The Pan-American Highway (Hwy. 1) descends from the central highlands to the Pacific plains via Esparza, at the foot of the mountains about 15 kilometers east of Puntarenas.

Five kilometers long but only five blocks wide at its widest, this sultry port town, 120 kilometers west of San José, is built on a long narrow spit—Puntarenas means “Sandy Point”—running west from the suburb of Cocal and backed to the north by a mangrove estuary; to the south are the Gulf of Nicoya and a beach cluttered with driftwood.

Puntarenas has long been favored by Josefinos seeking R and R. The old wharves on the estuary side feature decrepit fishing boats leaning against ramshackle piers popular with pelicans.

The peninsula was colonized by the Spaniards as early as 1522. The early port grew to prominence and was declared a free port in 1847, a year after completion of an oxcart road from the Meseta Central. Oxcarts laden with coffee made the lumbering descent to Puntarenas in convoys; the beans were shipped from here via Cape Horn to Europe.

It remained the country’s main port until the Atlantic Railroad to Limón, on the Caribbean coast, was completed in 1890 (the railroad between San José and Puntarenas would not be completed for another 20 years).

Earlier this century, Puntarenas also developed a large conch-pearl fleet. Some 80 percent of Porteños, as the inhabitants of Puntarenas are called, still make their living from the sea.

The town’s main usefulness is as the departure point for day cruises to islands in the Gulf of Nicoya and for the ferries to Playa Naranjo and Paquera, on the Nicoya Peninsula.

Getting There

Empresarios Unidos (in San José tel. 506/222-0064, in Puntarenas tel. 506/661-2158), buses depart San José from Calle 16, Avenidas 10/12, every hour 4 a.m.–7 p.m. daily ($3).

Interbus (tel. 506/283-5573, www.interbusonline.com) operates minibus shuttles from San José ($19) and popular tourist destinations in Nicoya and Guanacaste.

Car-and-passenger ferries for the Nicoya Peninsula leave the Coonatramar ferry terminal (Avenida 3, Calles 33/35, tel. 506/661-9011, fax 506/661-2197, www.coonatramar.com); the office is open 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Saturday. Passenger-only water-taxis also operate.