Ojochal · Getting here
Four to five hours from San José, and worth every one of them.
The road is good, the drive is beautiful, and there are exactly three things worth knowing before you set off.
The question everyone asks
Do you need a 4x4 in Ojochal?
Yes — get AWD or 4WD.
The coastal highway, Route 34, is fully paved and any rental car handles it. The mountain roads around Ojochal are a different question. We always recommend AWD or 4WD. The roads get slick, and the rain here arrives without warning even outside the wet season.
Both are true. Our road is well maintained and guests have managed in a 2WD in the dry months. We still recommend AWD, because a single afternoon downpour changes the surface and the cost of being wrong is your holiday.
A rental agent will happily talk you into the cheapest sedan. The upgrade costs a few dollars a day and removes a category of problem from your holiday entirely.
The drive
San José to Ojochal, without a wrong turn.
- 1
Route 27, west
Out of San José towards Orotina and the Pacific. Modern toll road, the fastest part of the journey.
- 2
Route 34, south
The Costanera Sur. Jacó, Quepos, Dominical, Uvita. Fully paved, no ferry, and the ocean is on your right for most of it.
- 3
Up the hill
Ojochal is signposted off the coast road. The village climbs the hillside in numbered phases — we are in Phase 8, near the top.
Do not take the mountain route through San Isidro.
Your navigation app may offer it. It is slower, far more winding, and genuinely dangerous in rain. Take the coast.
Flying instead
You can cut the drive to ninety minutes.
Sansa flies San José to Quepos, about thirty minutes in the air, leaving you roughly an hour and a half of coast road. Small aircraft, strict luggage limits, spectacular views.
Most guests drive. The Costanera is genuinely one of the better drives in Central America, and you will want a car once you are here regardless — taxis are unreliable this far south.
Once you are close
- No ATM in Ojochal — withdraw cash in Uvita.
- Fuel is sparse south of Uvita. Fill up there.
- Taxis are unreliable here. A rental car is effectively required.
- Avoid the mountain route via San Isidro. Take the Costanera Sur.
Twenty minutes north
Ojochal has the restaurants. Uvita has everything else.
Ojochal has the restaurants. Uvita has everything else — the supermarkets, the bank, the fuel, and the Wednesday market. Twenty minutes north on the coast road, and you will end up going at least once a week.
Where we shop
- Maxi Pali
- The bigger supermarket, and where we do most of our shopping.
- BM Supermarket
- Smaller, closer to the centre, good for topping up.
- The nearest ATMs — there are none in Ojochal
- Fuel — fill up here, stations are sparse further south
- The entrance to Marino Ballena National Park and the Whale's Tail
Plan your week around this
Feria de Uvita
Wednesday mornings
Worth planning your week around. Fresh-squeezed orange juice that is genuinely glorious, fish landed that morning, local coffee — ask for Don Emilio — handmade lotions, jewellery, and authentic Boruca masks. You will recognise the masks: there are several hanging in the house.
For the adventurous
The back road to Ojochal
There is another way in, over the hills rather than along the coast. It crosses a couple of very small creeks and it is more fun than the highway.
One rule. Do not attempt it after heavy rain. The creeks are shallow and harmless in the dry, and they are not worth testing when they are running.
Stop on the way
Soda Ojoche
On the way, and worth the detour on its own. A proper Tico breakfast, or the breakfast burrito, and very good coffee in an outdoor setting.
A soda is a small family-run Costa Rican restaurant. They are where the food is best and the bill is smallest.
Once you are here
Measured from our gate.
Dry-season driving, at a sane speed, from our gate rather than from the middle of the village. Add a little in heavy rain.
Check availability- Playa VentanasSea caves, walkable at low tide12min
- Citrus restaurant, Ojochal12min
- UvitaNearest ATM, fuel and supermarket20min
- Ojochal waterfall24min
- DominicalSurf town; Friday Eco Feria36min
- Nauyaca Waterfalls49min