Puntarenas

Puntarenas occupies a sand spit running several kilometres into the Gulf of Nicoya, and it was the country's main Pacific port from the nineteenth century, the outlet for the coffee trade, until Caldera replaced it in 1981; the town has been declining and reinventing itself since. The Paseo de los Turistas along the southern shore is the seafront promenade, lined with restaurants and stalls selling churchill, a shaved-ice dessert with syrup, condensed milk, powdered milk and ice cream that is the town's contribution to Costa Rican food. Ferries cross to Paquera and Naranjo on the Nicoya peninsula, and cruise ships dock at the pier.

History

Gil González Dávila was the first European to reach Puntarenas, in 1522, but although the Gulf of Nicoya was a way into the interior, the port was developed only from 1840, when coffee from the highlands reached exportable amounts; in 1845 Congress made it a free port, except for cognac and hard liquor. Coffee came down at first by ox cart along a mountain trail, a railway reached Esparza, founded in 1574, in 1859, and the line through to San José opened in 1910. The port stayed central to the region through the 20th century, until its ageing facilities gave way in the 1980s to a new port at Caldera to the south, where ships had anchored in colonial times (Wikipedia, Puntarenas).

What's there

• The Paseo de los Turistas - the seafront promenade and its stalls.
• Churchill - the shaved-ice dessert the town invented.
• The ferry terminal - the crossings to the Nicoya peninsula.
• The spit - the long narrow strip the town is built on.

When to go

December to April in the dry season; the town fills with domestic visitors at Christmas, Easter and during the July Virgen del Mar celebrations, when a decorated boat procession crosses the gulf.

Good to know

The beach is grey and the water in the gulf is not clean enough for comfortable swimming. Parts of the town are run down. Heat and humidity are heavy. It functions mainly as a ferry and cruise stop.

Nearby

Chira and San Lucas islands lie in the gulf; Jaco is south down the coast.

Key facts