South Pacific Costa Rica Photo Tour Recap

The first Costa Rica photography workshop of 2025 is in the books, and wow, was it incredible!  Featuring spectacular rural landscapes in the provinces of San Jose and Puntarenas, the South Pacific Costa Rica Photo Tour faced rapidly changing weather patterns that initially created some concern.  In stark contrast to the super sunny scouting trip I did last year to create the photography tour, the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms the entire week.  In reality, there were only a couple days with any substantial rainfall, mixed in with a fair amount of sunshine streaking through billowy clouds, that overall created sensational conditions for photography. 

We kicked things off early Sunday afternoon at the airport in Alejuela and headed for powerful Catarata La Paz.  We stopped at a soda (typical Costa Rican restaurant) for a late lunch with a misty view of the San Fernando Waterfall, then proceeded to photograph La Paz.  I've shot the 110-foot-tall waterfall many times but always find a new perspective, and this day was no different.  

On the way to the hotel after shooting the La Paz Waterfall, the sun backlit and pierced through the rolling clouds and created a nice, but quick landscape photography sunset over verdant farmland that we captured from the narrow roadside.  We continued on and checked into our hotel in Escazú, enjoyed the first of many wonderful dinners, and with that, day one was a success.

Day two began with a delicious breakfast before traveling to the South Pacific and photographing American crocodiles at the famous Tarcoles Bridge.  Many years ago, locals began feeding the crocodiles and created a parking area where visitors can leave their cars and walk out onto the bridge to see the crocodiles in the murky river below.  There weren't as many crocodiles as previous visits, but it's still a unique experience to witness and photograph these gigantic reptiles. 

After shooting, we continued to Dominical, had a great lunch, then drove to lovely Cascada Elysiana, located in a private, serene rainforest.  There are several viewpoints at Elysiana, and after shooting for a couple hours, we wrapped it up, traveled to Playa Dominicalito, and were gifted with one of the most magnificent Costa Rica sunsets I've ever experienced.  While shooting, I kept saying, "Fuego!" which means fire, and as you can see in the photo below, it was a serious burn.  Afterwards, we checked into our awesome boutique hotel that was home for five days, and enjoyed a fantastic gourmet dinner.   

For day three, we had another tasty breakfast, edited images, then traveled to rustic Rancho Rana Roja.  We had a super fresh typical Costa Rican lunch prepared by the property owner's wife and mother, before setting out to shoot enchanting Catarata Rana Roja, located in a secluded jungle environment with no one else there.  After shooting the rainforest waterfall, we hiked through the jungle and photographed all the drops along the river, seeing a few tiny, colorful poison dart frogs along the way.

While we were shooting the river, the rain began, so we returned to the restaurant to ride it out.  After an hour, it didn't let up, and because we already had great shots, decided to pass on exploring the other side of the beautiful property and drove back to Dominical.  We arrived just in time for sunset, and although it wasn't as dramatic as the Costa Rica beach sunset the night before, still produced stunning photos.   

The following day, we started with an early breakfast and went to Catarata San Gabriel.  It's a unique cascade that's as wide as the river that feeds it, and challenging to photograph.  We shot a bit, waited for better light, shot a bit more, and tried to reach the owner of an additional property nearby.  A family joined us at the falls and said they had just tried to go to the same additional location but couldn't reach the owner either. Apparently, that location was closed for the day.  Welcome to Costa Rica.  You never know what's going to happen here.  Pura vida!

Because of the random location closure, an adjustment to the schedule had to be made, so we drove to the somewhat nearby Talamanca mountains, had a savory lunch, and photographed endless rivers and jungle scenes that filled out the afternoon nicely.  This is precisely why it's so important to do photography tours with an experienced guide that has backup options.  We arrived at the hotel after sunset, got cleaned up, and enjoyed another fantastic dinner in Dominical.

On day 5, we started with breakfast and edited images from the previous day.  We then drove to Pérez Zeledón and had a delicious typical Costa Rican lunch at a restaurant with a fantastic valley view before heading to sensational, 180-foot-tall Eco Chontales.  Like most other locations, there was much more water at Eco Chontales this year, and it was roaring, and demonstrating why it's one of Costa Rica's best waterfalls.  There are loads of photo opportunities at this location and after capturing several, we headed back towards Dominical, stopping to photograph the stunning countryside and lush jungle rivers. 

We started early and skipped breakfast on day six to make sure we arrived at Nauyaca Falls before anyone else.  Nauyaca Falls is my personal number one best waterfall in Costa Rica, and without doing it, you will never understand just how difficult the 6.5-mile roundtrip hike is, especially while carry a backpack full of heavy camera gear in 95-degree heat and 90-100% humidity.  I've done the hike, which to this day is the most difficult hike I've ever done, so I made arrangements for a 4x4 truck to take us to the falls, and that made the day so much easier. 

The water flow at Nauyaca was lower than my previous visit, which opened up new photo opportunities that I wasn't able to capture before.  We shot for a couple hours, exploring both the lower 60-foot and upper 135-foot tiers, before catching a ride back to the parking area.  We then returned to Dominical, enjoyed another super fresh lunch, and returned to the hotel to work on images. 

In the late afternoon, we traveled south to Playa Ventanas, and endured a few rain showers to capture sunset.  Although it wasn't as vibrant as the first sunset at Playa Dominicalito, it was another beautiful experience in the magical tropical paradise of Costa Rica.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in Uvita for some unbelievably delicious wood-fired pizza, before retiring early for the night.  

On the final day of the tour, we had breakfast and began the long trek from the South Pacific to the Central Valley through the highest mountain range in Costa Rica.  We stopped and hiked up to a viewpoint, took a few photos, battled through some brutal traffic, had another good lunch, then continued on to Finca San Gerardo. 

I've shot at the private, working farm several times, and it's an easy stroll to Catarata Esmeralda, a gorgeous 65-foot-tall waterfall in San Ramon, Costa Rica that plunges into an emerald green pool.  There are some alluring rural Costa Rica landscapes on the property as well, that beautifully illuminate as sunset nears, and we took full advantage of that. 

After shooting, we traveled back to Alejuela, dropped off my client at his hotel, and that ended the first ever South Pacific Costa Rica photo tour. 

If you missed out on this awesome, all-inclusive photography tour that features so much of what Costa Rica offers, I've already locked in dates for January 2026.  Click the banner below for the booking information and grab your spot now!  Trust me, you'll be glad you did.  



VERO: vero.co/colortexturephototours
IG: instagram.com/colortexturephototours
FB: facebook.com/ColorTexturePhotoTours
FLICKR: flickr.com/photos/scott-setterberg