September is the rainiest month of the year in Guanacaste, though still the driest region of Costa Rica. Mornings are usually workable, and the rain comes in the afternoon and at night. In exchange you get the lowest prices of the year, empty beaches and trails, the greenest forest, the climax of the olive ridley arribadas, and the first migrant birds from North America. September 15 is Independence Day, with lantern parades on the night of the 14th. Best tours this month: a Palo Verde river cruise, and birding outings for the longest species lists. Best for: travelers who want solitude and low prices and plan their days around the mornings.
September: the rainiest month, honestly
Let’s be honest right away: September is the rainiest month of the year. There’s no spin to put on that — it’s the truth, and you deserve it straight. But two things make September one of the most rewarding months on the calendar for the traveler who knows what they’re doing.
Rainiest, but still Guanacaste
This is the driest region in the country, even now. The pattern holds: mornings are usually workable and often bright, and the rain comes in the afternoon and night. It’s a little cooler, too, a relief from the dry-season furnace. And because most visitors stay away, you get the whole place to yourself: empty beaches, empty trails, the lowest prices of the year, and a forest at its most electric green. For photographers and nature lovers who don’t mind an afternoon downpour, this solitude is the reward.
Peak turtle season
September is the climax of the great turtle arribada — the mass nesting of olive ridley turtles builds now toward its yearly maximum, hundreds of thousands of them, timed to the dark of the moon. One of the two main arribada beaches in the country lies protected inside Santa Rosa’s dry forest at Playa Nancite. Discover the dry forest on our bird-watching & wildlife experience.
The migrant birds arrive
September opens Costa Rica’s autumn bird migration — the first waves of warblers, flycatchers, swallows, vireos and raptors pouring down from North America, with the bulk settling in by October. If you’re a birder chasing a long list rather than a clean photograph, this is the start of the richest window of the year: the resident birds plus the northern migrants, together, through November. Many of them funnel into the Tempisque wetlands around Palo Verde. Visit the Tempisque wetlands on our Palo Verde & El Viejo experience. (For photographing birds against a bare canopy, that’s March. For seeing the most species, it’s now — on our bird-watching outings.)
Independence Day in Guanacaste
September 15th is Costa Rica’s Independence Day, and here the whole month feels like a celebration. On the evening of the 14th the national anthem plays at once on every radio and television in the country — the entire nation stops and sings together — and then the Desfile de Faroles, the lantern parade, fills the streets: children carrying handmade paper lanterns through the night, honoring those who once waited in the dark for the news of freedom. In Playas del Coco and every town around, the children rehearse for months, the streets close, the school bands march, and the folk dance of our own province — the Punto Guanacasteco — is danced in the parades. Visitors who happen to be here for it never forget it; there is no more Costa Rican thing to witness than how we celebrate this day.
Is September worth it?
September is the month for the traveler who’s in on the secret. Yes, it’s the rainiest — that’s the honest price. But you pay it in exchange for the lowest prices of the year, near-total solitude, the greenest forest, the peak of the turtle arribadas, the first of the migrant birds, and the most heartfelt national celebration on the calendar. Plan your days around the mornings, let the afternoon rain fall, and September gives you a Guanacaste almost no other visitor sees.
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By the Guanadreams team, led by Miller Contreras — naturalist guide, born and raised in Guanacaste.