Visitors can now travel to the South Pacific resort town of Dominical Costa Rica in around three hours from the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), on some of the best roads in the country due to the recent completion of both the coastal highway linking Dominical to the more populated resort towns to the north and the highway to the coast from San Jose.
Once here, travelers will find many small Dominical hotels situated along the coastal highway, ranging from low budget cabinas to apartment suites to 4-star hotels with fine-dining restaurants. On the other hand the majority of the Dominical vacation rentals are spread out over the hills that tower over the beaches, all offer full or partial ocean views, some with sweeping panoramas of the coastline, ranging from large luxury villas with pools to 2-bedroom ocean view villas close to the beach. For those who prefer easy road access and walking distance from a local beach, the oceanfront community of Canto del Mar offers the best options; modern and comfortable 2 and 3 bedroom villas provide spectacular white water views of Playa Dominicalito and the picturesque bay, some even come with a plunge pool. Compared to its counterparts in central and north Pacific coast, Dominical is still a relatively new destination and renters are still able to get tremendous value for their money in renting private villas.
One of the greatest attractions about Dominical is that it is just two hours away from what the National Geographic Society defines as the most biologically diverse area on the planet - the Corcovado National Park. Spectacular coastline, towering mountains, deserted beaches and emerald rainforests make up the scenery along Costa Rica’s south Pacific coast, and Dominical is uniquely situated at the crossroad between the central and the southern Pacific where such dramatic scenery begins to unfold. Within an hour’s drive to the north and south, more than a dozen beaches and coves, mostly deserted, all pristine, can be accessed.Visitors to Dominical gush about the variety of birds and wildlife in Hacienda Baru Wildlife Refuge, their excitement of swimming with dolphins at the Ballena Marine National Park, the breathtaking sight of the 600-foot Diamante twin waterfalls, the discovery of unspoiled coves and beaches, and the lushness of the jungles that dominate every landscape. Visitors and residents alike never seem to tire of the fabled sunsets and the view of the coastline from their hillside hideaways. Hacienda Baru Wildlife Refuge and Ballena Marine National Park are just two of seven ecological destinations in the Southern Pacific that can be visited within a day from Dominical.
In Dominical town, you can find Language school, Dance school, Yoga classes and Massage therapists. There are more than a dozen restaurants to choose from; and if you decide to cook but have not stocked up on groceries on the way through in San Isidro or Quepos, you will find two major supermarkets 15 km away in Uvita. There are a couple of seafood vendors on the roadside with local fresh catch. During your morning walks on the beaches around Dominical you will often see fishermen returning with the day’s catch.
