly diminished.

Playas

We thought we would alternate activities in the morning and beach for the kids in the afternoon. Well, obviously, beaches are not the best the area has to offer! The main reason is that currents are too strong to enable swimming, especially with kids, at least at that time of the year like. And they are far from being as inviting as in other parts of the country. There are exceptions though, mainly within Manuel Antonio National Park & Uvita Ballena National Park, but you need to buy a ticket to enter the National Park, and pay for the parking, which are expensive. Well, we spent time in the swimming pool each afternoon, which the kids loved.

Cataratas Nauyaca

Either you hike 13 kilometers (round trip), partly on some steep paths, or you pay for the 4WD-truck to take you to approx. 10 minutes from the waterfall. We chose the latter option, as we couldn’t imagine hiking back with tired kids. On the way in, we even had the truck for ourselves, and the driver stopped several times so that the kids could watch wildlife around us.

The waterfall is really nice, though not spectacular. And bathing options are limited with kids, as the current, especially in the pool were the waterfall lands, is far too strong for them. It is nonetheless an experience to feel that incredible power.

Whale Watching

This is the most popular spot to go whale watching in Costa Rica, and upon arrival in Uvita, you immediately see that it is a big business here. Our guide told us that on average, 30 to 35 boats would go out every day (8 months a year, considering that 5 months, you have whales from Antarctica, and 3 months whales from Baja California). Our boat was not too crowded (11 pax), others had 20 or more.

Our captain, Fernando from Gurrion Tours (https://gurriontour.com), was highly knowledgeable, and gave us (in Spanish) lots of explanations about the area, the National Park and the Humpback Whales we saw. We could indeed spot 3 different mothers with their babies (one obviously almost newly born), one of which at a 10 meters distance. The sea was rough as the Pacific Ocean can be, so we had to skip the Delphin part. Yes, the rainy season has indeed started! A great tour, very different from the one we had in Samara, but also very good.

After, you can enjoy the Playa Uvita within the National Park, which is beautiful, though crowded with boat coming and leaving.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Honestly? It is somehow extremely difficult to understand the hype around the smallest National Park of Costa Rica! Yes, it is extremely easy to visit (you do not even need hiking shoes, and sometimes you have the impression to walk on a boulevard). Yes, the beaches are beautiful. But even with a guide (we had decided to take one on short notice), we could spot very little wildlife! We had a far superior experience in La Fortuna, in Monteverde and especially in Curu Wildlife Refuge.

Some practicalities? It is maybe the one place that you should book months ahead of time. Beware of the wrong guides trying to sell you tours but also parking places far away from the National Park – Just ignore them and keep on driving to the entrance of the park. Keep also in mind that the Park gets very crowded after 09:00 am, especially the main beaches – we recommend starting at 07:00. Finally, the surroundings are not appealing. We were happy that we decided to visit Manuel Antonio from Dominical (a 55-minute drive one way).