Jaco: Best as a Stopover

Playa de Jaco
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Jaco is not a place you should seek out in Costa Rica. Many use it as a jumping off point to other destinations, which is what we did when we went there to catch our boat to Montezuma. For that, it’s a good place, as there are a number of tour companies, taxis, and the like.

When we were looking at the Lonely Planet, we really weren't sure what Jaco was all about and we were even considering staying there for a day or so. After we got there, we realized that it would have been a huge disappointment to even spend a night there. It's a good place to get your souvenirs, as they have a number of shops to choose from. The wind chimes and woodcrafts are especially nice. There are a number of cafes and restaurants, some of them serving Tico food and some serving American food. We found it to be a bit pricey for the food at nearly all the cafes and there is a definite dirtiness that covers the city.

A surfer on the beach
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Our impression was that a lot of expats congregated here and the whole area felt extremely touristy. The beach is OK and there were a number of Ticos swimming or playing soccer. Unfortunately, a lot of boats are coming in and out of the bay from Montezuma and other places, so it’s not an ideal place for swimming. The beach and town are surrounded by enormous condominiums built for rich Westerners and they seem to dominate the once-serene landscape, as well as the billboards advertising (in English) more land for sale. Overall, these two aspects alone were enough to depress me.

Another view of the beach
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At Jaco you will find a bit of shadiness amongst the tour companies, so we would recommend Cocozuma tours. We used them there and in Montezuma and were very happy with the service. Another company lied to us and said there wasn’t another boat that afternoon to Montezuma, but when we checked with Cocozuma they, of course, had one, and were none-too-shocked to discover that another company had tried to get us to stay in town for the night.

You can get to Jaco in a couple of hours from San Jose. We took a taxi (shared) for about $50, a total rip-off, but there weren’t any seats left on the bus. Actually, if you are in San Jose trying to get a bus, make sure you don’t listen to what the taxi drivers tell you…they’ll say there aren’t any seats left when, in fact, there are. Seats on the busses go fast, though, so make sure you get in line right away and grab your ticket!