{"id":2959,"date":"2026-01-08T16:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/?p=2959"},"modified":"2025-05-03T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T07:00:36","slug":"see-whales-in-costa-rica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/2026\/01\/08\/see-whales-in-costa-rica\/","title":{"rendered":"How to see whales in Costa Rica 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>How and when to see whales in Costa Rica<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p1\">To <span class=\"s1\">see whales in Costa Rica<\/span> is an unforgettable experience. If you are a nature and animal lover, Costa Rica is the ideal country for your trip, also to admire the fantastic and rare <b>whales<\/b>. In fact, humpback whales usually stop off the coast of the Central American country<b> twice a year<\/b>, at very specific periods. In this article we will tell you about our experience and you will receive certainly useful advice on <b>how to <\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>see them.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The best time to see whales in Costa Rica<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">Considering that a humpback whale can reach up to <b>18 meters in length<\/b>, it is not at all easy to spot these fantastic and immense animals. Ruthless hunting and climate change have made their appearances sporadic, although in recent years the trend has been growing significantly. <b>Humpback<\/b> whales transit in front of <b>Uvita<\/b> Bay mainly in two periods of the year: <b>from August to October<\/b> (towards Alaska) and f<b>rom December to March<\/b> (towards the South Pole). The whales have identified <strong>Costa Rica<\/strong> as an ideal place to both mate and care for their calves, who would otherwise be too small to face the ocean and killer whales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>The mothers fast for long months<\/b> after stocking up on food in the seas of Alaska and Antarctica, then wait an entire season off the coast of <b>Uvita<\/b> so that the pups are resistant enough to face long journeys of thousands of kilometers. During mating periods it is possible to see the <b>male specimens performing fascinating pirouettes and water games<\/b>, while another unmissable sight is <b>watching the mothers looking after their puppies.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Where to see whales in Costa Rica<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">During <a href=\"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/2026\/01\/02\/trip-to-costa-rica-in-2024\/\">your <span class=\"s1\">trip to Costa Rica<\/span><\/a> you will be able to see whales on the <b>Pacific coast<\/b>, where the <b>Marino Ballena National Park<\/b> is located. Costa Rica is a fundamental &#8220;hub&#8221; for whales, in our case we were able to admire a 15 meter mother looking after her playful calf. Even though it was February 6th (a less suitable period than August) we stopped off the coast of Uvita and experienced an unforgettable and not at all predictable emotion. The Marine Park is located to the south, about <b>an hour&#8217;s drive from the other famous<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/2026\/01\/04\/manuel-antonio-national-park-guide-2024\/\"><span class=\"s1\">Manuel Antonio National Park<\/span><\/a> and can be reached either by car or bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">To take a boat excursion, however, you need a local guide, because through a network of acquaintances <b>the tour operators always know where to go to look for whales<\/b>. We can only recommend the experience we had firsthand with <a href=\"https:\/\/gyg.me\/I9O857IG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener sponsored\"><span class=\"s1\">Ballena Tour<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div data-gyg-widget=\"auto\" data-gyg-partner-id=\"J3UTHIZ\">Marino Ballena<\/div>\n<h2>How the excursion to Marino Ballena takes place<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Costa Rica whale watching excursion departs from a small office in <b>Uvita<\/b>, from which you will travel to the coast (short walk). Here you will find a boat that will provide water and fresh fruit to guests, after which the boat will set off and after about twenty minutes of pleasant crossing you will arrive at the point of interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Don&#8217;t lose heart if you don&#8217;t see a whale at first sight, during the trip the crew is continuously updated on any sightings. While waiting you can take a refreshing bath and perhaps <b>admire dolphins and sea turtles<\/b>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe title=\"Whale watching in Costa Rica\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-ITrdHc5AuQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>How much does it cost to see whales in Costa Rica?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">As always <b>we recommend what we have tested<\/b>. It would be useless to give you something we didn&#8217;t know, so here is a detailed sheet:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Tour operator: <a href=\"https:\/\/gyg.me\/I9O857IG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener sponsored\"><span class=\"s1\">Ballena Tour<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Price per person: <b>88.41<\/b> euros<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Duration: <b>approximately 2h<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Recommendations: We recommend bringing sunscreen, a hat and something to cover yourself. It could be cooler in the open sea than on land.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gyg.me\/I9O857IG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener sponsored\">BOOK NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>How to get to Marino Ballena<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If you intend to rent a car<\/span>, the route to get to <b>Uvita<\/b> is very easy and you just need to <span class=\"s1\">follow <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/61qWywh6jPquovyx5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">these directions<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">If you intend to reach <b>Uvita<\/b> by bus, here is the route of the line that connects San Jos\u00e9 to the southern coastal town:<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Company: AUTOTRANSPORTES BLANCO LOBO<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Departure: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/8TRxKtsRZURrgb4UA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Avenue 9 San Jos\u00e9<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Arrival: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/fvokBytZgY4v6dq47\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">34, Puntarenas Province<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Price per person: <b>$11<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Duration: <b>3h and 45m<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Times: single journey at <b>12:00<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How and when to see whales in Costa Rica To see whales in Costa Rica is an unforgettable experience. If you are a nature and animal lover, Costa Rica is the ideal country for your trip, also to admire the fantastic and rare whales. In fact, humpback whales usually stop off the coast of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"bottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"0","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"no-crop","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"","type":"","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[],"bad":[],"score_override":"","override_value":"","rating":[],"price":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife-and-flora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2959"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3676,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2959\/revisions\/3676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triparoundcostarica.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}