Cahuita is a small Afro-Caribbean village on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean coast, about 43 km south of Puerto Limón. It sits at the edge of Cahuita National Park, one of the country's most accessible and rewarding coastal parks, and the combination of a relaxed village and a coral reef just offshore makes it an easy place to linger longer than planned.
The pace here is genuinely slow. The village is small enough to walk end to end in ten minutes, with a few restaurants, bars, and guesthouses strung along sandy streets. The Afro-Caribbean character is distinct — English Creole is widely spoken, the cooking leans on coconut milk and plantain, and the music shifts between reggae and calypso.
Cahuita National Park borders the village on two sides. You can enter the southern Playa Blanca entrance from Kelly Creek — donations requested — and walk along the beach through forest fringed with palm trees to the coral reef snorkelling point at Punta Cahuita. The park is also a nesting site for leatherback turtles.