Would you like to know which are the best locations to shoot in Costa Rica? You are in luck: we have made a list of the best locations in our files so that you can plan the production you are looking for, from the cloud forest to both coasts.
THE TOP 31 FILMING LOCATIONS IN COSTA RICA
As you might know, one of FONKTOWN’s main strengths is the impressive file we keep of perfect locations to shoot any type of content or format: commercials, fashion films, documentaries, TV shows or short films. We have the right location for each production.
These locations are divided into the 6 regions where we work: the Central Valley, Guanacaste, the Pacific coast, the Caribbean, the Northern Zone and the Southern Zone. Distances are short (nothing is more than five or six hours from San José), so a single production can combine city, volcano, jungle and beach in one schedule.
Central Valley
The Central Valley is the country’s urban and logistical heart: San José and the cities of Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago, surrounded by volcanoes and coffee plantations. It has the airport, the hotels, the rental houses and the crews, and it offers a surprising mix of historic architecture, modern towers and mountain landscapes less than an hour from the city.
San José historic centre
The National Theatre, the Central Post Office, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the streets of Barrio Amón and Barrio Escalante give a Latin American, early-twentieth-century texture that works for period pieces, fashion and urban stories. Permits are managed with the Municipality of San José and traffic control is feasible at weekends.
La Sabana Metropolitan Park
The largest urban park in the country: open lawns, lakes, tall trees and the National Stadium in the background. Ideal for sports campaigns, running and lifestyle content that needs green space with a city skyline.
Poás volcano
One of the most accessible active craters in the world, an hour and a half from San José, with its turquoise lagoon and lunar landscape. National park rules limit time at the viewpoint, so shoots need advance permits, which we handle.
Irazú volcano
The highest volcano in Costa Rica, with a road that reaches the summit. On clear mornings you can see both oceans; the grey ash plains around the craters look like another planet and are a favourite for car and adventure spots.
Cartago and the Orosi valley
The Basilica of Los Ángeles, the ruins of Santiago Apóstol, the colonial church of Orosi (1743) and the Cachí reservoir, all within a valley of coffee fields and mist. A compact circuit for historical, religious and landscape shoots.
Coffee farms of Grecia, Sarchí and Naranjo
Rows of coffee bushes on the volcano slopes, traditional ox carts, wooden farmhouses and picking season between November and February. Perfect for food, drink and heritage campaigns.
Guanacaste
Guanacaste is the dry, golden Costa Rica: wide beaches, savannah, cattle haciendas and a reliable sun from December to April. It has its own international airport in Liberia and the largest hotel infrastructure on the Pacific.
Playa Conchal and Playa Flamingo
A beach of crushed white shells next to a marina and luxury resorts. The calm turquoise water and the resorts make it the go-to spot for swimwear, hospitality and jewellery campaigns.
Tamarindo
The best-known surf town in the country, with a long beach, an estuary and a lively strip of bars and restaurants. Great for surf brands, youth lifestyle and nightlife scenes.
Rincón de la Vieja
An active volcano with boiling mud pots, fumaroles, waterfalls and hot springs inside a national park, surrounded by working haciendas. Adventure, nature and cowboy imagery in one place.
Liberia colonial centre
Known as the white city for its whitewashed adobe houses, with a nineteenth-century church and quiet streets that read as classic Latin America. Easy permits and short distances to the airport.
Nosara and the Nicoya peninsula
Long empty beaches, dirt roads, yoga retreats and one of the world’s blue zones. Ideal for wellness, sustainability and slow-living content.
Palo Verde and the Tempisque river
Wetlands, dry forest and crocodiles in the river, with boat access. Documentary crews come here for birds; commercial crews for the wide open savannah and the dramatic light of the dry season.
Pacific Coast
The Central Pacific is the closest coast to San José, an hour and a half away by highway, and it packs jungle, beach, port and crocodiles into a short stretch of coastline.
Manuel Antonio
The most famous postcard in the country: rainforest that drops straight onto white-sand coves, with monkeys and sloths as extras. The national park has daily visitor limits, so scheduling matters; the beaches outside the park are easier for larger crews.
Jacó and Playa Hermosa
A surf town with high-rises, a boardwalk and a long black-sand beach next door where surf competitions are held. Good for car spots on the coastal road and for urban-beach lifestyle.
Tárcoles bridge and Carara
Dozens of crocodiles under a highway bridge and, a few minutes away, the Carara rainforest with scarlet macaws. Two iconic wildlife shots within an hour of the capital.
Montezuma and Malpaís
At the tip of the Nicoya peninsula: waterfalls that fall into the sea, rocky coves, dirt tracks and a bohemian village. Great for fashion editorials and adventure travel content.
Santa Teresa
A ten-kilometre beach with consistent surf, sunsets straight over the ocean and boutique hotels favoured by international brands. A frequent choice for swimwear, surf and luxury-travel productions.
Caribbean
The province of Limón is a different country within the country: Afro-Caribbean culture, calypso, wooden houses on stilts, black and white sand and a jungle that reaches the water.
Tortuguero
A network of canals only reachable by boat or small plane, with turtle nesting beaches from July to October. Unique for nature documentaries and for any story that needs water, jungle and no roads.
Cahuita
A national park with a coral reef, a coastal trail full of sloths and monkeys and a laid-back village next door. The reef and the white sand of Playa Blanca are ideal for underwater and beach shoots.
Puerto Viejo and Punta Uva
The reggae capital of Costa Rica, with the black sand of Playa Negra, the surf break of Salsa Brava and, a few kilometres south, the palm-lined white sand of Punta Uva. Colourful, photogenic and full of character.
Port of Limón
Cranes, container ships, a Caribbean market and colonial-era buildings. A raw, textured city location for music videos, documentaries and industrial or logistics campaigns.
Pacuare river
One of the best rafting rivers in the world, running through rainforest canyons with lodges reachable only by raft. The classic setting for adventure and outdoor-gear productions.
Northern Zone
Volcanoes, cloud forests, hot springs and dairy farms: the north is where nature and adventure productions come to get the greenest green on camera.
Arenal volcano and La Fortuna
The perfect cone of Arenal above its lake, hot springs, the La Fortuna waterfall and a town used to hosting crews and travellers. Roads around the lake are excellent for car spots.
Monteverde
Cloud forest hanging in the mist, hanging bridges, hummingbird gardens and a small community of biologists and farmers. Nothing else in the country looks like it.
Río Celeste
A river that turns turquoise inside Tenorio Volcano National Park, with a waterfall that appears on every list of natural wonders. Access is on foot, so it suits small, agile crews.
Caño Negro
Wetlands near the Nicaraguan border with caimans, monkeys and huge flocks of birds, explored by boat. A documentary favourite and a quiet backdrop for contemplative brand films.
Sarapiquí
Rainforest research stations, rivers for rafting, pineapple plantations and chocolate farms. A working landscape that combines science, agriculture and adventure.
Southern Zone
The wildest part of the country, where the Osa peninsula and Corcovado hold more biodiversity than almost anywhere on earth, and where logistics are everything.
Corcovado and Drake Bay
Primary rainforest meeting the Pacific, tapirs, scarlet macaws and empty beaches reached by boat. The most demanding and most rewarding location in Costa Rica for nature productions.
Uvita and the whale tail
A sandbar shaped like a whale’s tail that appears at low tide inside Marino Ballena National Park, with humpback whales offshore between July and October. A drone shot everyone recognises.
Nauyaca waterfalls
Two tiers of waterfalls in the jungle near Dominical, with natural pools large enough to stage swimwear or adventure scenes. Access by horse, 4×4 or on foot.
Chirripó and Pérez Zeledón
The highest peak in the country (3,820 m) with páramo landscapes, and below it the coffee highlands and mountain towns of San Isidro. Cool air, dramatic light and a completely different Costa Rica.
Anything else?
Yes: mangroves in Sierpe with pre-Columbian stone spheres, wind farms on the ridges of Tilarán, the Boruca indigenous territory, banana plantations in Limón, Montezuma’s waterfalls, the Golfo Dulce at sunset. If you have a script, we probably have a location for it.
Now you know where to shoot in Costa Rica. Whatever your project needs, from a volcano crater to a Caribbean canal, our location managers have been there and know who to call. Contact us and let’s plan your production.
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