Manuel Antonio – Still the destination for postcards!
Manuel Antonio is the dream place of the short tourist. You want beautiful beaches – check, rainforest – check, luxury accommodations and decent restaurants – check, activities like deep sea fishing, zip lining, kayaking – check.
In fact, if you only have a limited amount of time to visit Costa Rica, this small beach town and popular national park pretty much has you covered! If you are a traveler in your golden years, a family with small children or a tourist with limited mobility; the tranquility of Manuel Antonio Park is a real bonus!
Manuel Antonio is not a town, but a series of hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops that have sprung up on the winding road that leads from the bustling fishing village of Quepos to and around the national park. Quepos also thrives on the tourism that the area attracts and has many restaurants, bars, shops, and tours that cater to its foreign guests.
Accommodation within the city tends towards the lower budget or backpacker side with cheap and cheerful “pack ’em in” hotels and hostels. For those who are not on a tight budget, the hotels that have been built on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea, along the road that goes down to Manuel Antonio, will be the preferred accommodation option for a stay here.
The beach outside the national park, Playa Espidilla, is a long expanse of soft gray sand and leads out to a clear blue ocean. It’s great for surfing but there can be rip currents so be careful. Lifeguards are often on duty at this beach.
Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the country despite being relatively small. For this reason, the entrance to the park is limited: 600 people during the week and 800 visitors on the weekend. Go early to make sure you’ll be admitted, especially during peak season. On Mondays, the park is completely closed. These measures have been introduced to avoid oversaturation of the park, which has the main objective of protecting the wildlife in it.
You’ll see reviews and travel guides pointing to the park’s popularity and relatively small area as reasons to omit it from a Costa Rica vacation itinerary. Certainly if you have the time and physical ability to trek through the wildest jungle; There are more remote and isolated protected areas in the country that may give you the chance to be ensconced in nature and forget about the outside world, but you shouldn’t get the impression that Manuel Antonio is all tourists with cameras either. One of my most magical wildlife encounters in Costa Rica happened right there in the center of the park!
Leaving the park as dusk approached, I was privileged to see baby turtles emerging from a sandbank next to the trail; they were frankly digging out of their nest; pushing and shoving his brothers in his desire to get off the sand and scramble up the beach to get into the ocean. Others and I stayed and watched as the tiny reptiles were guided by the light reflecting off the waves to continue on with dogged determination toward their goal; overcoming obstacles such as sticks and our footprints to be dragged into the water by a wave and sway just by showing their heads.
On another occasion, I was horribly transfixed by the sight of a snake slowly devouring a bat that was hanging from a tree. Agoutis nibble on nuts in the undergrowth, sloths crawl along the branches, squirrel monkeys chat among themselves, and white-faced monkeys are everywhere.
Actually, watch out for the capuchin monkeys – they have learned to work together as efficiently as any ghetto gang to rob unsuspecting tourists! I’ve seen smaller members of the troupe posing on the branches overhanging a beach and as tourists jump out of their towels ready to take a picture of the “so cute little thing”; Your parents, aunts, uncles and all other family members are hanging around and looting the unattended bags! I watched helplessly as a furry thief triumphantly carried away my suntan lotion, but luckily it was dropped a few meters in disgust when it was inedible!
Far from being so overcrowded with tourists that the wildlife has fled; they may be too obvious! On a more serious note, the Manuel Antonio monkeys are believed to have a shorter lifespan than those outside the park due to the high intake of cholesterol into their systems from consuming human food. Please don’t feed them!
The four beaches inside the park are safer places to swim than outside it, since they are protected by the bays that form them. The beaches of Manuel Antonio, Espadilla Sur, Playita, and Escondido are all accessible by well-maintained trails, and the more ambitious hiker can also take a loop around Punta Catedral. The point is on a tombolo, an island now attached to the land by a strip of sand. Jungle trails are perfect opportunities to wander with a keen eye and careful ear for animals in the undergrowth and above you in the trees.
Enter the park through Hotel La Posada and pay your $6-$10 entrance fee with children 12 and under free. If you go out from the beach and the river is high; pay to take the boat to the other side instead of getting in. The river is sometimes polluted and is rumored to contain crocodiles!
The park was included in the 2011 Forbes compilation of the “12 Most Beautiful National Parks in the World,” if you need further confirmation of its charms.
Outside of the park, you’ll find many tour companies willing to take you on a host of other adventures including zip lining, deep sea fishing, snorkeling, and much more. Tour guides are on hand to take you around the park, so you don’t miss a single tree frog hiding under a leaf, and to learn more about the area’s flora and fauna.
Only about a 3-hour drive from San José, Manuel Antonio is one of the closest beaches to the Central Valley and is really worth visiting. The GPS coordinates for the center of Quepos are 9.43306,-84.161932.
