Five kilometres long but barely five blocks wide, the anomalous sea-girt city of Puntarenas is somewhat of an ugly duckling. Jutting into the Golfo de Nicoya at the tip of a pencil-thin peninsula, it makes an ideal springboard for maritime leaps to Nicoya by ferry of for day-long forays to Isla Tortuga. The mangrove-rimmed gulf shores lure binocular-laden birders, while inland the grasslands and tropical most forest can be explored via canopy tours and even an aerial tram.

Cruise ships call at the nearby port facility of Cardenas, but most passengers bypass the town. Still, if it is funky charm you are seeking, you will find plenty in the weathered wooden homes and in decrepit fishing boasts tethered to equally decrepit piers.

The small Mueso Historico Maritino, it the 19th century jail, traces the city’s history with displays spanning pre-Columbian times to the building of the Atlantic railroad, and the coffee industry. The jail was a family residence and later served as the military command post and Casa de la Cultura.