2.7/5
154 reviews
Photo by Frank Eiffert via Unsplash

Puerto Viejo

To increase honesty, reviews are anonymous. You can only add one review per city or it replaces/edits your old one. Reviews with URLs or emails are removed. If you're writing about data being wrong, please don't do it here as it'll be removed here.

beach

night

experience

wifi

spots

coworking

jungle

cities

del

great

carribean

outdoor

cool

playa

cocles

food

Puerto Viejo is a fun coastal town with a laid-back atmosphere that blends Caribbean and Latin American cultures. It’s generally safe as long as you take basic precautions, and Wi-Fi quality has improved in recent years, making it workable for most online tasks, including those needed by digital nomads. There are a growing number of coworking spots, like Boa Coworking, and many cafes offer decent internet connections.

The lifestyle here is great for anyone who enjoys the outdoors—beaches, hiking in nearby parks like Cahuita, and beach volleyball at Playa Cocles are popular activities. The food stands out with a Jamaican influence, offering something different from what you'd find elsewhere in Costa Rica. There's a vibrant social scene, including music nights and beachside bars.

However, it’s more expensive than other Central American destinations, and access to tech and medical infrastructure is limited. It's also relatively isolated, with fewer networking opportunities for digital nomads looking to collaborate or connect. Overall, it’s more geared toward travelers wanting a relaxed, culturally rich environment than remote workers looking for a high-productivity base.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Puerto Viejo has grown in recent years. Before wifi was hard to find. Now with several high speed co working spots like "Boa Coworking and cafe". Office in the jungle but walking distance to all thats necessary!

11 months ago

I don’t know why Costa Rican cities aren’t ranked higher on this list. Puerto Viejo is an amazing fun little town with a lot to do. I took a bus ride here from Bocas Del Toro, Panama after spending time there and I really enjoyed it.

It’s great because it’s like a mix of Carribean and Latin American vibes. There are so many outdoor activities to do here. there‘a Cahuita national park if you want to go hiking and see a lot of cool animals, there’s beach volleyball everyday at playa cocles, the black sand beach at playa negra is beautiful, Punta Uva has some stunning views. It also has the best food in Costa Rica since the food is more Jamaican inspired. Every evening there’s usually something going on somewhere whether it’s salsa night, reggaeton night, carribean music night, or an EDM DJ playing. The most popular places for nightlife have their outdoor area right on the beach is also really cool. I was initially worried about getting reliable Wi-Fi but it actually turned out to work fine at my airbnb and most cafe/lunch spots. There aren’t really coworking spaces though.

The main cons I see is that it’s still Costa Rica so it is pricier than other nearby countries. Also the tech & medical infrastructure is not the best and it’s kind of far from any major cities so if you get sick/injured or need to buy some tech merchandise it will cause some difficulty. Last if you’re looking for a digital nomad community to do some networking you’re not going to find that here.

Overall I give it a 6.5/10 for nomading and an 8/10 for vacation.

12 months ago

In general, Puerto Viejo is a nice place to visit. Safe unless you insist going around with valuables and healthy unless you Purposely look for something else. You can have a great experience if you try to talk to locals and understand local habits. I had a very nice familiar and human experience with some locals who rent a container house in Cocles, in the middle of the jungle, unique experience El Nido del Buho.

1 year ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of outdoor activities

✅ Good nightlife

✅ Great food

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Expensive

❌ Poor medical and tech infrastructure

❌ Small digital nomad community

❌ Very expensive

❌ Not very safe

❌ Pretty slow internet

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

30°C / 86°F warm

29°C / 84°F warm

30°C / 86°F warm

33°C / 91°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

30°C / 86°F warm

Real (median)

26°C / 79°F
warm

27°C / 80°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

26°C / 79°F
warm

Humidity

nice
88%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
93%

sweaty
91%

sweaty
93%

sweaty
91%

sweaty
89%

sweaty
88%

sweaty
87%

nice
91%

Most common

Rain

rainy
208mm

rainy
174mm

rainy
159mm

rainy
208mm

rainy
378mm

rainy
266mm

rainy
519mm

rainy
312mm

rainy
288mm

rainy
283mm

rainy
336mm

rainy
415mm

Cloud

pockets
29%

pockets
27%

pockets
25%

pockets
35%

pockets
36%

pockets
35%

pockets
39%

pockets
36%

pockets
33%

pockets
30%

pockets
28%

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
11 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

450 people

543 people

360 people

486 people

400 people

480 people

267 people

300 people

356 people

467 people

429 people

356 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Puerto Viejo's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Senior Software Engineer Full Stack @ Cyngn
	Product Engineer Frontend @ Quash
	React + Node Developer Web Applicat... @ Oowlish Technology
	DevOps Engineer Staking @ Crypto.com
	Manager Maintenance @ Commonwealth Fusion Systems
	Software Engineer Infrastructure @ Gauntlet
	Software Engineer Data @ Gauntlet
	Software Engineer III Frontend @ Shippo
	HQ Senior Frontend Engineer @ Job&Talent
	Software Engineer Microservices @ Kong
	Senior Fullstack Engineer @ MoonPay

Help pick the best photos for Puerto Viejo and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

77pts

30pts

21pts

18pts

16pts

14pts

11pts

10pts

9pts

7pts

3pts

1pts

54pts

28pts

20pts

17pts

15pts

13pts

11pts

10pts

8pts

5pts

3pts

0pts

54pts

22pts

19pts

17pts

15pts

12pts

11pts

9pts

7pts

5pts

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.7/5 (Rank #242) 154 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍3 liked it 👎0 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🧐 Pricey: $3,397 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 8Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 27°C80°F (feels 30°C86°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 77%
👌 Safety	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Bad
🤝 Lack of racism*	Good
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Great
💰 Income level*	Low: $985 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Okay
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Good
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Great
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Costa Rica
🗓️ Average trip length	14 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	8 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌧 27°C 80°F + 🥵 Sweaty (77%) = feels 30°C 86°F
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 CRC in USD	USD 1.98
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	CRC 100,000 = USD 198
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners)
💻 Best coworking space	Loop
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	8% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	10,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$11,825 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 51% 👱‍♀️ 49%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 68% 👱‍♀️ 32%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Encuentra24
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Nature Air
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Nature Air
🏥 Best hospital	Hone Creek Clinic

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$3,397 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,931 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$3,537 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,010 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$2,667 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,770 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$692 / month
🏠 Median home price	$395
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$125 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$91 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$196 / month
🍛 Dinner	$12
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3