Ojochal de Osa
The gourmet village in the rainforest
What is Ojochal?
Ojochal is a village on the Costa Ballena, twenty minutes south of Uvita, known as the culinary capital of Costa Rica's South Pacific. It offers international restaurants, hillside villas, quiet beaches such as Playa Tortuga and rivers with natural swimming pools.
Ojochal is the southernmost village of Costa Ballena, settled in the 1980s by Québécois and European families. Today it is known as the culinary capital of the southern Pacific, with an unusual concentration of international restaurants hidden among jungle hillsides, plus quiet beaches such as Playa Tortuga and Playa Ventanas.
Nature around the village
Ojochal sits between the Pacific and the Fila Costeña, so scarlet macaws, toucans and monkeys are common visitors in gardens. The Reserva Playa Tortuga runs local conservation and sea-turtle monitoring programs.
From here it is a short drive to the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, the largest mangrove system in Central America, and about one hour to the Uvita whale tail.