pavones, CR
Pavones is my favorite place in the entire country of Costa Rica, for a lot of reasons. Pavones is located in the Puntarenas Province at essentially the most southern point of the country of Costa Rica. You are no more than about 10 kms from the border of Panama. That being said, it takes about an hour or so to drive up and out of Pavones to get to the nearest Panamanian border crossing of Canoas, but nonetheless you have practically reached Panama. Getting down to Pavones is not the easiest thing in the world. I did it in my own car of course, and it's a bumpy dirt road, and Google Maps is a piece of shit down here when it comes to navigating. I am pretty sure I took the entirely wrong way in. So pay attention to the directions down there if you plan to drive yourself. Anyways, a little bit about what Pavones is. It's a tiny little surfing town on the Pacific Coast. It is home to one of the best waves in the world. The second longest left in the entire world actually, when it is working and in the correct season. The wave, at its best, can reach up to 1 km long. That is absolutely insane. From my knowledge, the only wave that goes any longer is the famous Chicama in Peru. Eventually I will have a page written about that one, too. Outside of the wave, Pavones is a mellow little place. It's so far out of the way and hard to get to that it's not overly touristed. Up to this point it hasn't been infested with nice hotels, restaurants, and paved roads. It's the surf paradise it has always been. It's Costa Rica, so there is foreign influence and a group of expats, but the vibe here is entirely different than almost everywhere I went in Costa Rica. Here in Pavones there is no nightlife, the vast majority of the food options are local, the land is untouched and free for the most part, and the people are here to surf. That's it. So Pavones for me really is the gem of Costa Rica. If you aren't a surfer you can probably avoid the place though. There's not much to do except sit on the beach. If you want to sit on the beach there are better places in Costa Rica to do that, that are easier to get to. But if you are a surfer, — especially if you are a surfer who wants to surf and that's your only goal, Pavones is the best. Here you have a good amount of options for hotels. It will be mainly pretty basic accommodation, and there is newly a little hostel started by a British kid. If you are overlanding it is also paradise. There's free wild beach camping wherever you want, and it's some of the best and safest in Costa Rica. I loved Pavones, if there was any place that I would spend a month in Costa Rica, it would be here. The one thing here is its black sand beach — kind of rocky. Which adds to the fact that if you aren't here to surf, there might be a better beach for you to just do nothing on.
Pavones isn't very easy to get to. — Probably the reason that it has stayed small and hasn't been blown up like a lot of the rest of Costa Rica. There's no airport here, and it's fully dirt roads for the most part to get yourself in. There is an airport about 20 miles away though, so you can get pretty close. But the remaining 20 miles aren't going to be like a highway or anything. I think and I hope that it stays this way. That being said, there are a few ways to get to Pavones. Most people however, who come here just for the waves for a week are going to go the fly to taxi route.
BY CAR - This is probably one of the more popular stops in Costa Rica for people who are doing the overland route. When I was there it was full of vans and trucks with foreign plates. Well it wasn't full, but you know what I mean. More than normal.
- To get there by car I would recommend that you use 'maps.me' or 'Waze'. To get here from San Jose will take you about 7 hours. At least 7 hours, really.
- You are going to take the main highway 2 all the way down to a place called Rio Claro.
- From there you will take a right — the relatively decent route 14.
- You will eventually take an extremely sharp right turn here. There's a bar and restaurant that marks the turn.
- From there you take the rural route 238. Now Google Maps will tell you to veer right, here, at a place called El Barrido. I would recommend you do not do that.
- Continue straight on 238 until you hit route 611 at this point. Then you take a right.
- 611 is a good road and will take you all the way into Pavones. I made the mistake of veering away from 238, and I was practically traversing farmland in the middle of the night. It was not fun.
- From the time you get on 611, it should be an easy hour into Pavones. You will know when you arrive.
- A word to the wise, give yourself enough time to make this drive. It can take longer than expected, and driving around here at night is not a fun time. Trust me.
BY BUS - To get here by bus is another way. Here is how to do it.
- First in San Jose you need to get to the Tracopa bus station.
- From there you need to find a bus that goes to Golfito. That will cost you about $13. The trip will take about 8 hours.
- From Golfito you get on a bus to Pavones. That will cost about $5. The trip will take about 3 hours.
- It will be a very very long day. But you will successfully get to Pavones for like $18.
FLY AND TAXI - The easiest, and liklely first choice of anyone who is just here to surf.
- Fly to San Jose.
- Get another fight to Golfito. $130.
- Taxi from Golfito to Pavones $70.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
There's a lot of little hotel options. I am sure there are also some luxury surf villa options as well but I wasn't remotely connected to that world. But here in Pavones you have a number of great and pretty cheap little hospedaje options, and a hostel that will be social and full of other traveling surfers.
A lot of the little hotel options here in Pavones are going to be pretty similar. I just pretty much walked around asking about prices and availability. If you are anything like me and don't really plan before showing up this is a great way to find something you like for a good price.
To add to this, there are a bunch of places where you can just camp and sleep in your rig. I will point out on the map and distinguish the places that I found to be the best.
This is the little hostel that exists here in Pavones. It's owned and built by a young British kid who opened the place up in 2022. It's a nice little spot with comfortable and clean beds. There's a kitchen and a little hang-out area, and it's going to be pretty social. — Filled with surfers from all over the world who are doing Pavones on a budget.
The best place to camp here on the beach is right in front of the point. More than likely there will be someone else set up here when you pull up, so you might have some company as well. Just pull on up and you have a little home. It's free, and it's safe. It wont be that secluded though, because especially on the weekends this is where all the locals come to hang out.
There is another tiny town down the road called 'Punta Banco'. The whole beach is open to sleep on, so you can drive down here and find a really secluded and beautiful place to sleep in your rig. There's also a few little places to sleep from a hotel perspective there, and it will be cheaper than Pavones.
You can also camp anywhere you want along the little dirt road on the way there. There's some amazing pullouts. The photo is the road out to Punta Banco.
EATS
Basic little local spot that won't break the bank. It's cute and near the water and everything else. Has everything you need.
Another good and affordable local option. It's pretty much just going to be private rooms, but they won't be that expensive and if you aren't here alone that's just fine.
Not going to be an endless amount of places to eat here in Pavones. It's a really small place that up until now still hasn't seen much in the way of development, which is a good thing. So most of the places to eat are going to be local spots. Or as they call them in Costa Rica, 'Sodas'. With local plates and seafood, and rice and chicken options.
Like everywhere there's somewhere to get pizza as well. I liked the food in Pavones, there's nothing that's going to blow your mind, and it may be impossible to get anything international like the rest of Costa Rica. But why do you travel in the first place anyways?
Restaurants
One of the most popular little local spots in town. They have good breakfast and lunch, and a lot of the locals and tourists alike come here to feed themselves. They sell beer and burgers and stuff as well. I remember watching the World Cup here once at 8 in the morning with lots of beer.
A great little local spot near the park right by the beach. They have great local food, and at nights it turns into one of the only places that people congregate to drink.
Little spot with some pizza.
Spot right by the waves where you can get breakfast and lunch either before or after surfing.
The best dinner I had in Pavones. Right around the corner from Esperanza. They have options like pasta, as well as a bunch of local food choices.
The first place I went in town when I was super-lost. But it's a nice restaurant with good food. — Will be a little pricier. They have options like steak and lobster.
NIGHTLIFE
There won't be really any form of nightlife here in Pavones. People are here to surf, and maybe have a few beers at night. I am sure that there are times when parties happen, but it's not like there is a bar scene here or anything like that. I found myself surfing, then just having some beers until about 9 o'clock, going to bed, and getting up with the sun.
The only place that I did go to have some beers was Soda Dona Dora. But it was the World Cup, and the whole town was drunk by noon. So I am not sure if that's a normal thing.
SIGHTS
Not much in the way of things to do or go see in Pavones that I found. Getting here and surfing is really the only thing to do. So surfing the famous wave and maybe going to check out 'Punta Banco' is what I would recommend.
SURF THE SECOND LONGEST LEFT IN THE WORLD
More on that below. But that's why you are here, isn't it?
Punta Banco is the rural, even more rural than Pavones, town about 4kms to the south. It's a cool little spot with a wide open black sand beach. The rural road to get there is also one of the most beautiful that I have ever driven.
— Worth it for a day trip. It only takes a few minutes to get there, but it's worth going.
SURFING
This is why anyone is here anyways, right? The wave. So the wave is pretty simple. It doesn't take all that much describing. It's the second longest left in the world. Breaking over rock, and heading straight into a river-mouth. It's really an amazing thing to witness when it's working. Just goes and goes and goes. But that doesn't mean that it just goes and goes all year long. If you are here at the wrong time of the year, then it will look like an entirely different wave. The swell direction needs to be correct to allow it to wrap around the point and peel around creating the wave you see below.
So the time to be here is the same as the rest of Pacific Coast Central America. You want to be here when it's rainy and wet, when the south swells are pushing up the coast. March to August is going to be best, but if you find yourself on those shoulder months you could get lucky as well. The bigger and better the south swell, the more that Pavones' magic will shine through.
For the most part, it's going to be a pretty mellow long dribbler. You can go for a kilometer of more when it's working, but when the swell gets really big, I am sure it's a thing to marvel at. When it's overhead it's going to look like perfect Indo but go even longer. I never saw it like that, but boy do I wish I had. A picture below of it really big so you can see what it's like.
There are some other waves that you can explore in the area. I found a nice little one on the road to Punta Banco. There was no one out and I have no idea what it was called, it may not even have had a name but it was one of my favorite solo sessions of my life. Just me and a turtle for about an hour. But over at Punta Banco, you have a pretty nice beach break where there will be no crowds.
These photos are not my own.
