Location

Ojochal is located on the Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) South of Dominical and 20 kilometers North of Palmar Norte. Driving to Ojochal from San Jose takes about 4 hours on good, blacktop road, and the drive is very scenic. Another option is flying in to Palmar Sur (daily flights from San Jose are available) and drive about 20 minutes North.

Amenities

In Ojochal you can find most of the things you will need, but most foreigners who live there go to either Palmar Norte (about 20 minutes drive) or Cortez (about 15 minutes drive). Though both these towns are smaller than San Isidro, they both offer banks and supermarkets with a reasonably good inventory. Cortez is the location of the Municipal government for the district of Osa, which covers most of the Pacific Coast South from Dominical. Ojochal itself offers a decent supermarket, hardware store, liquor store, and a very good selection of restaurants, of which Exotica deserves a special recommendation. There are a couple of bars and a small discotheque for night-time diversion. Recently a small marina has been opened in the rivermouth of the Terraba river, just South of Ojochal. Though this is not a full service marina, they do offer docking and there is a guard to keep an eye on your boat. The marina also has a floating restaurant (which also does sunset cruises in the mangroves) which has been recommended by many.

Attractions

The mountains reach almost all the way to the Pacific Ocean in Ojochal, which makes for truly spectacular ocean views from a lot of sites. The beaches Pinuelas and Ventanas, just North of Ojochal, are amongst the most beautiful in the country. Ojochal's own beach, Playa Tortuga (Turtle) is beautiful in its own right, though much more rugged than the other ones. The mountains around Ojochal are for the most part still covered in primary jungle, and wildlife is abundant. Though Ojochal seems just a small village when driving past it on the road, once driving into town, one will find out it is actually the largest village in the area.Ojochal offers a nice mix of foreigners (French and French Canadians used to dominate the area but people from all Nationalities have now discovered the beauty of Ojochal) and Costa Ricans. The many great restaturants (many of which are French owned) are a good reason for many people living in the area to drive down to Ojochal just to dine. The proximity of Palmar Norte and Palmar Sur with full services and an airport make Ojochal also a convenient place to live.

Real Estate in Ojochal

Along with Dominical, Ojochal was the first town in the area where real estate took of. Unlike the Dominical area, a large number of foreigners in Ojochal did not purchase a large property in the mountains, but has instead opted for a smaller piece "downtown". Browse our Real Estate listings to see what is available.