La Unión

About La Unión:

La Unión fills the northern end of Montes de Oro. The Río Aranjuez marks its northern and western edge against the central canton of Puntarenas, Miramar lies to the south, and San Ramón, in Alajuela, lies to the east. National Route 615 serves the district, and every way in starts from Miramar and climbs; Cedral, the farthest of the main villages, is about 28 km north-east of the canton seat. The roads to the upper villages are rural mountain roads, and when the Interamericana is blocked, some drivers use the climb from Miramar toward Zapotal as a back route.

Farming keeps the district going. Coffee grows under shade on the slopes around Palmital, Ventanas and Cedral, where a couple of micro-mills roast and sell under their own names, while dairy and beef cattle hold most of the cleared land and a few farms make their own cheese. Smaller plots grow tomatoes, sweet peppers and other vegetables, some of them organically. Rural tourism has grown on top of all that: Cedral has its own tourism association, rural lodging, coffee and trapiche tours, and trails into the hills. Health care is at the EBAIS in Palmital and the clinic in Miramar, and Cedral has a telesecundaria for older students.

This is the highest district of Montes de Oro. It rises from about 700 metres around Zagala Nueva and the village of La Unión into the foothills of the Sierra de Tilarán, past 1,000 metres, and Cedral spreads between 800 and 1,400 metres where the forest turns to cloud forest. The rivers La Mina and Aranjuez cut through it on their way to the Pacific. Above Cedral lies the Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve, 7,800 hectares of premontane forest run by the University of Costa Rica, which continues north toward the Monteverde forests. Much of the slope is classed for pasture, forestry or protection rather than crops, and that decides what can be built and where.

Around 1,500 people live here, spread across La Unión, Laguna, Palmital, Velásquez, San Buenaventura, Micas, Zagala Nueva, Cedral and part of Bajo Caliente. Cedral is really four hamlets: San Francisco, Pueblo Nuevo, Ventanas and Cedral Centro. Its wooden church of San José, clad in sheet metal and raised in the early twentieth century, is a declared heritage building. The property that changes hands suits three kinds of buyer: someone after a working coffee or cattle farm, someone who wants a quiet house in the hills, and someone looking at forest-edge land for small-scale rural tourism.

Houses in La Unión:

Homes here are village houses along the roads through La Unión, Laguna, Palmital and Cedral, and farmhouses sitting on their own parcel of pasture or coffee. On a hillside property the house is often only part of what you are buying; the land, the water and the road matter just as much. Find out whether the house is on a community water line or draws from a spring or a private well. Drive the access in the rainy season before you commit, because the upper villages depend on a long climb from Miramar.

Land and Lots in La Unión:

Lots here are usually cut from a larger farm, so a good one has frontage on a public road, its own survey plan and a settled water supply. Slope is the main limit. Much of the district is land for pasture, forest or protection, and levelling a building pad can take more earthwork than it first appears. Springs and streams carry protection strips that cannot be built on. A lot near Cedral puts you beside the reserve and its trails, while one lower down near La Unión or Zagala Nueva keeps the drive to Miramar shorter.

Farms and Large Parcels in La Unión:

Most of what sells here is productive land. The usual offers are small coffee plots, dairy and beef farms on pasture, and mixed parcels with forest on the steeper ground, and anyone looking at farms for sale in Montes de Oro will also find a few larger holdings near the reserve that suit rural tourism. Shaded coffee still covers many slopes, and some farms have replanted with rust-resistant varieties. Forest that stands today stays forest: Costa Rican law does not allow it to be cleared for pasture or building, so price the hectares you can actually use, not the total on the deed.

FAQ:

• How do you get to La Unión and Cedral?

  Everything starts in Miramar, the canton seat, and heads uphill to the north on Route 615 and local roads. Cedral is about 28 km from Miramar. These are mountain roads, so time the trip and see the surface before you settle on a property far from the main route.

• Is there water and power out here?

  Electricity reaches the villages. Water is run by community ASADAs in Cedral, Laguna, Palmital, San Buenaventura, Zagala Nueva and Bajo Caliente, though many houses still draw from springs or wells. If you are buying land to build on, get written confirmation that a water connection is available first.

• What should I check before buying a hillside parcel in La Unión?

  Start with the slope and the water. Get the folio real from the Registro Nacional and a plano catastrado that matches what you see on the ground, especially where a boundary follows the Río Aranjuez or a stream. Then ask the Municipalidad de Montes de Oro for a certificado de uso de suelo, since steep ground, forest cover and the protection zones around springs all limit where you can build. If the farm was inherited, make sure every heir signs before any money moves.

• What do farms here produce?

  Shaded coffee, milk and beef are the main lines, with tomatoes, sweet peppers and other vegetables on smaller plots. Some growers farm organically, and a handful of farms add cheese-making or visitor tours. A farm that already has a buyer for its coffee or milk is worth more than bare pasture of the same size.

• Can I open a small lodge near Cedral?

  Rural tourism already runs in Cedral, with a local association, places to stay and trails toward the Alberto Manuel Brenes reserve. A new project needs the land-use certificate, building permits and, depending on its size, environmental clearance from SETENA before work begins. Land bordering the reserve is attractive for this, but nothing can be built inside the reserve itself.