Rio Caribe

Río Caribe was the shipping point for the cacao of the Paria coast, and the trade built it: a small grid of painted colonial and republican houses around a plaza, a church and a seafront, with the plantations spread through the hills behind. The cacao grown here is fine-flavour criollo and trinitario stock, among the most highly regarded in the world, and several haciendas take visitors through the process from pod to fermented and dried bean.

What you actually see

• The painted houses - colonial and republican buildings around the plaza and seafront.
• The cacao haciendas - working plantations taking visitors through the process.
• The fine-flavour beans - criollo and trinitario cacao of high reputation.
• The waterfront - the small harbour that shipped the cacao out.

When to go

December to April is driest. Cacao harvest runs at two main periods, roughly mid-year and around the turn of the year. Plantation visits should be arranged in advance.

Honest expectations

The town is small and run down in places. Plantation visits need arranging ahead and are not always running. Roads east along the coast are poor.

Nearby

Playa Medina is east, and the Paria Peninsula is beyond it.