Puntarenas Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica
431
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Azamara Club Cruises (5 Cruises)
Carnival Cruise Line (4 Cruises)
Celebrity Cruises (3 Cruises)
Costa Cruises (20 Cruises)
Costa Deliziosa
20 Cruises
Crystal Cruises (15 Cruises)
Crystal Serenity
13 Cruises
Cunard (7 Cruises)
Queen Elizabeth
7 Cruises
Emerald Waterways (10 Cruises)
Emerald Azzurra
10 Cruises
Holland America Line (45 Cruises)
ms Eurodam
19 Cruises
ms Nieuw Amsterdam
10 Cruises
ms Nieuw Statendam
10 Cruises
Lindblad Expeditions (41 Cruises)
National Geographic Quest
41 Cruises
| 3 January | 8 days | One-way from Panama City to land tour |
450-628-6241
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| 10 January | 8 days | One-way from Puntarenas to Colon |
450-628-6241
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MSC Cruises (21 Cruises)
MSC Magnifica
15 Cruises
| 10 February | 86 days | One-way from Valparaiso-Santiago to Marseille |
450-628-6241
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| 10 February | 87 days | One-way from Valparaiso-Santiago to Tarragona |
450-628-6241
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Norwegian Cruise Line (32 Cruises)
Norwegian Bliss
15 Cruises
Oceania Cruises (15 Cruises)
Oceania Sonata
9 Cruises
| 6 January | 45 days | One-way from Los Angeles to Miami |
450-628-6241
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| 6 January | 17 days | One-way from Los Angeles to Miami |
450-628-6241
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Oceania Vista
6 Cruises
Ponant (52 Cruises)
Le Bellot
33 Cruises
| 28 November | 11 days | One-way from Colon to Puntarenas |
450-628-6241
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| 29 November | 9 days | One-way from Colon to Puntarenas |
450-628-6241
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Le Bougainville
10 Cruises
Le Laperouse
9 Cruises
Princess Cruises (34 Cruises)
Coral Princess
7 Cruises
Island Princess
22 Cruises
| 13 January | 17 days | One-way from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego |
450-628-6241
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| 29 January | 17 days | One-way from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale |
450-628-6241
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| 2 March | 17 days | One-way from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale |
450-628-6241
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| 18 March | 17 days | One-way from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles |
450-628-6241
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|
| 14 January | 17 days | One-way from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles |
450-628-6241
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| 30 January | 17 days | One-way from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale |
450-628-6241
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Regent Seven Seas Cruises (13 Cruises)
Seven Seas Splendor
7 Cruises
Seabourn Cruise Line (8 Cruises)
Seabourn Quest
8 Cruises
Silversea Cruises (3 Cruises)
Star Clippers (16 Cruises)
Star Clipper
16 Cruises
Viking Ocean Cruises (3 Cruises)
Virgin Voyages (8 Cruises)
Windstar Cruises (75 Cruises)
Star Legend
19 Cruises
Star Pride
32 Cruises
Wind Star
24 Cruises
| 24 November | 18 days | One-way from Bridgetown to Puntarenas |
450-628-6241
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| 24 November | 19 days | One-way from Bridgetown to Puntarenas |
450-628-6241
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Frequently Asked Questions
Usually at Puerto Caldera, some 20 km south of Puntarenas, which now handles most of Costa Rica's maritime traffic. Puntarenas, the historic town, occupies a narrow sand spit reaching into the Gulf of Nicoya.
No. It is a container terminal where walking on the docks is prohibited: a shuttle takes passengers to the gate, and excursion coaches wait at the foot of the gangway. Nothing is walkable in this area.
About twenty minutes by road. The town has kept a working-class, seaside soul, a legacy of the days when it was the only maritime outlet for Costa Rican coffee.
The promenade running for kilometres along Puntarenas beach. Families swim there, stands serve grilled fish, and the atmosphere is thoroughly local rather than internationally touristic.
The house specialty: a generous shaved ice topped with syrup, ice cream and condensed milk, a local institution for generations. You eat it on the Paseo de los Turistas, facing the sea.
A former prison that became a national park in 2020, off the tip of Puntarenas, visited by boat. Trails, beaches and penitentiary buildings full of stories make for an unusual outing, far from the usual beach programme.
Carara national park, about thirty minutes away, offers the most accessible taste of it: flat trails through a transition forest where scarlet macaws take the lead, backed by trogons, monkeys and iguanas.
At the Tárcoles River bridge, on the road to Carara. The crocodiles lounging below are among the largest in the country, and the sight can be taken in safely from the bridge deck.
The mists of Monteverde with its canopy suspension bridges, San José about 90 km east for its Gold and Jade museums and national theatre, or Tortuga Island by catamaran. Each takes up most of the call.
By whether you want forest, city or sand, checking the stated timings. Full-day trips leave no room to discover Puntarenas itself: you have to choose, not combine.
