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District in Limón province, Costa Rica
Photo: Søren Blond Daugaard, CC BY 1.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Cahuita is a beach town in Limón Province, Costa Rica.
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Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica
The world's only sloth rehabilitation center. It offers visitors a unique opportunity to get up close to one of the world's least understood creatures. A tour lasts about 2 hours and includes a boat tour. Groups welcome. Drinks available in shop, but no food. You can also stay over night in big, clean rooms with or without A/C and have breakfast with the baby sloths. A double room without A/C costs US$96 (May 2009) including breakfast and a shorter tour (without the boat tour, which is US$20 extra).
Black Beach
A decent swimming beach running for several kilomteres along the sea coast northwest of town. As the name suggest, the sand is dark-colored; it is also very fine, almost like mud; while the place is good for swimming, it is not particularly photogenic.
This is actually one of the best national parks of Costa Rica. It has various different zones; beach, jungle, etc. and numerous and popular species. There is also a little white-sand beach just inside the park entrance. The beach is much more photogenic than Playa Negra. If you walk to the Puerto Vargas ranger station on the opposite end of the park you can catch a public bus back to Cahuita—stand on the northbound side of the road when the bus approaches, ₡400 (Mar 2012). The trail from entrance to this exit is about 9 km, but can take 3-4 hr, depending on how much time you plan to spend identifying all the wildlife.
Either way, it is best to go in at around 7AM when no one is there to see some animals normally hiding after the park gets busy or just during the day. And in case you go back at noon, you can stop where-ever big groups gather, because they stop for viewing (mostly large) animals.
Wildlife Rescue Center & Botanical Gardens
The botanical gardens have hundreds of different kinds of palms, heliconias, bromelias and many others. Visitors will experience an experience with the plants and animals of the tropical rain forest, nature walks under the canopy, many paved walkways, a beautiful beach in front of gardens, a nursery with export plants, close-up encounters with rescued animals and a gift shop.
Small, high quality hotel 5 minutes walking from the village and close to the Cahuita National Park where sloths, monkeys, birds and other types of wildlife can be seen. The beach is 100 m away.
Comfortable, clean rooms with air condition, wi-fi, coffee makers, hot running water, big out door terraces over-looking beautiful exotic gardens and swimming pool settled in an ancient coral reef. Breakfast included.
Small hotel with five comfortable rooms with fans, hot water, and mosquito nets. Some units offer three beds. The garden is wonderfully landscaped with gorgeous views of the Caribbean. There is also a lovely, natural swimming pool on the property for which the hotel is named. Numerous hammocks hang from sprawling walnut trees which are inhabited by two tree sloths. Accepts cash only, colones or dollars. There is free coffee and use of community kitchen 06:00-11:00 every morning.
Nice Dutch owned hostel. Clean rooms. Good location!
This hotel has many rooms 100 m from the ocean, a restaurant with great food, and free WiFi. There is no air conditioning, but rooms are quite well ventilated and large.
By bus
There are several buses departing San José to Cahuita from 06:00 till 16:00. Typically, these buses have Sixaola (Costa Rica's border town on the border with Panama) as their destination.
By private shuttle
Interbus runs services between Cahuita and San José for around US$35 per person taking 3-4 hr.
By taxi
Taxis from Puerto Limon cost ~US$15. Taxis from San José cost ~$150.
The town is fairly small and can easily be navigated by foot. For getting to the beaches and your accommodation however, you may prefer to rent a bicycle.
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Limón · Regional · LIO
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