Duration: 3 Days / 2 Nights · Price: From $245 USD per group of 1–4 · Difficulty: Easy
About this tour
The beach at Tortuguero is dark — no town lights, no hotels on the sand, and by park rule, no white-light torches after dark. The ranger leads your small group along the Caribbean shoreline in near-silence, moving by red-light only, and then stops. There, ten meters from the tide line, a green sea turtle the size of a dining room table is methodically excavating a nest with her rear flippers. She's been doing this every two or three years for decades, returning by magnetic sense to the exact beach where she hatched. You watch her lay 80 to 120 eggs, cover the nest, and begin the slow return to the water. No one speaks.
Tortuguero National Park protects the most important green sea turtle nesting beach in the Caribbean, and the nesting season (July through October) draws travelers from across the world. Getting there is part of the adventure — the park is accessible only by boat, and the two-hour canal ride from La Pavona passes through jungle waterways where caiman float at the surface, river otters roll through the water hyacinth, and Jesus Christ lizards sprint across the water on their hind legs.
Your first night is at a canal-side eco-lodge in Tortuguero village — no roads, no cars, just the sounds of the jungle and wooden boardwalks. Mornings are for a guided Tortuguero canal boat tour: kingfishers diving from overhanging branches, two-toed sloths in cecropias, and spider monkeys crossing the canopy at dawn. Outside nesting season, the canal tour is the main event — the wildlife doesn't thin out just because the turtles aren't laying.
From Tortuguero, the tour continues south to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca for a second night — the Caribbean's most characterful town, with Afro-Caribbean cooking, warm water, and a completely different energy from the jungle. A good place to decompress after two days in the wild.
The nesting beach tour is conducted by MINAE-licensed guides, limited to small groups, and timed to avoid disturbing nesting activity. Advance booking is essential during peak season.
What's included
- Round-trip boat transportation to Tortuguero
- Night 1: Tortuguero canal-side eco-lodge with breakfast
- Night 2: Puerto Viejo accommodation with breakfast
- Guided Tortuguero canal boat tour (wildlife spotting)
- Turtle nesting beach tour (July–October) or canal tour (off-season)
- Bilingual naturalist guide throughout
Not included
- Alcoholic beverages
- Personal travel insurance
- Gratuities
- Lunch and dinner (available at lodge for extra cost)
Good to know
- Nesting season is July–October — turtle beach tour included then; canal tour replaces it outside this window
- Wear dark clothing on the beach — light colors disturb turtles
- Bring insect repellent — mosquitoes are present year-round in Tortuguero
- The boat ride to Tortuguero is smooth but bring motion sickness tablets if prone
- Puerto Viejo is a lively Caribbean town — budget for meals and activities on your own time
- Free cancellation 72 hours prior