Golfito is a long, narrow port town squeezed between the Golfo Dulce and a steep jungle ridge on Costa Rica's far southern Pacific coast. It is not polished — the equatorial heat is relentless, the streets are scruffy, and the banana republic past is visible in every crumbling dock building — but that rough-edged character is precisely what draws travellers who have grown tired of the manicured resort towns up the coast.
The town was built by the United Fruit Company in the 1930s, which turned a fishing backwater into one of Central America's busiest banana ports. At its peak the company was responsible for 90 percent of Costa Rica's banana exports, and it built the infrastructure to match: docks, schools, a hospital, and worker housing that still defines the town's layout. When United Fruit pulled out in 1985, citing labour disputes and rising export taxes, Golfito collapsed almost overnight. The government's response was to designate the old company zone as the Depósito Libre Comercial — a duty-free shopping enclave that draws tico day-trippers from across the country but leaves most foreign visitors unmoved.
What does draw foreign visitors is the wildlife. The Golfo Dulce is one of the few places in the world where humpback whales come from both hemispheres — northern populations arrive December to April, southern populations July to October — meaning the gulf has whale activity nearly year-round. Dolphins are present every month. Offshore fishing is exceptional, with marlin, sailfish, tuna, dorado, and roosterfish all taken regularly. And surrounding the town, the Golfito Wildlife Refuge and the vast Piedras Blancas National Park preserve some of the most intact lowland rainforest in the country, home to jaguars, tapirs, scarlet macaws, and over 350 species of birds.
Golfito is also the main transport hub for the Osa Peninsula — boats cross to Puerto Jiménez and water taxis reach the remote lodges around the Golfo Dulce. Many travellers pass through without stopping long enough to appreciate the place on its own terms.