Turtle fishermen from Nicaragua and Bocas del Toro began settling this stretch of coast around 1750, and the town was known as "Old Harbour" until Costa Rica Hispanicized place names after the 1948 civil war. Jamaican labourers who arrived from 1872 to build the Atlantic railway left an Afro-Caribbean Creole culture of reggae, calypso and Creole English, distinct from the rest of the country; Bribri communities remain in the hills inland. Salsa Brava, a shallow reef break offshore, is one of the country's best-known heavy waves. Unlike Costa Rica's Pacific beach towns, this coast has no real dry season: its driest months are September and October, when the Pacific side is at its wettest.
Nights sit around 25°C and afternoons around 30°C.
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca barely changes season: afternoons sit around 29°C and nights around 24°C most of the year.
It rains all year — about 2735 mm in total, from 333 mm in December down to 137 mm in September — so there is no dry stretch to aim for.
Wind is rarely an issue; most months sit between calm and a light breeze. The air stays clean through the year.
Daylight is steady all year, around 12.0 hours a day.
No month in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca matches what you're after, so come for the place rather than the weather. Expect fast internet (113 Mbps) and a high cost of living (about €1550 a month).
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