Tortuguero National Park can’t be reached by road. It’s canals only, boats only, and by the time you arrive you already understand why – there’s nowhere in Costa Rica quite this deliberately cut off from everything else.
We spent two nights here, right at the start of our Costa Rica trip, and it set the tone for everything that followed.
Getting there is part of the experience
There’s no quick way in. From San José, it’s a 3–4 hour coach transfer, with a breakfast stop along the way – our first real taste of Costa Rican food, rice and beans, scrambled eggs, sausage and plantain. It was exactly what we needed after the 5am start. From there, it’s another two-hours by canal into the park itself.
We travelled with Ecole Travel, and our guide Valentine stayed with us for the full two nights – everyone that transferred within our group followed the same structure, and left when we did. The entire tour ran effortlessly. We always knew exactly where we needed to be, and Valentine taught us more about the park’s history and wildlife than any guidebook ever could have.
The boat journey in was worth the trip on its own. Birds everywhere, howler monkeys in the distance, and a huge crocodile basking on the bank – which explained the “No Swimming. Crocodiles” signs dotted along the dock rather quickly. The stories I’d heard about seeing Costa Rican wildlife before leaving the UK, I’d put down to luck. I just crossed everything and hoped it’d be the same for us – it absolutely was. The frequency with which we spotted such a variety of differing wildlife couldn’t have been predicted, and was certainly not guaranteed. But here it was on day one!
Evergreen Lodge
We stayed at Evergreen Lodge, right inside the national park. A wooden lodge set up, with walkways running on stilts above the rainforest floor, our room had no glass in the windows – just mesh, enough to keep the bugs out and let everything else in. Our room was equipped with everything we needed: two king beds and a simple self-contained bathroom. And once you’re away from the dock, the rainforest properly comes into focus: chirping constantly, a flash of red at the edge of your vision that turns out to be a tiny frog, butterflies looking for somewhere to land, ants going about their business on the trees. It was exactly what I’d wanted to experience. My children were in awe – this place is like nowhere they’d ever stayed before. And although both of them were apprehensive about our lack of windows, they embraced the wildlife fully and our stay was full of “wow look at this” exclamations as they each spotted something new.
My biggest joy staying at Evergreen Lodge were the sounds of the forest. It was our nighttime lullaby and our morning wake-up call, every single day we were there.
We stayed full board, which makes sense given how remote the lodge is – there’s really nowhere else to go for dinner other than Tortuguero village – and it consisted of simple buffet dining that left us fully satisfied after every sitting, and ready for the next adventure.
Sloths on day one
After check in and a quick lunch, we met at the dock for our first proper rainforest walk – just a few minutes by boat to a sister property, deep in the flora and fauna. It rained on us. That didn’t matter one bit. We’d hoped for sloths, and only a few minutes in, there they were. A family of three, moving through the treetops while everyone below stood in silence, watching. Sloths actually move quite quickly through the trees – we spotted many more as the trip progressed and every time we were told: “sloths are not slow, they’re just lazy”.
Our tour continued past spider monkeys, more frogs, a Jesus Christ lizard plus so many examples of the flora and fauna inhabiting the rainforest. Valentine was so engaging, you could feel his enthusiasm for his country’s unique biodiversity – even the children listened intently. Before long we came back to the same sloth spot. They were still there, including the baby, who made his way down to the ground while we watched. It’s a once-a-week thing for sloths, a bathroom break shall we say, and we happened to be there for it – close enough that this little sloth didn’t feel like a wild animal at all.
That first walk set the pattern for the rest of the stay. Capuchin monkeys joined us for breakfast and lunch, without fail, every single day. Howler monkeys came swinging through during an hour we spent by the lovely turtle shaped pool – a really nice touch given Tortuguero is taken from the Spanish, Tortuga, which of course translates to turtle. We even spotted a small agouti wandering near our room on the way to an early morning boat tour through the park’s canals.
The turtles after dark
We added a night-time green turtle nesting tour, and it’s unlike anything else we did in Costa Rica. These trips are tightly controlled, built entirely around the turtles’ welfare rather than the tourists’ – no lights, no cameras, and no guarantee you’ll see anything at all.
Our tour offered two timing slots only, and you don’t get to choose which you take, it’s assigned. It’s either 8pm-10pm or 10pm-12pm, that night it was the former for us, which I can’t lie, helped a little with still being on UK time.
We got lucky. One turtle laying her eggs, another making her way back down the beach to the sea, a third still climbing to find a spot to nest. There’s no real way to describe the size of them until you’re standing near one in the dark – even without light, their silhouette against the sand is unmistakable, and watching one emerge from the water is one of those moments that’s hard to properly put into words.
Tortuguero canal safari
Day 2 had an early start as we headed further into the National Park on a full canal safari tour. We wanted the wildlife as it was starting its day, that should help us to catch as many sightings as possible, Valentine advised as we board the boat. Birdlife was out in abundance – brightly coloured water birds could be spotted through the rushes, herons flying to their favourite breakfast spot for the daily catch, and we were even lucky enough to spot several baby birds learning the ropes of catching their own food. Valentine also drew our attention to the many iguanas basking high on branches, warming their bodies for the day ahead. At first we found these difficult to see, they are impressively camouflaged against the rainforest, but as the trip went on, even the kids were spotting them. And some of these iguanas were huge! Interestingly, the babies are far easier to spot as they are bright green when young. They actually really stand out against the greenery of their perch. Apart from one howler monkey sleeping high on a branch in the distance, we didn’t spot many larger animals this time round but it didn’t matter, there was something really peaceful about starting the day out on the water. We headed back to Evergreen after two hours for breakfast.
The Tortuguero Hill hike
We also added this hike to our itinerary – we booked and paid for it at the reception of our Lodge. The ladies at reception were really helpful and these additions were easy to do and slotted perfectly alongside our pre-planned activities.
The hike up to the Tortuguero Hill viewpoint, involved another excellent guide who helped us identify sleeping bats as we passed a small crevice in the rocks, a tiny hummingbird gathering material for its nest, a small group of playful spider monkeys, and howler monkeys calling somewhere in the distance.
It’s an easy-to-moderate walk. The most taxing bit was the 400 step climb to the top, and our ten-year-old had no trouble at all — it’s genuinely fine for families with similarly aged children. Our day was slightly cloudy, but we could still see out over the Caribbean coast, and caught a group of black vultures riding the wind currents below us.
Tortuguero Village
Our final experience of the stay was a trip to the main village, a small, one ‘street’ set up offering tourists hand crafted souvenirs, river side cafes for a relaxing drink or meal and fruit stalls if you’re in need of a quick snack. We did also briefly visit the beach there, unfortunately the weather didn’t hold off long enough for us to enjoy it, but it was great to see the wildness of the Caribbean Coast. Especially as we would visit Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast at the end of our journey. A more wild feeling beach, its rugged sands and strong seas bring a unique beauty to the tropical forest. We were able to spot old turtle nests in the sand too.
Was two nights in Tortuguero National Park enough?
Just about. We comfortably fit in everything we wanted to – the rainforest walk, the boat tour, the turtles, the hike – but we could easily have stayed a third night and let the pace drop a little. If your itinerary allows it, I wouldn’t say no to the extra time, there’s plenty more to do. And whilst we opted for a tour styled stay, you can definitely do this under you’re own steam by booking a hotel and activities separately.
Tortuguero isn’t a place you visit for one big sight. It’s a place where the whole point is slowing down enough to notice everything happening around you. And to listen. The calming sounds of the rainforest by night live with me – the whole experience is a one off and not to be missed if you’re heading to Costa Rica.
Keep planning your trip:
- 12 Nights in Costa Rica: Caribbean to Pacific by Car
- Self-Driving Costa Rica: What You Need to Know
- La Fortuna, Costa Rica: Frogs After Dark, ATVs Through the Jungle, a Volcano Hike and Hot Springs to Finish
- White-Water Rafting the Río Balsa in La Fortuna: My Son’s Number One Activity
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