The first time I travelled to Costa Rica the road to Manuel Antonio wasn’t paved, the journey was known to be a bit of a nightmare and I didn’t end up visiting. It wasn’t long before the road was sealed and it quickly became the most popular national park in Costa Rica. What followed was horror stories involving the kind of crowds you expect to see in Disneyland, not a national park. I really regretted not making the trip when I had the chance to see it at its best.
I didn’t think it would still be possible to have a good experience with its current popularity, but when visiting Costa Rica for a second time, I wasn’t going to miss it again.
Yes the park is phenomenally busy, and yes it can feel like Disneyland at times, but if you plan your day carefully, it’s still possible to have an incredible time at Manuel Antonio National Park.
Here’s how.
Things to know before visiting Manuel Antonio National Park
The park is closed on Tuesdays
The most important thing to know when planning your trip is that the national park is closed on Tuesdays. However, there’s more to Manuel Antonio than the national park alone, and Tuesday is a good day to be in the area, as fewer visitors are around the town and beaches on a Tuesday.
One of the beautiful beaches (Playa Espadilla Sur) that is located inside the national park actually extends out of the park (and turns into Playa Espadilla Norte) and Tuesday is the quietest day to visit. You can also visit Biesanz Beach, which is a small secluded cove with calm water for swimming and a gorgeous jungly outlook.
On the short (five minute walk) to the beach you can spot huge numbers of Howler monkeys in the trees, they are particularly active in the morning and close to sunset, when their howls reverberate through the jungle.
Visitor numbers are capped and you should book tickets in advance
It’s easy to book tickets ahead of time online at this website. You choose your preferred date and time slot and then you know you can definitely enter the park when you want to. It doesn’t cost extra to book online, you simply reserve your spot and then pay when you get to the park entrance.
We personally looked at several dates and never saw any time slots booked out (and this was peak season) but there’s no use taking the chance when it’s free and easy to sure up your place. You definitely don’t need to worry about this weeks ahead, but I wouldn’t recommend chancing it and turning up on the day just in case.
You will be given a 40 minute time slot to enter, so you don’t have to worry about being bang on time. You will still have to queue at the gate because you’ll need your bag checked and then to make the payment, but the queue moves quickly even though it may look long.
You don’t need a guide
The majority of people do visit the national park with a guide and there are a number of benefits to doing so. The guides will always spot more wildlife than you would alone and they have telescopes so that you can see them up close. You can also use your phone to photograph the animal in the telescope if you don’t have a zoom lens.
However, you absolutely don’t need a guide. You will see plenty of wildlife on your own.
Another downside to having a guide is that if you don’t book a private guide, and instead book on one of the group tours, they are huge. We’re personally not fans of group tours at the best of times, but in Manuel Antonio we saw people watching a sloth and being told to move on to the anteater. I get it, the guides want to show you as much as possible, but the people watching a really active sloth didn’t want to move on so quickly!
By all means hire a guide, but don’t believe that you won’t see wildlife without one. Monkeys are abundant and we saw several different troops (you couldn’t miss them) and sloths are pretty common too. We saw them in three separate parts of the park.
The beaches close at 3pm
The beaches close before the park itself, so if you’re not planning on an early start and you’re keen to spend some time at the beach then you definitely want to factor that in. Personally we preferred to get all the hiking done and then cool off at the beach afterwards, which is another good reason to visit early, or you’ll end up with limited beach time. There are quite a few different beaches to choose from and if you want to see them all and have time to relax, you’ll want to allow at least a couple of hours.
You can’t bring plastic bags, bottles, or food into the park
Due to the amount of wildlife in the park and for ecological reasons, you can’t bring plastic bags, bottles, or food into the park. They will search your bag before you go in. You’ll need a reusable water bottle and then you’ll find filling stations at several different points in the park, most notably at the end of the service road (official road) and sloth trail, and by the viewing tower at the main beach (Manuel Antonio Beach).
There is a cafe inside the park where you can buy food and drink, but it was closed on our visit. That literally left us with no option for food all day which was a bit of a surprise, for this reason I’d recommend having a big brekkie before you go just in case.
Oh and I know this is relevant to far fewer people, but you also can’t bring a drone inside the park!
You’ll want to ignore the parking mafia
Irritatingly a racket surrounding parking has sprung up at Manuel Antonio. As you drive towards the park gates you’ll be flagged down and whistled at by guys in high vis jackets. They literally run into the road in front of your car. These are not officials despite what they’ll tell you.
Ignore them and keep on driving. They are trying to get you to pay to use their car park, which is significantly further away than you need to park, and trust me it’s a very hot area, so you don’t want to be walking in the sun for any longer than you have to - especially as you’ll have plenty of walking to do inside the park itself.
The national park does not have it’s own car park (that you can use anyway) so you do need to pay for parking, but you may as well park as close to the gates as possible. We parked as close to the gate as we could, a 2 minute walk from the gates (you can find the spot on Google Maps by clicking here) and there was another larger car park (labelled as the Manuel Antonio official car park) a minute or so before.
There are showers and changing rooms
If you’re planning on taking a dip, then you don’t necessarily need to come with swimwear on as you can use the changing rooms. There are also cold showers to wash off with afterwards. It’s a rustic set up and queues can form at peak times, but it’s handy if you don’t like changing on the beach itself.
There are also flush toilets with toilet paper too, although again queues can be long.
Tips for inside Manuel Antonio National Park
Where to go and the distances involved
Manuel Antonio has four beaches currently open to the public, and a lookout and waterfall you can visit. The minimum you’ll want to walk is the Official Road (basically a service road), which is 1.3km each way (2.6km total) and it’s a flat walk. This is the least scenic trail, but where you’ll see the majority of wildlife.
The furthest end of the Official Road is a junction with a cafe and toilets, and it’s the starting point for the trails to the beaches and lookout. To help you plan and make things easier, we’ve put a table of the distances to each point of interest from the cafe junction and the park entrance.
All distances are one way.
| Distance from café junction | Distance from entrance | |
|---|---|---|
| Manuel Antonio Beach | 300m | 1.6km |
| Las Gemelas | 350m | 1.65km |
| Mirador Lookout | 600m | 1.9km |
| Espadilla Sur* | 650m | 1.95km |
| Catedral Cove** | 1km | 2.3km |
| Sloth Trail | 1.3km | Easy |
| Beach at Punta Catedral* | 1km | Easy, but with stairs |
*Espadilla Sur is 350m further on from Manuel Antonio Beach
**Catedral Cove is 700m on from Manuel Antonio Beach & 350m from Espadilla Sur
Orientation
From the cafe, there are two sides to the park: the eastern side with Manuel Antonio Beach, Espadilla Sur and Catedral Point. This is the side you want to go to for beach time and to chill.
The western side has Gemelas Beach and the Mirador Lookout. This side is more about the rainforest, views and wilderness, but requires more exertion - especially hiking up to the lookout.
Start your day early
You can absolutely see wildlife at any time of day in Manuel Antonio, but you’ll see more in the early morning. If you aren’t too fussed about how much wildlife you see (eg monkeys are guaranteed at any time of day), then you can come later, but if wildlife is your primary focus you should come as close to opening as possible.
Monkeys aside wildlife is generally more active in the cooler temperatures of the early morning and it’s easier to spot wildlife when it’s moving around a bit. It’s also nice to get all the walking done before the midday heat. Many trails are shaded, but not all parts of all trails.
If you’re looking for somewhere in town to get brekkie before the park opens, El Patio de Café Milagro opens at 6.30am, so it fits with that first time slot. We ate there and it’s pretty decent and the garden environment is really nice.
Hike first, beach second
This follows on from the above point, but there are quite a few trails to walk, and each have different things to offer. If you hit the beach midway through, it’s unlikely you’ll fancy hiking again afterwards in the main heat of the day.
Walking some of the quieter trails will give you a break from the crowds, as well as great wildlife watching opportunities. We only saw a handful of people along the waterfall trail and the tracks to Las Gemelas Beach and the mirador were also relatively quiet.
We’d recommend walking the service trail first as this is where the majority of animals are spotted. If you want a good chance of seeing poison dart frogs you should branch off the service trail to the waterfall track.
We spotted three poison dart frogs here (without a guide) and the trail was also refreshingly quiet. The waterfall tends to run dry in the dry season, so don’t go for the waterfall itself unless you’re visiting in the rainy season.
After you finish the service trail, we’d recommend heading up to the mirador. This is a short, steep walk, but worth it for the wildlife and views. We saw Howler monkeys, a sloth, woodpeckers and more along this stretch.
The view is also great, though more so from the first lookout than the second (if you’re tired at this point, skip the second one).
It’s well worth heading on to Gemelas Beach, which is a twin cove separated by rocks, which we could easily walk over. The beaches are fab and have remote Robinson Crusoe vibes, they are also home to sooo many crabs. The most we’ve ever seen in one place!
After this begin heading towards the main beaches (the first one you’ll reach is Manuel Antonio Beach). If you can manage, we’d recommend the Catedral Track which takes you through a pretty patch of jungle to the most secluded cove of all at Punta Catedral.
It’s not the best for swimming as it’s very wavy, but it’s wonderful to sit and relax on the sand and there are lots of big iguanas.
When you’re ready to exit, walk the sloth trail back instead of the service road. It’s nicer and it’s shady! Plus we saw a sloth : )
Which trails to do for wildlife watching
Of course, we’re not experts having only visited the park for one day, but we can tell you which animals we saw and where in order to help you plan.
We understand that wildlife moves, but there are some spots which are great for certain animals year round:
Manuel Antonio Beach - Capuchin monkeys are always spotted on the walkway behind the beach and sometimes in the trees above the beach itself. We also spotted heaps on the Gemelas Track, beyond the beach towards Escondido Lookout, but I am not sure if this is always the case.
The waterfall trail - We saw three poison dart frogs on the waterfall trail and the signs all said this was a great track for reptiles, so I doubt that was us getting lucky.
The official road - Wildlife is prolific on both sides of the official road. We saw many sloths, an anteater and heaps of birds.
The sloth trail - The sloth trail is basically the other side of the service road, but much nicer as it’s in the forest. We saw a sloth here and given it’s name, I doubt that’s unusual.
The beach at Punta Catedral - Iguanas were in the undergrowth and on the beach here!
| Walking trails | Distance each way | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Official Road | 1.3km | Easy |
| Manuel Antonio Beach* | 300m | Easy |
| Waterfall Trail | 450m | Easy but with stairs |
| Las Gemelas Trail* | 900m | Easy |
| Mirador Trail* | 650m | Moderate, lots of stairs |
| Sloth Trail | 1.3km | Easy |
| Beach at Punta Catedral* | 1km | Easy, but with stairs |
*These trails start from the cafe junction, so all distances are from this point.
What to expect from the beaches
Manuel Antonio Beach
Manuel Antonio Beach is the most famous beach in the park and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It stretches for hundreds of metres, so though it gets busy, there’s enough room to spread out. It does have waves, but less so than some of the other beaches, so it’s a decent bet for swimming.
Playa Espadilla Sur
This is directly opposite Manuel Antonio Beach, but a little further up the walkway. The beach is beautiful and a little quieter than Manuel Antonio. It was a bit wavier, and is known to have strong currents. People still swim here, but just be mindful of currents. The sand gets narrow at points, but it’s a huge beach, so you can easily find a good spot with plenty of room to relax.
The cove at Punta Catedral
This tiny beach is secluded and stunning. When the tide starts coming up there’s not a huge amount of room on the beach, but it’s the least busy of any of the beaches. It’s bookended by cliff walls and has a really wild vibe. It’s pretty wavy, so not good for swimming.
Las Gemelas
Las Gemelas is a set of twin coves separated by rocks, which were easy to cross on our visit. At low tide you can probably just walk round without even needing to rock hop (it’s only a minute between them). They have wonderful Robinson Crusoe vibes and a lovely secluded feel. It wasn’t as wavy as other beaches on our visit, so probably the second best swimming spot.
Puerto Escondido Beach
You can no longer walk to this beach and unfortunately at time of writing the lookout above it was also closed, so you can’t see it either. They don’t tell you that at the trail head, so we walked as far as we could before realising that there was nothing to see. The track was teeming with Capuchins though so we didn’t mind!
Where to eat outside the park
If you’re looking to eat in the village before or after your day at the park, we have a few suggestions:
For brekkie we ate at El Patio de Café Milagro because it opened at 6.30am, which fitted with our early time slot for the park. They have all the usuals - breakfast burritos, eggs of all kinds and pancakes. The food won’t blow you away, but it’s decent and the coffee is too. They also do some good juices and smoothies. If you’re visiting for a post park pick me up, the carrot cake was very good.
For dinner we liked the Manuel Antonio Falafel Bar. The hummus was actually not great, it definitely didn’t taste like it does in the Middle East, but the falafel, salad, pitas and homemade chips were excellent.
We also ate at En Todas food truck, which does a range of burgers and tacos etc. I had the fish burger which was great. Joe didn’t love his beef burger, so maybe opt for the fish, as I was really happy with mine. It’s all outdoor seating and food is served from a big yellow school bus, which is fun.
Although we didn’t try Hola Indian in Manuel Antonio, we ate at the same chain in Jaco and Uvita. The Jaco branch was excellent, so good we went to the Uvita one. Sadly that wasn’t nearly as good, so we can’t say the one in Manuel Antonio will be great, but if you’re craving Indian, it’s worth a try and if it’s like Jaco, you’ll be happy!
Where to stay in Manuel Antonio
You can either stay in the small town of Manuel Antonio itself, or 10 minutes down the road in Quepos, which is a cheaper option.
Apartamento Karibu, Manuel Antonio
This apartment is great if you want to self cater, as there’s both an oven and hob. It’s set in pretty gardens and has an extra large bed, as well as a smaller double and the all important AC. The host Rosa gets rave reviews, as does the place in general.
You can check the reviews and prices on:
Villa Iguana, Quepos
Villa Iguana is the place we were planning to stay at, but as we were so last minute with our booking, we missed out. I picked it because it’s in a really quiet spot, set in lovely forest surrounds - at this point in our trip we were craving peace and quiet as Costa Rica can be surprisingly noisy. There’s a full kitchen including dishwasher - something we never saw elsewhere in Costa Rica. There’s even a little jacuzzi in the garden. If you don’t mind being a little further from restaurants etc, it’s definitely worth a look.
You can check the reviews and prices on:
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