All year round you can enjoy the marvels Costa Rica has to offer.
In the South of Costa Rica, the climate is comfortable all over the year. The day temperature varies between 26 and 30 degrees, while at night it normally drops of 2 degrees. Although the temperature is stable, it is very humid and as Costa Rica is part of the tropics, the sun is strong no matter it is cloudy or not.
Costa Rica has two seasons: the dry season (December to April) and the rainy season (May to November). Most people visit the Country during the dry season, specially because it is the time snowbirders from the Northern Countries escape the cold or younger people need some vacations to have a break from the winter. During the dry season, you can appreciate a clear blue sky every single day while in the rainy season there are more clouds and normally about an hour of rain every day. It rarely rain all day long. The wettest months are October and November.
What About Activities?
Most activities can be done at any time, but some places are better to visit at a certain moment of the year.
Golfito and the main villages of the Osa Peninsula, Puerto Jimenez and Drake Bay, are never crowded with tourists, but if you like to go on a hike or to do any adventures where there is not a soul in sight, May, June, September, October and November and great months to visits. International and domestic fly tickets are cheaper too.
Out of the dozens of waterfall hikes we offer, some are beautiful with crystal clear water in the dry season, others, look spectacular in the rainy season. According to Waterfall Rappelling and Canyoning Tours, we always recommend the best places to go according to your dates and location.
For snorkeling, free diving and scuba diving tours, even if these activities can be done during any months, the best water visibility is during the dry season.
Piedras Blancas National Park and Corcovado National Park remains open everyday unless they are not accessible due to the high precipitations, which may happen for a couple of day in October or November. In the rainy season, you may have the park only for yourselves, but you will get wet once in a while and need water boots, which is part of being immersed in the rainforest. Some trails may be inaccessible due to the high level of the rivers.
The Golfo Dulce is renowned worldwide for its unique bioluminescence, a phenomenon that occurs only with the perfect climatic conditions. To increase your chances to see a great light show, plan your visit between January and mid April.
Best Time and Places for Wildlife
There is wildlife to see all year round. However, depending on the animals you want to see and the places you want to visit, here is some information to consider to have all chances on your side seeing your favorite animals.
Many mammals move from one spot to another during the year. Sloths, for example, may stay in a specific spot for months because the trees they are on provide them enough food. Then, they might move deeper in the forest in the rainy season and come back the next year. Sometime they are trapped in small forests where they have no biological
Monkeys are often seen in forest trails, close to houses or the beach in the dry season because it is where they can harvest more fruits as they have been planted and receives more sun than in the middle of the rain forest where trees fight for life and produce less flowers, fruits and nuts. Monkeys will move in to farther in the rainforest when they have less to eat close to shore, but they still easy to see all year around.
Corcovado National Park is the number one destination to see a maximum of wildlife. You might see a biggest variety of mammals between November and August and of reptiles between May and November. Make sure to mention your interest to see a maximum of wildlife at the moment of inquiring a tour. Most people get wrong thinking the longest trails or the middle of the primary forest is where they might see more animals. The best trails to see wildlife are the ones around Sirena stations.
Bird Watching tours are a success all year around, but we count with a most important variety of migrating birds between November and March.
Schools of dolphins are seen all year, whales come to the Golfo Dulce between July and October, the whale shark between April and May, and offshore fishing is normally better between December and April. Turtles come to beaches specific times a year, you might find hundreds of them in Matapalo, Piro and Carate, but none in Pavones beach, they do not all frequent the same beach at the same moment.
Snakes, doesn’t like to have their house floating and they give birth and raise their little ones just like the scorpions in the rainy season, so they are more likely to be seen at that time. Spiders also show up more in the wettest months. As you may know, amphibians love the rain and the Osa Peninsula hosts an incredible variety of frogs including endangered and endemic species like the Golfo Dulce frog. No wonder why night tours are so popular in the rainy season.
Photographers
Unless you are looking to photograph something very specific, the best time of the year to capture the perfect shots is the dry season. The blue sky and best sunsets occurs between December and April. Our team counts with naturalist guides who specialize in photography. If it is the main interest of your trip, we will make sure you have the adequate guide for your tours.