PASEO DE LOS TURISTAS
Puntarenas is 3 miles (5 km) long but just a few blocks wide. The best way to see it is following the waterfront boulevard known as Paseo de los Touristas (Tourists’ Avenue).
Dozens of vendors gather around the walkway offering souvenirs and all kinds of trinkets. Restaurants, cafés and sodas line up featuring typical seafood dishes and the catch-of-the-day. Be sure to try a whole fish cooked the way you like it or a delicious plate of rice with shrimp. If you wonder how they make them taste so good, they’ll tell you the secret is in the freshness.

Many local tourists also come looking for the famous Churchill, a sweet-tooth’s fantasy. It’s a refreshing mixture of a snow cone and ice cream topped with insane amounts of caramel. It’s meant to be dessert but it’s so filling and delicious that many have it as a main course too.

Puntarenas’ biggest assets are the commercial ports and well-developed tourist infrastructure that attracts dozens of cruise ships every year. The migrant visitors spend a day in town or travel by land to the many attractions the country has to offer.

PARQUE MARINO DEL PACIFICO
The Marine Park in Puntarenas is a must-see during your stay in town. The site combines an aquarium, water museum, investigation center and learning facilities under the motto of environmental research and education through recreation.

One of the main attractions, Crocodile Territory, features six live reptiles for you to explore up close and personal. Many of the marine species found in the country’s Pacific coast are displayed in glass aquariums that imitate their particular habitats.

If you don’t get a chance to scuba dive during your visit to Costa Rica be sure to see the next best thing at the Marine Park. You’ll catch a glimpse of ocelo, jewel and fine spotted moray, urchins, anemones, white-tipped sharks, balloon fish, stars, blue spiny lobster, elegant sea horses, and many other species of underwater marvels.