Located in the Central/South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, Dominical is a small coastal surf town with beautiful beaches and gorgeous mountains’ with unspoiled rain forest towering over it.  Being a small surf town and very popular surf destination for both beginners and advanced surfers alike, Dominical has a wide variety of excellent restaurants, Bars, hotels, and cabins.

Just South of Dominical is the town of Uvita, where you can find a couple of large supermarkets and a farmers market on Saturdays a bilingual school and medical services available

Around the area of Dominical & Uvita there are several wildlife refuges, the most famous and noteworthy of all being The Marino Ballena National Park, named after the humpback whales that pass very close to the coast on their migration routes from mid July to October, and from December through March, since they seek the warmer waters near this coast to give birth, and notorious for its emblematic “Whale’s Tail” natural tombolo formation.

With an extension of 110 land hectares and 5,375 sea hectares, this is the only Marine National Park in the country, and home to one of the most biologically diverse marine habitats in Costa Rica.  The locals, who were historically fishermen, are now dedicated to conservation and tourism, offering boat tours that take visitors to observe and learn more about large pods of bottle nose, spotted, common or spinner dolphins performing acrobatics, or to witness the humpback whales teaching their calves how to breach.

This coast is surrounded by a secondary mountain range called Fila Brunqueña, where the hillsides were once used for cattle farming and agriculture, but are now largely privately owned reserves with a wide range of habitats; from secondary tropical wet forest jungle on it’s lowlands to primary cloud forest on it’s highlands, supporting an equally wide variety of wildlife that includes several kinds of monkeys, sloths, parrots, toucans, giant iguanas, and even large mammals like peccaries, deer, the elusive tapirs and wild cats like ocelots, jaguars and pumas. One of such reserves, probably the most famous and established of all is Hacienda Baru, an 815 Acres Wildlife Refuge and Lodge founded in 1992 just north of Dominical, that has become illustrious due to its outstanding bird watching and its 7 kilometers of nature trails.

The Fila Brunqueña mountain range also separates de coast from El General Valley, and the city of Perez Zeledón, a ½ hour scenic drive away from Dominical, where a lot of the coast’s residents go for shopping, commerce, entertainment and specialized, private medical attention. Also ½ hour away from Dominical/Uvita, but heading north through the coastal highway are the towns of Quepos and Manuel Antonio with its Airport, Public Hospital and the excellent restaurants, nightlife and activities they have to offer.

All of these aspects are allowing the Dominical / Uvita area to become more and more popular for those who want to live in a more remote feeling part of Costa Rica, but still within less than an hour away from modern amenities and urban centers. Recently a wide variety of high-end luxury real estate has become available in the area, including some amazing ocean view and beachfront homes.