Visiting the Osa Peninsula and Corcovado National Park during the wet season
If you’re visiting Costa Rica during the rainy season, one of the most important things while preparing for your trip is to pack accordingly.
The rainy season usually extends between May and November and most of the time it rains in the afternoon and at night. The rainiest months are October and November.
The temperature stays warm even when it is raining, there is no need to bring warmer clothes for day hikes or overnight trips in the Osa Peninsula. The rain isn’t cold either and it actually feels way better to get wet than being under the sun on a sunny day. Experiencing the rain on one of your tours is part of the adventure while discovering tropical rainforests. The rain can come suddenly and quickly. The Osa Peninsula is very humid, and when it rains, it pours. Most of the time, it lasts only minutes during the day and it rarely rains in the morning.
Corcovado National Park
Here are the Pros and Cons of visiting the park during the rainy season.
Pros
- Less crowds; fewer people on the trails equals more silence, and easiest chances of spotting the rarest animals.
- Easy to get entrances, the park rarely gets sold out in the rainy season.
- Smaller tour groups, chances to benefit from a private or almost private tour for the price of a group tour are higher.
- Seeing wild cats is very rare, but most tourists who have seen wild cats in Corcovado had their tour during the rainy season.
Comfortable temperature; lower possibility of heat exhaustion and sunstroke. Some trails that involve being under the sun can be quite suffocating in the dry season and are more enjoyable in the rainy season. As the sun is covered with clouds, it is more pleasant to walk. The trail La Leona – Sirena is an amazing adventure as it involves many interesting features of Corcovado. There is no better joy than removing shoes and walking barefoot on a sandy beach, which is not possible when the sand is burning hot in the dry season.
- Sleeping better; most of the time, the rain is in the afternoon or at night. It cools the temperature down at night without affecting your daily activities.
Cons
- Corcovado National Park is closed in October. On any other day of the year, it remains open unless there is a red alert in the area, such as a hurricane coming. During the 11 months of the year that the park is open, red alerts are not common and do not happen every year. If it does during the dates of your tour, you can rebook your tour in the following 30 days (the park policies may change at any moment).
- If you are a single traveler looking to join a group, we might not have departures every day during May, June, September and November. Having flexible dates will help you fit into a group easier for a day or overnight tour.
- Los Patos section is not available when the river is too high. There are no dates determined for the availability of Los Patos trail. We use common sense to keep travelers safe. Some years, from the month of May the access is impossible and other years there is easy access up to the end of August. Then normally in December, as the rain stops, it becomes accessible again.
- Unpredictable last-minute itinerary changes; while not common, it may happen that there are not enough people booked to send a boat to Sirena from Puerto Jiménez so the itinerary needs to be done the otherway around, or the rivers are too high to reach Carate so the only option is to boat in or out. From Drake Bay, boats travel every day with no minimum limit of people. From Puerto Jiménez, as the distance to reach Sirena is longer, a minimum of tourists is expected to send a boat which is usually reached every single day in the rainy season.
- You can do a tour even if it is raining, but if there is a storm or it is windy, your guide will bring you to a safe place until the weather gets better to continue.
Here are some of our rainy-season packing suggestions for your hiking journey in Corcovado National Park:
- Dress accordingly: rubber boots; light waterproof poncho or even improvise one with a garbage bag; quick drying, light, resistant clothing
- Waterproof Backpack (dry bag) / or waterproof cover for your backpack
- Plastic bags & Ziploc bags for extra protection for your electronics; and personal items including clothes
- Quick dry travel towel
- Insect / Mosquito repellent; there are not necessarily more mosquitoes in the rainy season, but like elsewhere, some people get bitten and others don’t
- Sunglasses; Hat; Sunscreen, SPF 30 or more; the UV radiation is strong even on a rainy season cloudy day, use protection
Are you ready for your next Adventure? Join us in the rainforest!