Barra del Colorado Travel Guide

115km (71 miles) NE of San José

Most visitors to Barra del Colorado come for the fishing. Tarpon and snook fishing are world-class, or you can head farther offshore for some deep-sea action. Barra del Colorado is part of the same ecosystem as Tortuguero National Park; as in Tortuguero, an abundance of wildlife and rainforest fauna lives in the rivers and canals.

Named for its location at the mouth of the Río Colorado up near the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, Barra del Colorado can be reached only by boat or small plane. No roads go in or out of Barra del Colorado. The town itself is a small, ramshackle collection of raised stilt houses, and it supports a diverse population of Afro-Caribbean and Miskito Indian residents, Nicaraguan emigrants, and transient commercial fishermen.

It's hot and humid here most of the year, and it rains a lot, so although some of the lodges have at times risked offering a "tarpon guarantee," there are no guarantees about the weather.