Quepos

About Quepos:

Quepos is the sixth canton of Puntarenas, and it has three districts. Quepos district holds the town, the marina and the hill road to Manuel Antonio. Savegre takes the southern coast and the valley of its river, with Matapalo as its seat, while Naranjito is the inland district, strung along the Río Naranjo toward Tarrazú and Pérez Zeledón; Parrita lies across the north-western boundary. Ruta 34, the Costanera Sur, ties the coast together, but it arrived in pieces: work on the Parrita–Quepos stretch resumed in 1983, and the last section south to Dominical opened only in April 2010. Small planes land at La Managua, the airstrip just outside town, on a 1,155-metre runway. A contract for a new apron with room for six aircraft was signed in 2026, and a passenger terminal of more than 1,000 square metres is planned for the end of 2028.

The canton dates from 30 October 1948, when the Junta Fundadora de la Segunda República split Quepos, Parrita and Savegre off from the canton of Puntarenas. It was called Aguirre, after Rolando Aguirre Lobo, a Quepos businessman killed in that year’s civil war. In 1971 Parrita became a canton of its own and took almost half the territory with it, and Naranjito was made a district the same year. Bananas had gone by then. Floods in 1954 and 1955 and Panama disease finished the plantations, the fruit company moved into cacao, teak and oil palm, and palm still fills the plains along the Costanera. In February 2015 a law swapped the old name for Quepos, the name of the Quepoa people who lived here before the Spanish arrived.

Today the canton lives mainly off visitors. Manuel Antonio National Park opens from Wednesday to Monday and stays shut on Tuesdays, and hotels, restaurants and tour desks line the road that leads to its gate. Marina Pez Vela brings in sportfishing boats and a tournament calendar that is busiest from January to March, with dorado and marlin events at the end of the year. Rafting companies work the Savegre and the Naranjo, and palm, cattle and small farms keep the rural villages going. The ground climbs fast: a narrow coastal plain, mangrove estuaries at Damas and Portalón, then forested ridges only a few kilometres back from the beach.

Three groups do most of the buying. Local families, and the people who work in the hotels, the marina and the hospital, live in town and in villages such as Naranjito, Londres and Matapalo. Buyers from North America and Europe go first to the Manuel Antonio hillsides, where protected forest and steep slopes leave little buildable land and the canton’s prices are at their highest. Others head south to the hills behind Matapalo or inland to Naranjito, where lots are measured in acres and houses come with a view of the valley. A smaller group buys whole fincas for conservation, a lodge or a project years away.

Houses in Quepos:

The house you find depends on the district. Much of central Quepos was mangrove until the 1940s, when the council paid for gravel to be carted in and filled it, so the town barrios are flat and low, with single-family houses on their own lots a short walk from the shops. Manuel Antonio is villa country: pool houses stepped into the ridges, many inside gated communities, sold on their ocean view. In Savegre the choice runs from village houses in Matapalo to newer homes on large plots near the beach and villas in the Hatillo hills. Naranjito has village houses, country homes with land and a gated equestrian community. Before you compare houses for sale in Quepos, work out if you will live in the house or let it to guests, because that answer usually picks the district for you.

Apartments and Condos in Quepos:

Condos cluster in two places. At Marina Pez Vela, units overlook the docks, and the newest phase is sold furnished and ready for guests. Along the road to Manuel Antonio, condominium complexes put owners within walking distance of restaurants and the park bus. Elsewhere in the canton, apartments are mostly small rental units in town buildings, often above a shop. With any condo in Manuel Antonio or at the marina, the monthly fee and the condominium rules on short stays are part of what you are buying.

Rentals in Quepos:

Long-term tenants mostly rent in Quepos town, where houses and apartments are within reach of work, schools and the hospital, and local families also rent in Naranjito and Matapalo. Holiday rentals belong to Manuel Antonio and the Savegre hills: pool villas, bungalows and condos let by the night or the week. Owners who rent to visitors plan their year around the dry months from December to April and the marina’s tournament season. If you are moving here and need a long-term rental in Quepos, look in town first and widen the search from there.

Land and Lots in Quepos:

Each district sells a different kind of lot. Town lots are flat, serviced and suited to a family home or a small business. Around Manuel Antonio, homesites are steep, scarce and priced for the view. In Savegre, ocean-view parcels of an acre or more come up in gated hillside communities behind Matapalo and Portalón, and Naranjito offers river lots and building sites in the valley. Close to the shore, part of what looks like a lot may sit inside the coastal strip, where you hold a concession rather than title. Inland, creek buffers and forest that must stay standing can cut the usable area well below the size on the plan.

Farms and Large Parcels in Quepos:

Large land is the canton’s other market. In the upper Naranjito valley and the Savegre hills, fincas of dozens or hundreds of hectares change hands with rivers, waterfalls, springs, old pasture and forest. Buyers take them as private reserves, eco-lodge sites or land to subdivide later. Much of this ground is reached by gravel roads that need work after every rainy season, so ask what the access costs to keep open before you weigh the price per hectare.

FAQ:

• Which district fits my plans: Quepos, Savegre or Naranjito?

  Quepos district is the choice for town life, the marina and Manuel Antonio, and it has the widest range of homes and the highest prices on the park road. Savegre suits buyers who want a quieter beach and bigger lots within half an hour of town. Naranjito is for land, rivers and farm country, still close enough to Quepos for shopping and school runs.

• Can I buy a beachfront property anywhere in the canton?

  Not with full title. Along every beach the first 200 metres from high tide are maritime-terrestrial zone: the first 50 are public, and the other 150 can only be held under a municipal concession, which requires an approved coastal plan for that stretch, such as the Matapalo–Barú plan approved in 2014. Titled land starts behind the strip. When a seller talks about a beach property, ask to see either a folio real or a concession contract, and know which one you are buying.

• Older papers for the property say Aguirre, not Quepos. What should I check before I buy?

  The name itself is not a problem: Aguirre became Quepos in 2015, and deeds and plans from before then use the old name for the same canton. What matters is the rest. Pull the property from the Registro Nacional to confirm the owner, liens and annotations, and walk the boundaries with the plano catastrado in hand. Ask the Municipalidad de Quepos for a land-use certificate, and find out whether any part of the land falls in the coastal zone or under forest cover before you agree a price.

• How do people get to Quepos, and is the airport changing?

  Most drive from San José on Ruta 27 to the coast and then south on the Costanera, which takes around three hours. Domestic flights land at La Managua, just outside town. A new apron is planned there, followed by a passenger terminal of more than 1,000 square metres, with the latest estimate putting completion at the end of 2028.

• When is Quepos busiest?

  The dry months from December to April bring the most visitors, and the marina’s main fishing tournaments fall between January and March. Manuel Antonio National Park is closed on Tuesdays, which is a quieter day on the park road. If you plan to rent to guests, those months set your income; if you plan to live here, they are the time to expect traffic and full restaurants.