Things to Do in Puerto Viejo at Night: A Local Guide to Evenings
Puerto Viejo changes character as the afternoon ends.
Beach towels disappear from bicycle baskets, people wander back into town, restaurants begin filling their tables, and music starts drifting out from bars and cafés. Some nights are lively. Others are surprisingly quiet.
And that's one of the nice things about evenings here: Puerto Viejo doesn't have just one kind of nightlife.
You can dance until late, listen to live music, have cocktails with friends, linger over dinner, watch the last light over the Caribbean, or spend an evening talking over chocolate and rum.
Here are some of our favorite ways to spend an evening in Puerto Viejo.
Start with the late afternoon
Don't wait until dark.
Late afternoon is one of the loveliest times to be in Puerto Viejo. The heat begins to soften, the beaches empty a little, and the town starts moving toward the evening.
Take a last swim, walk along the shore, or find somewhere overlooking the Caribbean and settle in with a drink.
One thing worth knowing about this coast: sunset isn't always a dramatic sun-dropping-into-the-ocean moment.Puerto Viejo faces the Caribbean, toward the east. Instead, watch the changing light—the sky softening, clouds taking on color and the sea changing as evening arrives.
It's quieter and sometimes more beautiful for it.
Try a chocolate pairing before dinner
Puerto Viejo is one of Costa Rica's important cacao-growing regions, so chocolate can be part of the evening as well as something you buy to take home.
At Cacao Huasi, our guided pairings take place in the late afternoon overlooking the sea.
You can explore chocolate alongside rum, wine or mezcal, tasting each separately and then together to see how the flavors change. The idea isn't to tell you what you're supposed to taste. It's to slow down and notice.
The pairings are timed for the end of the afternoon, and many people stay afterwards for dinner.
Explore Rum, Wine & Mezcal Chocolate Pairings →
Have dinner somewhere you can linger
Dinner in Puerto Viejo doesn't need to be rushed.
The town has an unusually varied food scene for somewhere its size. Alongside Costa Rican and Caribbean cooking, you'll find Italian, Asian, Middle Eastern and international influences, as well as plenty of vegetarian and vegan food.
Some evenings call for a traditional Caribbean plate. Others call for pizza, ceviche, noodles or a long dinner with several small dishes.
At Cacao Huasi, our own menu brings Caribbean and Asian influences together, with vegetarian and vegan-friendly choices, handmade chocolate and desserts. Our upstairs dining area overlooks the Caribbean and is particularly lovely as afternoon becomes evening.
But explore. Puerto Viejo's restaurant scene is one of the pleasures of being here, and new little places appear all the time.
Find some live music
Music is part of the rhythm of Puerto Viejo.
Depending on the night, you might find reggae, calypso, Latin music, jazz, acoustic sets or musicians who don't fit neatly into any category.
Some performances are advertised well in advance. Others you'll discover because you hear them while walking down the street.
At Cacao Huasi, we regularly host local musicians in the evening, but we're only one small part of a much larger music culture.
Check chalkboards and posters around town, ask where you're staying, and pay attention to local Facebook and WhatsApp groups. They're often better than travel websites for finding out what's actually happening tonight.
Have a cocktail
Puerto Viejo is a good town for sitting over a drink.
Rum naturally has a place on the Caribbean coast, but you'll also find tropical cocktails, classics, local infusions and plenty of non-alcoholic drinks.
At Cacao Huasi, chocolate sometimes finds its way into the glass too. We make cocktails alongside our food and chocolate menu, and our guided rum pairing is an interesting way to explore why aged rum and chocolate work so well together.
But the best cocktail may simply be the one you find while wandering.
Pick somewhere that feels good, order something interesting and stay for a while.
Look for what's happening locally
Some of the best Puerto Viejo evenings aren't conventional nightlife at all.
There are art exhibitions, cinema nights, workshops, community gatherings, storytelling, trivia, markets and small cultural events happening throughout the year.
They aren't always easy to find online.
Again, local Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, posters and noticeboards are useful. Ask people too. Puerto Viejo still works remarkably well by word of mouth.
Cacao Huasi hosts live music and community and cultural events throughout the year, but the larger point is to look beyond the permanent attractions. Sometimes the most memorable thing you do here will only be happening that particular week.
If you want nightlife
Puerto Viejo certainly has it.
Bars and clubs become livelier later in the evening, particularly around the center of town and on weekends. Reggae, dancehall and Latin music are all part of the nightlife here, and things can continue well after restaurants have closed.
Cacao Huasi devotes every Sunday evening to Cumbia, whether it’s a live band or a dj, there’s always dancing to cumbia beats.
If music is what you're looking for, you won't have much trouble finding it.
And yet a surprisingly good Puerto Viejo evening can be dinner, music, a walk through town and an early night before heading to Cahuita or Punta Uva in the morning.
A quieter Puerto Viejo evening
Not everyone comes to the Caribbean to stay out late.
Have dinner somewhere overlooking the sea. Share dessert. Listen to some music. Walk through town. Sit on your balcony while the rain comes down.
Puerto Viejo can be wonderfully social without requiring you to party.
And if you've spent the day surfing, kayaking, cycling or walking through the national park, that may be exactly the evening you want.
A few practical tips
Puerto Viejo is casual, so you rarely need to dress up for an evening out. Rain can arrive suddenly even when the day has been beautiful, so a small umbrella or light rain jacket isn't a bad idea.
If you're walking after dark, stick to well-used routes and take normal precautions. For longer distances between Puerto Viejo, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Punta Uva and Manzanillo, arrange transportation: there are plenty of tuk-tuks, and Uber works well here, and can often be the less expensive option.
Opening hours and event schedules change, particularly in quieter months, so check directly with a venue before making an evening revolve around one particular event.
The best plan? Don't plan all of it.
Choose one thing.
Book dinner somewhere you've wanted to try. Go to a chocolate pairing. Find out who's playing music. Meet friends for cocktails.
Then leave some space around it.
Puerto Viejo is small enough that you can walk down the street, hear music somewhere you hadn't noticed before, run into someone you met that morning, and end up having a completely different evening from the one you planned.
That's part of the place too.
