Tortuguero National Park: Entry Fee, Hours, Turtle Season and the Boat In

Verified on 25 September 2026, on SINAC’s own English and Spanish Tortuguero park pages, SINAC’s online-reservation list, the La Pavona boat operator’s booking pages, the park guides’ association and ARESEP’s bus-fare register.

Entry to Tortuguero National Park costs a non-resident adult USD 16.95 with IVA included (USD 15 before tax), and a non-resident child USD 5.65. The park is open every day from 6 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. There is no road in: SINAC’s own page says access is possible only by small boat, and the shared boat from La Pavona costs USD 8 each way on the operator’s own booking page.

The entry fee is below the USD 79 that a single shared-shuttle seat from San José costs, and every road route in ends on the water.

Entry fees and hours

SINAC’s Spanish park page publishes the fees with IVA included; its English page publishes the same fees with no tax statement. The two reconcile exactly at 13% — 15 × 1.13 = 16.95 and 1,000 × 1.13 = 1,130 (our arithmetic).

The Spanish page applies these fees to Sector Cuatro Esquinas and Jalova.

The one-hour gap at midday is on both language versions of the page. How this fee compares with the rest of the national park system is set out on our Costa Rica trip cost page.

Cerro Tortuguero is priced separately. SINAC’s Spanish page lists the Cerro Tortuguero trail at USD 2.26 for foreign adults and children and CRC 565 for nationals and residents, IVA included, and says the trail may close with prior notice for natural events and emergencies. The same page puts the hill at 119 m above sea level.

How you pay: SINAC’s two pages disagree

We read both language versions of the same park page on 25 September 2026, and they describe different payment systems. We print both and do not pick one.

SINAC’s separate Compra y Reserva en Línea page lists Tortuguero (Sector Cuatro Esquinas and Cerro Tortuguero) among the 12 areas it sells through that online system — the same system described on our Manuel Antonio National Park page.

Turtle season: four sources, three date ranges

SINAC says the park protects nesting beaches for four sea turtle species — green, leatherback, hawksbill and loggerhead — and calls Tortuguero the most important green turtle nesting beach in the Western Hemisphere. Who gives which months:

These do not contradict each other so much as measure different things — one species, all nesting, a tour on sale, a night-time beach closure — and we are not merging them into one range. SINAC’s own page adds that it is important to verify the opening of the season, because the ecological dynamics can change. The guides’ association calls its dates “calculated official information, not exact”.

How turtle watching works, per SINAC: the park works with a local organisation whose trained rastreadores (turtle spotters) are the only people who locate turtles coming out of the sea. Visitors wait at set points, receiving information, until a turtle is laying and can be watched. ASOPROTUR describes its turtle tour as a night walk of about 2 hours, in groups of no more than 10.

Getting there: the boat is not optional

SINAC’s “How to get?” page lists three water routes and one air route:

The La Pavona boat

Transportes T7 Tortuguero, which runs boats and parking at La Pavona, publishes this timetable:

Shared boat: USD 8 one way, USD 16 round trip, per person (read on the operator’s booking page, 25 September 2026). The FAQ on its boats page says a ticket can be used on any of that day’s departures and that the crossing takes about 1 hour 15 minutes. The FAQ on its home page gives 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, says schedules may vary with the day’s operation, the river level and service availability, and says the operator will confirm the recommended departure when you book. Each passenger may carry 10–15 kg of luggage free; above that an extra charge applies.

If you drive, the same operator’s parking is USD 10 for the day or USD 20 a night, open 24 hours, under a two-minute walk from the dock. Water-taxi transfers to individual lodges, starting from La Pavona or from the village dock, are listed at USD 4 to USD 20 on its product list, depending on the lodge and the starting point; its home page gives “from $5 – $20 depending on destination”. Whether a rental car beats a shuttle seat for the rest of the trip is worked out on our rental car versus shuttle page.

From San José

The bus fare is ARESEP’s regulated tariff for San José–Colonia Cariari, 83.39 km, operated by Empresarios Guapileños S.A., in force from 4 September 2026 under resolution RE-0115-IT-2026; the senior fare is CRC 1,590. The dollar figure is our conversion at the BCCR reference sell rate of 454.15 colones to the dollar, dated 25 September 2026. The bus ends at Cariari, not at the dock — see the gaps below.

Easy Ride’s inbound listing says it drops passengers “at main Tortuguero Dock” and does not say whether the boat is in the fare; its outbound listing says the boat to La Pavona is included. The same USD 79, 10:15 departure also runs from Tortuguero to Puerto Viejo–Cahuita and to La Fortuna.

Inside the park

SINAC zones 99% of the park’s land for absolute protection and 1% for visits. The park covers 76,937 hectares, 50,284 of them marine. Its visitor routes are mostly water:

SINAC counts 442 bird, 138 mammal, 118 reptile and 58 amphibian species identified in the park to date.

Climate, per SINAC: about 6,000 mm of rain a year, wettest in July and December, least rainy in March, April and October, with an annual average temperature of 25–30 °C. SINAC recommends rubber boots and advises against swimming in the sea or lagoons, citing dangerous currents, boats and animals. SINAC’s 6,000 mm is its figure for the park itself; the IMN regional climatology on our best time to visit page gives about 4,500 mm for the Caribbean’s northeast and names February–March and September–October as the relatively dry windows. The two sources measure different areas, and we print both.

What the fee buys. SINAC lists a dock, drinking water, toilets and a self-information kiosk at the park. Food, lodging, guides, transport, phone and internet are offered privately in the village of Barra del Tortuguero. The park rules prohibit alcohol and drugs, sound equipment, campfires, weapons, fishing, pets and feeding animals.

What SINAC and the operators don’t publish

These are gaps in the published information, not in our search:

• A turtle-tour price. ASOPROTUR’s own turtle-tour page gives the duration, group size and months, and no fee. We did not use reseller platforms for a figure.
• One payment system. SINAC’s two language pages describe different ones; see above.
• A bus fare to La Pavona. ARESEP’s register carries a branch named Cariari–Pavona on route 731, but no fare stage named La Pavona; we are not inferring one from the stages that are listed.
• Bus departure times. ARESEP regulates fares, not timetables.
• Sansa’s flight frequency. Its Tortuguero page, read 25 September 2026, carries a single garbled sentence containing both “up to eight daily flights” and “up to two daily flights”. We quote neither.
• A daily visitor cap. Neither SINAC park page gives one.
• Caño Blanco and Moín boat fares. SINAC names the routes; we read no operator page for them.

How we researched this

Scope: this page reports source research, not an on-site visit. On 25 September 2026 we read SINAC’s English and Spanish Tortuguero park pages — the source for fees, hours, payment rules, trails, species, climate, turtle programme, beach restriction and rules — SINAC’s “How to get?” page for the access routes, and its Compra y Reserva en Línea page for the online list. The boat timetable, fares, luggage rule and parking came from Transportes T7’s own site and booking pages. The turtle-season comparisons came from Sea Turtle Conservancy’s Tortuguero programme page and ASOPROTUR’s turtle-tour page. Shuttle fares came from Easy Ride’s own route pages, the flight time from Sansa’s destination page, the bus fare from a direct pull of ARESEP’s open-data register, and the exchange rate from BCCR’s own indicator feed.

Figures on this page labelled our arithmetic or our conversion are calculated by us from the sourced inputs cited below. Every other figure is reproduced as its named source published it.

Last verified: 25 September 2026. Park fees and hours change by decree; boat and shuttle fares change without notice.

Sources

• SINAC — Parque Nacional Tortuguero (Spanish) — the IVA-included fees for Cuatro Esquinas and Jalova, hours, ticket-sale hours, online-only purchase and accepted cards, Cerro Tortuguero fee, hours and altitude, the 1 March–31 October night beach restriction, trails, park size, climate, species counts, services and rules.
• SINAC — Tortuguero National Park (English) — the before-tax fees, cash and card rules including the USD 100 / CRC 50,000 note refusal, the June–October nesting season, the turtle-spotter programme and the four nesting species.
• SINAC — Tortuguero, How to get? — the La Pavona, Caño Blanco, Puerto Moín and air routes.
• SINAC — Compra y Reserva en Línea — Tortuguero’s place on the 12-area online list.
• Sea Turtle Conservancy — Green Turtles in Tortuguero — green turtle nesting June through November.
• ASOPROTUR — Turtle Tour — the guides’ association tour: about 2 hours, up to 10 per group, March to October, no price published.
• Transportes T7 Tortuguero — Boats — the La Pavona and Tortuguero departure times, ticket flexibility, crossing time and luggage limit; its home page for the 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes range, the schedule-variation FAQ and the “$5 – $20” hotel-transfer range.
• Transportes T7 Tortuguero — boat booking page — USD 8 one way and USD 16 round trip per person.
• Transportes T7 Tortuguero — Parking — USD 10 day and USD 20 overnight parking, 24-hour operation, distance to the dock; its product list for the USD 4–20 lodge-transfer price ranges.
• Easy Ride — from San José shared shuttle — USD 79, 06:00, about 5 hours to the Tortuguero dock.
• Easy Ride — Tortuguero shuttle — USD 79, 10:15, boat to La Pavona included, to San José, Puerto Viejo–Cahuita and Arenal–La Fortuna.
• Sansa — Tortuguero (TTQ) — the approximately 30-minute flight and the garbled frequency sentence.
• ARESEP — Pliego tarifario de autobús, open-data register — CRC 2,120 and CRC 1,590 San José–Cariari, route 735, the operator, resolution and effective date, and the Cariari–Pavona branch with no La Pavona stage. Pulled 25 September 2026.
• BCCR — reference sell rate, indicator 318 — 454.15 colones per dollar, dated 25 September 2026, used for the one conversion on this page.

Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, has no affiliate relationship with any operator named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.