Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Puerto Limón is from January, February, March. — some variation climate
⛈Hot & rainy
| Score | 60 | 64 | 69 | 49 | 43 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 47 | 52 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Rainy | Rainy | Humid | Rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Rainy | Rainy |
| Temperature | 22–27°C | 22–27°C | 22–28°C | 23–28°C | 24–29°C | 24–29°C | 23–28°C | 23–29°C | 24–29°C | 23–29°C | 23–28°C | 22–27°C |
| Feels like | 25–33°C | 25–33°C | 26–34°C | 27–34°C | 28–35°C | 28–35°C | 28–35°C | 28–35°C | 28–36°C | 28–35°C | 27–33°C | 25–33°C |
| Precipitation | 221mm 30 days | 179mm 26 days | 150mm 27 days | 268mm 28 days | 320mm 30 days | 345mm 30 days | 525mm 30 days | 390mm 30 days | 292mm 24 days | 341mm 29 days | 467mm 30 days | 411mm 30 days |
| Sunshine | 10.2h ☀︎ 88% | 10.3h ☀︎ 87% | 10.8h ☀︎ 89% | 8.1h ☀︎ 65% | 6.8h ☀︎ 54% | 5.9h ☀︎ 47% | 5.6h ☀︎ 44% | 6.2h ☀︎ 50% | 6.6h ☀︎ 55% | 6.3h ☀︎ 53% | 5.9h ☀︎ 50% | 8.2h ☀︎ 71% |
| Wind | NE · 11 km/h | NE · 12 km/h | E · 12 km/h | NE · 12 km/h | NE · 11 km/h | N · 12 km/h | N · 12 km/h | N · 12 km/h | N · 11 km/h | NW · 12 km/h | NW · 13 km/h | N · 12 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 86% | 85% | 84% | 85% | 87% | 89% | 90% | 88% | 87% | 88% | 89% | 89% |
| Day length | 11.6h | 11.8h | 12.1h | 12.4h | 12.6h | 12.7h | 12.6h | 12.4h | 12.2h | 11.9h | 11.7h | 11.6h |
Carnaval de Limón is Costa Rica's biggest carnival, filling Puerto Limón's streets with Afro-Caribbean parades, calypso…
While visitors pack Puerto Limón in July to endure torrential, schedule-wrecking downpours, the Caribbean coast quietly saves its best weather for February and March, when trade winds part the clouds and the port truly breathes.
Puerto Limón is not a manicured resort enclave; it is Costa Rica's salt-crusted, hard-working Atlantic gateway, where immense container ships ease past coral reefs and 19th-century grid lines meet the Caribbean Sea. Most travellers experience it as a fleeting dockside transit point or arrive during the mid-year holiday rush only to be trapped beneath relentless wall-to-wall downpours. The secret to understanding this Afro-Caribbean stronghold is knowing that the Pacific dry season rules do not apply here—if you want clear horizons over Isla Uvita and balmy sea breezes in the palms, you must align yourself with the coast’s singular, late-winter dry pocket.
If you want to see Puerto Limón at its most vibrant and habitable, come in February or March. While the rest of the year is characterized by varying shades of torrential damp, these two months deliver nearly eleven hours of daily sunshine and cut the rain down to manageable, passing showers. The air is still richly humid, but trade winds keep apparent temperatures from boiling over, making it the only period when an entire afternoon spent outside feels invigorating rather than exhausting.
Down at Parque Vargas, sloths doze high in the fig trees beneath open blue skies, and the Caribbean water stretching toward Isla Uvita turns an astonishing shade of turquoise. You can walk the seawall, explore the weathered wooden balconies of the historic center, or swim at Playa Bonita without having your plans scuttled by an abrupt wall of water. Crowd levels remain surprisingly modest, making this the undisputed sweet spot for anyone wishing to experience the authentic cadence of Costa Rican Caribbean life.
By April, the brief Caribbean dry spell dissolves. The sky over the Port of Limón turns a heavy, bruised slate, and afternoon rain transitions from a refreshing splash into sustained, drenching curtains. The temperature hovers stubbornly around thirty degrees, but the relentless moisture pushes what your skin feels well above that mark, cloaking the streets in a thick, greenhouse air.
Life slows to a rhythmic crawl. Locals navigate the deluge with unhurried grace, retreating under the broad tin overhangs of downtown markets while sheets of rain bounce violently off the asphalt. You can still sneak in morning walks along Playa Bonita or watch the tugboats maneuvering near the Port of Moín, but your daily agenda must become flexible enough to accommodate long hours waiting out the thunder.
July represents the great paradox of Puerto Limón. It is overwhelmingly the busiest month on the city's calendar, drawing massive domestic and international crowds, yet meteorologically it is punishingly wet. More than half a meter of rain falls across July alone, falling with an intensity that overwhelms storm drains, floods rural access roads, and turns outdoor sightseeing into an amphibious struggle.
August offers only the slightest reprieve. While there are brief gaps of heavy sunshine between storms, the sheer moisture in the air keeps you permanently drenched in either sweat or rain. Visiting now requires embracing the elemental nature of the Caribbean: listening to the roar of downpours on tin roofs, eating spicy rondon stew in steamy open-air kitchens, and accepting that any plans dependent on dry footwear will inevitably fail.
September and October bring a peculiar atmospheric pause along Costa Rica's Caribbean shore. While the Pacific side of the country endures its worst monsoon squalls, Limón catches occasional breaks between heavy downpours, though the air feels hotter and more stagnant than at any other point in the year.
Everything culminates in October with the Carnaval de Limón. Commemorating the region's Afro-Caribbean roots around Día de las Culturas, the city explodes into days of calypso, soca, elaborate street parades, and percussive energy. It is loud, humid, crowded, and unapologetically alive. You will sweat profusely through the celebrations, and passing squalls will soak the brass bands, but the sheer cultural velocity of the festival renders the wet weather entirely secondary.
The final months of the year plunge Limón back into heavy maritime storms. November and December are sodden, windswept affairs, driven by cold fronts pushing down through the Caribbean that churn the surf and batter the coastline with furious rain. November rivalries July for raw wetness, though the air cools slightly toward December, offering occasional crisp, sunlit mornings.
January marks the beginning of the slow thaw, with hours of daily sunshine steadily climbing back toward double digits. While sea conditions remain rough and ground squalls still roll in off the ocean without warning, the oppressive gloom begins to lift, paving the way for the brilliant, dry reprieve just over the horizon.