Staying Safe in Puerto Viejo

Staying safe in Costa Rica isn’t hard to do if you have some common sense. A little street smarts won’t hurt either. While many of the rules of staying safe hold true for much of Costa Rica, I wanted to cover a few that were specific for the Puerto Viejo area.

Many of the visitors to the town of Puerto Viejo tend to be travelers on their way to Bocas del Toro to party or students from San Jose looking to party for the weekend. Im not sure what it is about these crowds, but they aren’t exactly the smartest and certainly lack the street smarts I mentioned above. If you fall into this category, Im sorry, but its true.

Here are a few travel safety tips for the Puerto Viejo area.

The Beach Trail
The beach trail is pretty safe during the day under a few conditions. These conditions are simple…

• If you are a girl, don’t walk this trail alone day or night.
• Dont carry a bag on this trail day or night.
• DO NOT walk the trail at night for any reason.

Getting Around at Night
There are plenty of hostels and hotels that are close enough to town that make walking to clubs and restaurants easy to do. Walking at night is a judgment call on your part. Assuming you are in a large group and not carrying any bags or purses, you should be ok. But, stranger things have happened. If you have a group of people, just split the cost of the cab and cut danger out of the picture all together.

Here are some nighttime tips…

• Ladies, dont walk alone. If possible have a guy or two walk with you.
• Ladies, DO NOT carry a purse. Not even a small one.
• Large groups are safer, but not 100%
• Take a cab whenever possible.