Punta Uva

The most beautiful beach I found in Costa Rica and the one I told fewest people about when I got home. At 6am with the Caribbean completely flat and a horizontal light coming through the palms, it was so good it felt private. We were there for four days and saw the same twenty people on the beach each day. By 10am people arrive from Puerto Viejo on bicycles, which is the right speed for this place.

Stayed at one of the small lodges behind the beach for three nights. The forest behind the room had red-eyed tree frogs on the walls each evening. The beach outside was so calm we swam at dusk without thinking about it. A pair of toucans in the tree above the beach bar. The Caribbean coast here is a completely different Costa Rica from the Pacific and this is its best expression.

The beach is genuinely excellent and the overall atmosphere is rare — relaxed in a way that feels authentic rather than manufactured. Small honest note: Puerto Viejo has a petty theft problem and you should not leave valuables on the beach unattended. This is not unique to Punta Uva but it is worth knowing. Other than that, close to perfect.

The snorkelling here surprised me — I went in without equipment just to swim and could see the bottom clearly to four or five metres. Borrowed a mask from the lodge and found parrotfish, a large barracuda holding position in mid-water, and what I think was a small nurse shark under a rock. The reef is not extensive but it is alive and accessible.