When to visit Costa Rica: dry season vs green season by coast

Costa Rica's tourism board splits the year into two seasons, dry (verano), roughly December through April, and green (invierno), roughly May through November. That framing works for the Pacific coast. It does not work for the Caribbean side, which runs on a different pattern entirely, and that distinction matters more than most trip-planning advice admits.

The Pacific coast

Guanacaste in the north is the driest part of the country, with a dry season that starts earlier and runs a little longer than the rest of the Pacific coast. December through March is reliably dry and hot, with April as a transition month. The rainy season proper runs May through October, with a well-known dip in the middle called the "veranillo," a stretch in July and August when rainfall briefly lightens up before picking back up. September and October are the wettest months on the Pacific side, driven by tropical storm activity.

The Caribbean coast: the opposite pattern

The Caribbean side does not follow the Pacific's dry-and-wet split at all. Trade winds keep it damp for most of the year, but it actually has two relatively drier windows: February to March, when the Pacific is also dry, and September to October, when the Pacific is at its wettest. The wettest stretches on the Caribbean side are November through January, with December typically the single rainiest month, and a second wet patch from May through August peaking in July. If you are planning a Puerto Viejo trip specifically, September and October, the worst months to be on the Pacific coast, are actually a reasonable window on the Caribbean side.

Monteverde's own microclimate

Monteverde does not cleanly follow either pattern because elevation and constant cloud-forest exposure give it its own weather. The dry season runs December through April, peaking in what locals call the "Golden Season" from January through March, when cloud cover is lowest and visibility is best, though even then mornings are the clearest window before clouds typically roll back in by early afternoon. A separate windy season runs roughly November through February, with the strongest winds in late December through February, alongside the misty drizzle locals call "pelo de gato."

What green season actually feels like

Rain in the green season is rarely an all-day event on the Pacific side. The typical rhythm is a clear, sunny morning, a build-up of clouds around midday, an afternoon shower lasting one to three hours starting around 1 or 2pm, and clear skies again by evening. The landscape turns visibly greener within weeks of the season's start, and wildlife activity tends to pick up.

Timing activities and prices

Whale watching off the Costa Ballena has two separate windows because two different humpback populations pass through: roughly August through November for the Southern Hemisphere group, best around August and September, and December through April for the Northern Hemisphere group, best around January and February. Sea turtle nesting peaks August through October on both coasts. Surf swells on the Pacific side get noticeably bigger in the green season, particularly late May through August, while the Pacific's dry season brings smaller, cleaner, more beginner-friendly waves. On price, dry season is peak season with the highest rates and biggest crowds, especially around Christmas, New Year, and Easter week, while green season rates commonly run 20 to 60 percent lower with far fewer people around.

Browse the verified listings on the Monteverde area guide.