Exploring Corcovado National Park

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Beautiful beach with dark sand and palmtrees on the pacific coast of Costa Rica

Osa Peninsula is a real paradise for nature and wildlife lovers. 

Think thick green jungle, home to thousands of wild animals, tons of colorful flowers, endless coastline with beautiful beaches, pacific ocean where you can spot whales, turtles, dolphins… Corcovado National Park and its surrounding are a perfect destination and aren't nearly as busy with tourists as other places in Costa Rica.

 If you’re in the country, absolutely make sure you come visit this gorgeous place.

Our highlights in Corcovado National Park

For sure, you won’t get bored in the Osa Peninsula : from mangrove kayaking to diving on Cano island, or even crocodile night watching… The area has a lot to offer. It might even be difficult to choose...

1. Free trail along Corcovado National Park

The highlight of our stay in the Peninsula was surprisingly the free trail along the coastline trough the jungle and outside the national park.

From Drake Bay to « Sunset Paradise Restaurant », passing by Cocolito Beach, Playa Las Caletas, Playa San Josecito, and more. We hiked around 20 km back and forward and each and every step were mind blowing.

We highly recommend starting early to have enough time to enjoy the beautiful nature and get back before sundown. Make sure to take a lot of breaks to observe the monkeys, hummingbirds, toucans, butterflies, go for a refreshing swim on one of the many beaches you will encounter, chill by the river that you can very easily cross (especially at low tide), …

The trail is well marked, most of the time in the shade, and you can find drinkable water at least twice on the way. One way walking with a good pace and without stopping took us approximately 2.5 hours. Although if you’re planning on spotting animals, you can double that fairly easily.

A man walking on a bridge trough the jungle
Red flower in a treePath in the jungleThree persons hiking on the beach, the jungle on their left and the ocean on their right.

2. Exploring Corcovado National Park from Drake Bay

Entering Corcovado National Park is only possible with a guide. From Drake Bay, we could enter from two ranger station: La Sirena and San Pedrillo. 

What is the difference between La Sirena and San Pedrillo?

La Sirena

La Sirena is located in the primary forest, and that’s where you have the best chance to meet Corcovado wild life. Make sure to book your tour in advance (at least 3 weeks ahead) as only a 100 persons are allowed in the park each day. 

San Pedrillo

If like us, you’re a last minute person, you're most likely to find a spot on the other tours arranged by the hostel. We picked San Pedrillo in the secondary forest and we really enjoyed it. It starts with a scenic boat ride from Drake Bay to the station and from there a very easy and slow walk in the jungle scouting for any sound, smell or moving branches to spot monkeys, coatis, scarlet macaw, bats, frogs, toucans, hummingbirds, amazing blue butterfly or even tapir if you’re lucky.

Focus on a hummingbird on a branch

Where to stay to visit Corcovado National Park?

For most people, the choice has to be done between Puerto Jimenez (on the east on Osa Peninsula) or Drake Bay (on the west side).

We picked Drake Bay has it seemed to be less touristy. It’s also a good place to go to visit Cano Island, and the fastest access to the Sirena Station. In or near Drake Bay, you’ll find a variety of accommodations from hostels to beautiful eco lodge. As we are traveling on a budget, we choose to stay at « Martina’s Place » and we absolutely loved it. It’s a very chill hostel where everyone talks to each other, the staff is very friendly and there is a useful open kitchen. 

Drake Bay itself is very remote. You’ll still find a few restaurants, some supermarkets and all the necessary. Make sure to bring enough cash has there is no ATM on Drake Bay and most places either don’t accept cards, or charge 13% fees on top of each transaction.

3 persons playing on the beach after sunset.

Sunset in Drake Bay

How to get to & away from Drake Bay?

There are a few options to reach Drake Bay, depending where you come from.

From Uvita to Drake Bay:

  1. Bus from Uvita to Palmar Norte (₡ 3.500) - 8.30 am to catch the first ferry
  2. Taxi from Palmar Norte to Sierpe (₡ 16.000) - it’s also possible to take another bus, but make sure to be able to catch the ferry
  3. Ferry from Sierpe to Drake Bay (₡ 13.000) - there are 2 ferry each day - 11 am or 3 pm
The port of Sierpe, with many boats, a restaurant, and palm trees in the background.

Port of Sierpe, where ferries leaves to Drake Bay

From Drake Bay to San Jose :

Option 1:

  1. Ferry from Drake Bay to Palmar Norte (₡ 13.000) - the first one leaves at 7.30 am
  2. Bus from Palmar Norte to San Jose - you would arrive in San Jose around 4 pm

Option 2:

You want to reach another destination on the same day and avoid spending the night in San Jose? Wake up early and catch a bus!

  1. Bus from Drake Bay to Rincon (₡ 6.000)- it stops in front of this supermarket at 4:15 am
  2. Bus from Rincon to San Jose (₡ 8.500) - we arrived around 1 pm in San Jose, which gave us enough time to get in another bus to reach our next destination without having to change bus station!
  3. Bus from San Jose to Cahuita (₡ 6.005) - we got in the at 2 pm one, but there were other options. It took us 4,5 hours to reach Cahuita. Make sure to arrive a bit earlier to avoid standing all the way.