Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast offers experiences completely unique from the Pacific Coast. Here you’ll encounter azure waters, blissful bike-rides through coconut groves and winding sea-side roads, spicier cuisine, melodic Patois (Patwa) mingling with English and Spanish, stronger Indigenous presence and an increasing community-wide commitment to greener living. While this may sound familiar, the Caribbean promises plenty of pleasant surprises and style of pura vida all its own.

Check out these USA Today articles and photos on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

Costa Rica’s Caribbean vibe (By Don Faust)

“A few miles away in Cahuita, sloths share the trees with howler monkeys, whose haunting barks serve as wake-up calls for active travelers who come here for surfing, fishing and snorkeling at Cahuita National Park. Centered primarily on a single street, Cahuita’s Caribbean heritage can be seen in the dreadlocked populace and the buildings painted reggae green, yellow, red and black — and sniffed through the aromas of coconut-infused rondon (soup) and jerk chicken… A walk through Cahuita National Park is like taking a trip through a natural pharmacy, as guides point out herbal remedies for coughs, colds and stomach troubles. Both here and in the lush Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge down the coast, visitors are warned against touching the trees, to avoid poison dart frogs and eyelash vipers. Leafcutter ants march across the jungle floor, building colonies that rival nearby basketball-sized termite nests. A river otter peeks around a tree before scurrying into the water.”

Celebrate the sea turtle (By Chris Gray)

“Their path lit only by stars, tourists stumble across the Caribbean beach until their guide stops them at a large sandy hole. Kneeling, they watch silently as a 400-pound green turtle deposits her eggs into a freshly dug nest. The scene can be witnessed in this seaside village on Costa Rica’s northern coast from July through October each year. Tortuguero (literally, “place of the turtles”) is the largest green sea turtle nesting area in the Western Hemisphere.”

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