Siquirres

About Siquirres:

Siquirres canton covers 860 square kilometres of Limón’s central Caribbean slope. Guácimo and Pococí lie to the west, Matina to the east and Turrialba, in Cartago province, to the south, while the northern edge is a stretch of Caribbean beach between the mouths of the Pacuare and the Parismina. Ruta 32, the San José–Limón highway, crosses the canton on four lanes past Germania, El Cairo and Siquirres town, on its way to the Moín container terminals further east. Ruta 10, the old road to Turrialba and Cartago, starts in town and leads to the Pacuare rafting base at Tres Equis, and Ruta 415 climbs south to La Alegría. In the north, Ruta 806 is being paved in stages across Reventazón district, and boats for the Parismina bar and the canals to Tortuguero leave from the dock at Caño Blanco.

Siquirres became a canton on 19 September 1911, when Ley 11 split it from the canton of Limón. It had fewer than 7,000 people in 1927 and 63,765 at the 2022 census, spread over seven districts: Siquirres, Pacuarito, Florida, Germania, El Cairo, Alegría and Reventazón, the newest, created in 2018. Banana and pineapple still set the rhythm of work. Dole exports organic pineapple from the canton, and Mexifrutas bought a 20-hectare site here for a plant that turns pineapple and banana into juice and purée. Cacao, plantain, cassava and cattle fill out the farm economy, and on the coast people fish.

Southwest of town, the Reventazón hydroelectric plant has run since 2016 behind a 130-metre dam, and in 2025 it generated about 9% of Costa Rica’s electricity. The state power company bought around 1,900 hectares for the project and paid for 41 community works across the canton. Most of Siquirres is low, wet plain with a mean elevation of 127 metres, and that is where the big farms are. To the south the ground lifts into foothills: La Alegría sits at 420 metres with a view back over the banana land, and beyond Pacuarito the forest of Barbilla National Park, almost 12,000 hectares, is ringed by the Cabécar communities of the Nairi Awari indigenous territory.

On the plain, water decides where it is safe to build. Rivers leave their beds after heavy rain, and floods reach farm villages in the north such as Islona and Dos Bocas as well as barrios of Siquirres town. Before you look at a house, ask how high the water came the last time. Most buyers are from the canton or close by: families moving from renting to their own lot, people who work on the farms or in the packing and processing plants, and small investors who build rental units behind a house. Land buyers divide the way the canton does, looking at flat ground on the plain for crops and cattle and at the hill districts for springs, forest and room to build a quinta.

Houses in Siquirres:

In Siquirres town, houses stand close together on lots of a few hundred square metres, and many have a second unit for rent. Out in the districts the lots get bigger and the asking prices fall. A two-bedroom house on 1,130 m² in El Cairo, a house with a separate apartment on 308 m² in Pacuarito, and a two-bedroom house to remodel on 356 m² in La Alegría have all been offered for well under half of what a finished two-storey house in town asks. Many of these houses for sale in Siquirres are older or sold as projects. Check the roof, the wiring and the septic tank, and ask whether water got in during the 2026 floods.

Rentals in Siquirres:

Nearly all of the canton’s rentals are in the head district, within reach of the centre, the bus terminal and the CAIS clinic. Tenants are mostly people who work in town, on the farms or at the processing plants, plus students at the University of Costa Rica classrooms. Three-bedroom houses with a yard and small anexos built onto an owner’s lot make up most of what is offered. In Germania, Florida, El Cairo and Reventazón homes change hands by sale far more than by lease, so a renter usually starts in town. For short stays there are cabinas in Siquirres and homestays at Parismina.

Land and Lots in Siquirres:

Outside town, the quinta is the piece of land you see most often: a house lot of half a hectare or more, with fruit trees and room for animals. In La Alegría, one 5,000 m² quinta came with a three-bedroom house of 142 m² and a patch of fruit and timber trees, and in Cimarrones, in Pacuarito, a bare 8,700 m² quinta asked somewhat less. Bigger parcels with no house, such as 2.4 hectares in La Alegría, come up as well, and small urban plots of around 200 m² sell in El Cairo to families building a first home. When you compare lots for sale in Siquirres, look for the water first. A spring or a well matters on a quinta, and the law protects a ring of land around a permanent spring, so the house cannot go right next to it.

Farms and Fincas in Siquirres:

Working farms are where the canton’s larger sums change hands. A 7.9-hectare finca at 52 Millas, twenty minutes from town and thirty-five from Turrialba, came with a four-bedroom house for visitors and a separate house for a worker, on a road best driven in a high vehicle. Near El Peje, in El Cairo, a 10-hectare productive finca sits fifteen minutes from Ruta 32. At the top end, a 57-hectare farm in Florida with a spring, three houses, a large corral, sheep and tilapia ponds has asked a seven-figure sum in dollars, and on the northern plain of Reventazón cattle farms of a similar size come up alongside flat parcels near the banana packing plants. Before making an offer on any of the fincas for sale in Siquirres, drive the internal roads after rain, look at the bridges, and find out how much of the land is forest that cannot be cleared.

FAQ:

• The plan regulador is under review. How do I know what I can build on a lot in Siquirres?

  Siquirres published its plan regulador in La Gaceta in November 2022, with zoning, a land-use table and maps of flood and landslide hazard. In June 2026 the council voted unanimously to start the process of suspending it so it can be updated, which means the rules for a parcel may shift while you are buying. Ask the municipality for a certificado de uso de suelo on the exact finca number and check the hazard maps for that spot. Then have a notary pull the record and the plano catastrado from the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario) to confirm liens, area and boundaries.

• Can I buy land near Barbilla or inside the Nairi Awari territory?

  No. Nairi Awari, a Cabécar indigenous territory set up in 1991, covers part of Pacuarito district and continues into Turrialba and Matina. Under Indigenous Law 6172, its land cannot be bought, rented or leased by anyone who is not indigenous, and any such deal is void. Barbilla National Park is state land. The rest of Pacuarito, including the farm country along Ruta 32, is ordinary titled land, but on any parcel toward the hills compare the plano catastrado with the territory boundary before you sign.

• Can I own a beach house at Barra de Parismina?

  Not as freehold on the beach itself. The first 50 metres above high tide are public and cannot be occupied, and the next 150 metres can only be held under a municipal concession, which requires an approved coastal plan for that stretch. Ask the municipality whether one is in force before you look at anything near the sand. Parismina has no road, either: people arrive by boat from Caño Blanco or on the small airstrip, and building materials come the same way.

• Do I need a four-wheel drive to reach farms and quintas in Siquirres?

  Not on the main routes. Ruta 32, Ruta 10 and Ruta 415 are paved, and Ruta 806 in the north is being paved in sections. Many farm roads off them are gravel, though, like the 17 kilometres from Pacuarito up to the Barbilla gate at Las Brisas, and for hill fincas a high vehicle is worth having. Drive the access road yourself after a day of rain before you decide.