What Sarapiquí Grows Is on the Program for Ecofest's Last Two Weekends

As of this Thursday, October 22, Sarapiquí's ninth Ecofest has ten days left, and what remains is mostly the canton itself. It has a river day at Hacienda Pozo Azul, a cacao morning in Chilamate, a play at Hotel Aranwa and a mountain bike final in Puerto Viejo. Behind those dates sits a shorter list that matters more to anyone who lives here. It names the palmito, pineapple, pepper, banana and cacao farms that open their gates for visits, and a new restaurant on Ruta 4 that serves some of the same crops.

The festival is organized by the Municipalidad de Sarapiquí and the Cámara de Turismo de Sarapiquí, known as CATUSA, together with local businesses and organizations, as El Observador reported when the program opened on October 2. The same report listed the ingredients that run through the area's cooking: palmito, pejibaye, plátano, yuca, pineapple, cacao and pepper. The second half of the month turns that list into places you can visit.

From One Weekend to a Month

Ecofest started in 2008 as a tourism promotion and mostly fit into a single weekend. In 2023 it moved to an extended format that brought in sports, cultural, environmental and tourism events that communities across the canton were already running. The 2026 edition began with an entrepreneurs' fair in the Puerto Viejo park and runs until November 1.

The opening days were aimed outward. Forty wholesale travel agencies were due to visit the canton at the start of the festival to see its properties, services and experiences. CATUSA president Johana Argüello explained the purpose to El Observador in one sentence: "Sarapiquí ya no es una zona de paso," meaning Sarapiquí is no longer just a place people pass through. The outlet presented this as part of a years-long effort to make the canton a destination in its own right between Tortuguero and La Fortuna. CATUSA also says the canton now has enough to fill an itinerary of up to five days.

The later weekends are where that claim gets tested at home. The trade visitors have left, and the remaining events take place on farms, on the river and at the sports complex in Puerto Viejo.

The Calendar From Here

These dates come from the program published by Delfino on October 6, which matches the schedule El Observador printed at launch.

1. Saturday, October 24, 3 p.m. Hotel Aranwa stages the play "Medio Ambiente a Medias."
2. Sunday, October 25, 8 a.m. The Feria Costa Rica Best Chocolate opens in Chilamate, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, with activities on cacao growing, processing and tasting.
3. Sunday, October 25, 9 a.m. The second day of the Festival de Rafting takes place at Hacienda Pozo Azul.
4. Saturday, October 31, and Sunday, November 1, from 9 a.m. The Copa MTB closes the festival at the Complejo Deportivo de Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.

Sunday the 25th is the busiest day left, and both of its events take place along the Sarapiquí River corridor near Puerto Viejo. The chocolate fair starts an hour before the rafting, so one household could do both on the same morning.

Cacao in Chilamate

El Observador described the October 25 chocolate day as open to nationals and residents. Visitors can learn how cacao is grown, follow the process and taste the finished product. The host, Costa Rica Best Chocolate, lists Geiner Huertas and Rodolfo Alvarado as the people behind the project and says the two met in 2015 to develop it. Its regular visit runs about two hours and covers cacao history, hands-on processing and tastings.

The operators describe a five-hectare reserve with one hectare of cacao, next to a private reserve of more than 600 hectares. Only one hectare of the five is planted in cacao, and the property borders forest more than a hundred times its size. Sarapiquí's agrotourism tends to look like this: working plots sitting inside a larger area of protected land.

The Rest of the Crop List, Farm by Farm

CATUSA's Ecofest directory, which El Observador published alongside its festival report, places cacao within a wider group of crop tours. El Observador also noted that some of these visits follow a product from the field all the way to the tasting.

Organic Paradise Tour describes its visit as a 90-minute bilingual tour of a pineapple farm that uses no agrochemicals, with fresh pineapple and juice to finish. Its address is Calle Rancho Chico. Finca Integral El Jícaro covers the widest range. A 2025 profile in Rumbo Económico lists pepper, palmito, turmeric, ginger, cacao and cinnamon among what the farm produces.

Two of the five tours end with a full meal. Palmitour and El Jícaro both serve lunch made from what they grow, so the visit goes beyond a tasting.

Where the Same Crops Reach a Dinner Plate

The list continues past the farm gates. El Observador pointed to restaurants that cook with local produce and named one in particular: Yan's Bistró, which opened this year and uses local ingredients in an international menu.

Yan's Bistró is in Horquetas on Ruta 4, about three kilometers from the Río Frío junction. According to its own link page, it serves fusion cooking and is open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The introduction to its menu names yuca, bananas, oranges and palmito among the produce it sources regionally or grows itself. Two of those, palmito and bananas, also appear in the tour table above. A morning at Palmitour or Cultural Banana Tours and an evening meal in Horquetas would use some of the same crops.

Closing on Two Wheels

The Copa MTB final on October 31 and November 1 is the biggest event left. El Observador described it as a national mountain bike competition that awards points from the Union Cycliste Internationale, with 250 to 300 athletes expected. The program also includes recreational categories: a Copa Kids and a division for riders over 85 kilograms. The organizers' stated aim is to draw both athletes and families who use the trip to see other parts of the canton.

With a few hundred riders, plus their families and support crews, needing beds and meals on the last weekend, the October promotions are worth knowing about. Delfino reported that Green River was offering rafting and kayaking for ₡20,000 per person for groups of four during October, and that Hotel El Bambú was offering ₡38,000 for the first night in a double room and 15% off a second night. Both offers were announced for October. Anyone counting on them for the November 1 race day should confirm with the business first.

Sarapiquí's mayor, Vanessa Rodríguez, made the invitation in a statement quoted by Delfino, urging Costa Ricans to take advantage of the special rates on lodging, food and tours this October. CATUSA keeps tour information on its site, sarapiquicostarica.com, and posts updates through its Visite Sarapiquí page. The farms in the table are listed as tours with their own reservation lines, separate from the festival dates.

If a Sunday among cacao trees in Chilamate has you considering land in the Northern Zone, whether a working finca, a reserve next to protected forest or a home within reach of Puerto Viejo, the senior advisors at Luxury Living Costa Rica can walk you through farm and country estates across the region, discreetly and at your pace. Get Started Now.