Golfito Costa Rica
86
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Emerald Waterways (10 Cruises)
Lindblad Expeditions (17 Cruises)
National Geographic Quest
17 Cruises
Star Clippers (16 Cruises)
Windstar Cruises (34 Cruises)
Star Pride
16 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
In the small inner bay that gives the town its natural shelter, after entering the Golfo Dulce. The view from the water is striking: slopes covered in trees thirty to forty-five metres tall drop almost straight into the sea.
Because of bananas. In the 1930s the United Fruit Company built a company town here from scratch to house its employees. For more than forty years, freighters loaded with green stems left this little harbour, until the company pulled out in 1985.
The former American zone, an airy district where United Fruit managers lived, lines up its large timber houses with verandas under mango trees and royal palms. The whole area tells the story of the banana boom better than any museum.
Yes, and it is one of the surprises of the call. The forested ridge above town is part of the Golfito national wildlife refuge: toucans and macaws can sometimes be watched from the main street, and monkeys think nothing of crossing the power lines above passers-by.
They leave straight from the waterfront into the Golfo Dulce: resident dolphins, turtles and, in season, humpback whales frequent these sheltered waters. Some head for beaches reachable only by sea or for botanical gardens tucked on the far shore.
At the La Gamba biological station on the edge of Piedras Blancas national park, which offers guided walks in primary forest. The guides know how to find brightly coloured frogs, hummingbirds and cat tracks that a hurried eye would never catch.
Yes, the place ranks among Costa Rica's leading spots for it, and the local skippers know every current in the gulf. Many will happily recall, between manoeuvres, the days when the docks shook under loading freighters.
A small port town living at its own pace: the commercial quarter, denser than the American zone, is lined with sodas, shops and hardware stores. Do not expect a historic centre or developed tourist infrastructure.
The colón, with the US dollar widely accepted. Spanish is spoken; English is used in tourism and sport fishing, less so in ordinary shops.
December to April, the driest stretch. Costa Rica's southern Pacific remains one of the wettest regions in the country: even in the dry season, an afternoon shower is no surprise.
