- Join for free
- Sign In
Latest Tortuguero hotel reviews
Pro
a region isolated from roads and highways
Con
It is going to rain
In a nutshell
One of Costa Rica's National Parks
alankorskey Says: As with all exciting destinations, there are few things you DON'T WANT TO MISS if you come to Tortuguero; Here is a list of the most popular attractions:Turtle TourCanal TourWalk through the National ParkHike Tortuguero HillTurtle Museum at the Caribbean Conservation...
Tour canals with a wildlife guide
no1birdlady Says: Our tour provided wildlife tours with guides in small boats. These went out onto the canals of Tortuguero. The guides were excellent and we saw a lot of these Green Iguanas which are orange in the mating season. We also saw many Howler Monkeys, Green and Ringed Kingfishers...
grandmaR Says: As part of our tour, we went to a banana plantation and saw the process there. Of course since it was Sunday, none of the machinery (photo 2) in the packing house was working. The guide explained that the process the banana production process consists of four major segments:...
Dorling's Bakery and Coffee Shop: Homemade pizza and fruit smoothies
kgduke Says: Dorlings is a cute restaurant that is open from 5am to midnight. They serve good pizzas - the smallest large enough to split with someone or take home for another meal. Their fruit smoothies (batidos) are also very good. They serve typical Costa Rican food as well.
La Cubra Bar: Disco Balls Live On!
Lidrokz Says: There isn't much night life in Tortuguero. The local hangout is the La Cubra Bar, a long,narrow building that is built along the edge of the canal at the south end of town. We asked a local where we could sit & have a beer at 10 pm on a Sunday & he led us about 50' to the La...
Bus and Boat from San José to Tortuguero
mircaskirca Says: It is possible to travel from San José to Tortuguero by public transportation. In fact, it's rather challenging, a mini adventure in itself. You have to take a bus to Cariari, then another bus to La Pavona and finally a boat to Tortuguero. Buses to Cariari leave from the...
grandmaR Says: There is very little in the way of roads in Tortuguaro, so most travel is either by boat, train or plane. There are larger slow moving tourist boats with canopies where the guides take you along the canals, which is the way we took our tour from the cruise ship. I have read...
grandmaR Says: There is very little in the way of roads in Tortuguero. Until the late 1970s, train and canoe were the only means of reaching this area. Many of Costa Rica's sixty thousand black people that still predominantly live along the Caribbean coast trace their ancestry to the ten...
Folk Art and Coffee: Tour Stop
grandmaR Says: This was a shop at the landing where the boats left for the tours. They had a nice selection, but it was a problem if you did not have cash and they would not ship anything. You had to take everything back with you and pack it home in your luggage. When I was in Costa Rica...
grandmaR Says: While we were stopped at the boat departure point, they had a little band there that played music for dancing. I suspect that the band was there specifically for the cruise ship tours and might not be there all the time.
grandmaR Says: We were unable to see any turtle nesting as we were there in February, which is about the only time that no nesting takes place.There are several species of turtles that nest, and their nesting seasons overlap somewhat. Green turtles are the most important species that nest...
They MUST be Genetically Enhanced
puravida_ Says: The mosquitos in Tortuguero can suck the living blood completely from your body, leaving you bumpy, and more importantly, ITCHY. A local friend took me to la farmacia (the pharmacy) where I was told by the pharmacist to take Allegra. I was a little skeptical at first. I had...
Helga67 Says: If you happen to be in Tortuguero around May, don't waste your money on turtle spotting.There are three kinds of turtles that lay their eggs on the beach of Tortuguero: leatherback turtle, green sea turtle and hawksbill turtle. From February to July it's the leatherback...
endbegins Says: I went to Costa Rica 14 years ago and in Summer 2004. Both times I went to see the turtles lay their eggs in the sand. It's completely different now. Everyone sould watch it, but 14 years ago we were 6 or 7 people in the whole beach and last summer we were a hundred waiting...
Helga67 Says: Going on a package deal, you will leave most of your luggage in your hotel in San José and only bring a small bag with the necessary stuff for your 2 to 3-days stay. Bring light cotton cloths, a T-shirt with long sleeves and trousers for the jungle walk, slippers for the...
endbegins Says: Not many, as altough it's not a difficult trip you'd have to take a boat and all that. Bring lots of t-shirts cuz you're gonna be sweaty all day long. Bring repellent. It isn't really bad with mosquitos there but still...
Air conditioned internet access Tortuguero Village
lunarcolonist Says: In the village of Tortuguero there is a house with small handprinted signs saying internet access. It`s a small house on the main street. They charge 1000 colones for 15 minutes internet access, and there are 7 outdated but very functional computers in a room that has air...
Have a stop at the Delmonte factory
Helga67 Says: On your way from San Jose to the boat to Tortuguero, you will pass some banana plantations and a banana factory. This factory belongs to Delmonte. Have a short stop at the factory. It's an open factory where you will have a clear view how the bananas go from the tree into...
grandmaR Says: One of the reasons that I wanted to visit Costa Rica is because it has many kinds of tropical rain forests. Tortugero is a lowland area with an altitude of only 20 meters above sea level and with a few volcanic hills with heights of 100-300 meters. The vegetation is...
grandmaR Says: When we were in Costa Rica in 1997, the reptiles we saw included alligator, iguana (photo 5), river turtles (photo 3) and cayman (photo 4). This time we saw mostly Jesus Christ lizards. That is the common name for the basilisk lizard which has webbed hind feet and can run...
Sponsored Links
Plan a Tortuguero vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Tortuguero locals
Take a trip to Tortuguero and go for a hike with Bill Sambola. Bill used to be a monkey and jaguar hunter in Nicaragua and has a lot of stories to tell you when...
Q: We are 6 people touring Costa Rica from Tortugero to Arenal, then Manuel Antonio and finally Poas. We start on November 9th. The...
A: We needed a 4 wheel drive, because we were there in heavy spring rains and the road up to arenal was washed out in several spots. Many of these cars have no shocks...and...
Read 5 Replies
1
Tortuguero is a small fishing village in the far northwest corner of Costa Rica located on a narrow spit of land between the Caribbean Sea and the Tortuguero Canal. The village is only 10-15 miles...
2
We spent a short week in beautiful Tortuguero and fell in love at first sight. This is it, this is why I ever dreamt of visiting Costa Rica. The perfect tropical rainforest, mosaic of little canals...
3
Tortuguero National Park is one of the most visited national parks in Costa Rica. The name is roughly translated from Spanis as "turtle-catcher". This is one of the wettest areas in the country...
4
I've got some interesting experiences in Tortuguero. I'd love to share with you the 16 tips I've written, the 70 photos uploaded, and 1 travelogue I've created.
5
T O R T U G U E R O is a remoted area at the Caribbean Coast in the north of Costa Rica. There is a small town called Tortuguero, a small airport and a national park with the same name. In the park......
Build your own Tortuguero page
Sponsored Links
