Area guide
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca homes for sale: area guide
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a coastal town in Limón province on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean. This guide covers the marketed Puerto Viejo area, with Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo treated as nearby places rather than parts of a defined boundary. Services checked include the Jaguar Rescue Center, Caribe Sur School in Playa Chiquita, Clínica San Gabriel and the MEPE bus ticket office. Population figures refer to the wider Cahuita district, which is much larger than the town. House asking prices come from listings assigned to the Puerto Viejo destination in our property database, which is not the same geography as the district.
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Places and sectors
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca sits within Cahuita district, code 70403, of Talamanca canton in Limón. The exact extent of the marketed area has not been established. Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo are named places along the same coast and appear here as related places, not as parts of an official boundary. Population data describes the whole Cahuita district; asking prices describe only listings in the Puerto Viejo marketed area.
Cocles
Named locality in SINAC's South Caribbean wetland context. A related place along the coast; its inclusion in any boundary is not established.
Place sourcePlaya Chiquita
Address used by the Caribe Sur School operator within the Puerto Viejo destination. Named place with no exact neighbourhood boundary.
Place sourcePunta Uva
SINAC identifies reefs off Punta Uva within the Gandoca-Manzanillo refuge context. A related coastal place, not a bounded neighbourhood.
Place sourceManzanillo
Distinct nearby settlement and base for conservation visits such as Ara Manzanillo. Separate from Puerto Viejo town.
Place sourceServices and places
Each card links to the government or operator source checked on 18 September 2026. Some entries, such as Ara Manzanillo and the Gandoca-Manzanillo refuge, are excursions along the coast rather than facilities in the town. Operator descriptions are their own claims; confirm details directly.
Wildlife rescue
Jaguar Rescue Center
The operator describes a rescue and rehabilitation centre for injured, sick and orphaned wildlife, with public guided visits explained on its tour page. Which animals are present depends on those in care at the time, so check current visit times and booking terms with the operator before you go.
Operator informationConservation
Ara Manzanillo
Nonprofit near Manzanillo working on Great Green Macaw conservation, with guided visits by reservation according to the operator. An excursion along the coast, not a facility in Puerto Viejo town.
Operator informationProtected area
Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge
SINAC describes coastal and wetland ecosystems, trails, visitor information and sanitary facilities. The refuge is a related protected area along the coast, not part of the town itself.
Operator informationSchool
Caribe Sur School
The operator locates the school in Playa Chiquita, Puerto Viejo, and advertises bilingual education. Enrolment, fees, schedules and any certification should be checked directly with the school.
Operator informationPrivate clinic
Clínica San Gabriel
The operator, based in Puerto Viejo, lists general consultation, X-rays and urgent-care services. It is a private clinic, not a hospital. Current capacity and hours were not verified.
Operator informationTransport
MEPE Puerto Viejo ticket office
Autotransportes MEPE lists a Puerto Viejo ticket office and publishes fares for its San José to Puerto Viejo and Limón to Puerto Viejo routes. Use the operator's site for live schedules.
Operator informationSource checked on 2026-09-18
Practical matters
Bus connections
MEPE publishes bus services linking Puerto Viejo with San José and Limón and lists a ticket office in town. Journey times and current fares were not checked for this guide. Road conditions were not assessed either, so ask how access to a specific property behaves after heavy rain.
Autotransportes MEPECaribbean climate
The IMN treats the Caribbean side of the country as a separate precipitation regime from the Pacific, so the marked dry season familiar from Guanacaste or the southern Pacific should not be assumed here. This guide gives no rainfall or temperature figures for Puerto Viejo. For a property, ask about drainage on the lot and how the access road and water supply hold up in wet periods.
IMNInternet
SUTEL's fixed broadband map shows operator-reported coverage by administrative area and technology, and the regulator separately publishes mobile coverage and quality evaluations. Published speeds are commercial offers, not measured performance. No local speed or fibre figure was verified, so check the exact address with providers.
SUTELAsking prices
On 18 September 2026 the sample held 57 house sale records for the Puerto Viejo marketed area from 3 advertising sources. All 57 carried a price at or above the USD 25,000 floor, and no exact repeat URLs were found. The median asking price was USD 295,000, with the middle half between USD 210,000 and USD 429,000. By band, 24 records were between USD 25,000 and 250,000, 22 between USD 250,000 and 500,000, 9 between USD 500,000 and 1,000,000, and 2 above USD 1,000,000. With only three sources this is a small sample, and the figures are asking prices, not sale prices.
| Asking price (USD) | Listings |
|---|---|
| $25,000–$250,000 | 24 |
| >$250,000–$500,000 | 22 |
| >$500,000–$1,000,000 | 9 |
| >$1,000,000 | 2 |
Snapshot date . Excluded: no price or below USD 25,000 0; Exact repeat URLs removed 0.
House asking prices come from sale listings recorded on the snapshot date. Exact repeat URLs are removed, but the same property advertised by different agencies may still appear more than once. Records with no price or below USD 25,000 are excluded. A median appears only when at least 12 priced records remain, unweighted. The middle half runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile. These are asking prices, not transaction prices, and availability is not verified.
CostaRicaRealtor has not verified a series of transaction prices for houses in Puerto Viejo over the past ten years, so this page does not show one. The asking price figures are a single dated sample and should not be read as a trend or as a measure of appreciation.
Population
INEC estimates the resident population of Cahuita district at 12,569 in 2016 and 14,170 in 2022. Its projection for 2026 is 15,129, a 20.4% change over ten years that joins an estimated starting point to a projected end point. For 2026 INEC projects 23.7% of district residents aged 0 to 14, 69.6% aged 15 to 64 and 6.7% aged 65 or older. These figures cover the whole Cahuita district, including Cahuita town and other settlements, not Puerto Viejo alone.
Cahuita · Talamanca · Limón · District code 70403
| Year | people | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 12,569 | Estimate |
| 2017 | 12,871 | Estimate |
| 2018 | 13,169 | Estimate |
| 2019 | 13,443 | Estimate |
| 2020 | 13,692 | Estimate |
| 2021 | 13,930 | Estimate |
| 2022 | 14,170 | Estimate |
| 2023 | 14,415 | Projection |
| 2024 | 14,656 | Projection |
| 2025 | 14,893 | Projection |
| 2026 | 15,129 | Projection |
| 2027 | 15,365 | Projection |
| 2028 | 15,599 | Projection |
| 2029 | 15,831 | Projection |
| 2030 | 16,057 | Projection |
| 2031 | 16,276 | Projection |
| 2032 | 16,490 | Projection |
| 2033 | 16,702 | Projection |
| 2034 | 16,916 | Projection |
| 2035 | 17,129 | Projection |
Age profile
INEC 2026 projection for the whole district.
| Age band | people | % |
|---|---|---|
| 0-14 | 3,580 | 23.7 |
| 15-64 | 10,536 | 69.6 |
| 65+ | 1,013 | 6.7 |
INEC projects the Cahuita district resident population to grow a further 13.2% between 2026 and 2035, from 15,129 to 17,129. Both figures are projections rather than counts, and they describe the district, not the town. Population projections say nothing about property prices.
Developments and communities
Named developments appear here only when they are linked to current listings in the marketed area. Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo are place names along the coast; none has an established neighbourhood boundary in our sources.
No named development is linked to the current listings in this area.
Browse developmentsPlan a visit
Plan the visit around specific questions for each property and the places you want to see along the coast road. The checklist for this area is on the Compare and plan page, together with the tool for comparing saved properties.
Compare and planAsk about this area