Quepos

Wedged between the mouth of the Paquita River and the Pacific Ocean on Costa Rica's central Puntarenas coast, Quepos rests directly against steep, rainforest-covered hills. Walking its grid reveals a functional, sunbaked fishing port where delivery trucks and scooters buzz between tin-roofed sodas, hardware shops, and the salt-sprayed promenade of the waterfront seawall. The town grew rapidly in the 1930s when the United Fruit Company established banana export docks here, later shifting the local agricultural focus to African oil palms in the 1950s. Vestiges of this era survive on the terraced hills of the American Zone, where wooden stilt houses overlook the water beneath sprawling mango trees. Down below, the sleek slips and sportfishing fleet of Marina Pez Vela contrast with the neighboring wooden skiffs tied up along the Boca Vieja estuary. Farther west along the shoreline, Nahomi Park caps a rocky promontory where crashing swells break against tide pools. Every Friday evening and Saturday morning, farmers and fishermen converge along the seawall for the bustling feria del agricultor, trading fresh sea bass, wild cilantro, and stacks of pejibaye palms. In February, the streets fill for the annual Fiestas Cívicas, marked by open-air concerts, parades, and bullfights. Travelers can easily cross the downtown core on foot, using the central terminal buses that run every twenty minutes toward the beaches of Manuel Antonio. Visiting between December and April guarantees dry skies and calm conditions for boats heading out into the Pacific.