Naranjito

About Naranjito:

Naranjito covers about 105 square kilometres on the inland side of Quepos canton. It meets Quepos district toward the coast and Savegre to the south-east, and its hills rise toward the cantons of Tarrazú and Pérez Zeledón. Ruta 616, the national road up the valley, leaves the coastal plain, runs through Naranjito village and crosses the river into Londres. From there the district spreads into a string of smaller communities: Villa Nueva, Paso Real, Pascua, Bijagual, Sábalo, Cotos, Concepción, Tocorí and Santa Juana. Homes in the lower valley are 15 to 20 minutes by car from Quepos, and a bus runs from Quepos through Naranjito and Londres to Villa Nueva in about 40 minutes.

The district was created in August 1971, and farming still sets the pace here. Oil palm plantations line the lower river, while the foothills hold pasture, smallholdings and patches of forest. Near the church in Villa Nueva, the Villa Vanilla farm grows vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon, cacao, black pepper, allspice and turmeric, and opens its rows to visitors. Rafting outfits from Manuel Antonio start their trips on the Río Naranjo up around Villa Nueva and Londres, then follow the river through gorges and palm plantations down to the Llamarón bridge on the road to Dominical. In Santa Juana, about an hour into the hills above Quepos, a rural tourism project built around a lodge, a nature reserve and a tree nursery gives local families paid work alongside their farms.

The Río Naranjo shapes the district, and it rises fast once the rains begin. Rafters count on good water from June to November, and those are the months when riverside lots, fords and gravel tracks deserve a second look. For years the crossing at Londres was an old suspension bridge that had become a risk for vehicles. On 28 September 2026 the MOPT opened a 95-metre modular steel bridge in its place, with one extra-wide lane, and the old structure is being converted for pedestrians only. Higher up, the land breaks into ridges where you can look across forest and palm plantations all the way to the Pacific.

Several kinds of buyer share the valley. Local families live in the villages, in houses on their own lots near the school, the church and the road. Costa Rican and foreign buyers come looking for space and quiet within reach of Quepos: a few acres with a river, a house facing the hills, or a homesite in Finca Tranquila, a gated equestrian community where most owners live year-round. Others buy large fincas for reforestation, conservation or a future project, because parcels of dozens of hectares still come up for sale here.

Houses in Naranjito:

In Naranjito village and Londres, most homes are single-storey family houses on their own lots, and remodelled two-bedroom places in the centre come up from time to time. Londres also has a small gated community of new three-bedroom homes. Around Villa Nueva, three-bedroom houses of about 150 square metres sit on generous plots, some close to 5,000 square metres with a private pool and a view over the river valley. In Finca Tranquila, estate houses of three and four bedrooms stand on homesites of about an acre, with an owners’ association that pays for garden care and round-the-clock security and lets residents ride the community’s horses across its shared land. When you compare houses for sale in Naranjito, drive from the house to Quepos on a wet October afternoon before you decide the commute is easy.

Land and Lots in Naranjito:

Lots in the valley are large by town standards. Around Villa Nueva, mountain-view parcels of roughly 4,500 square metres are sold as building sites about 20 minutes from Quepos. In Londres, lots range from half an acre to more than a hectare, and some run down to the Río Naranjo. Finca Tranquila sells homesites of about an acre inside its gated grounds, and the community’s own rules decide what you can build and how. A river lot is tempting, but the bank carries a protection strip under the forestry law where nothing can be built, and the water in November tells you more than the water in March. Before you settle on any of the lots for sale in Naranjito, ask who supplies water to the property and get the answer in writing.

Farms and Large Parcels in Naranjito:

Large land is where Naranjito stands apart from the coast around it. Near Tocorí, a finca of some 30 hectares with its own waterfall, river and ocean view has been on offer, and parcels of 17 to 25 hectares with forest and mountain views come up around the district. Blocks of more than 80 hectares are sold as development land. Much of this ground is steep and partly forested, and in Costa Rica standing forest cannot simply be cleared for pasture or houses. Walk the boundaries with a surveyor, find the springs and streams, and work out where you can actually build before you compare prices per hectare.

FAQ:

• How far is Naranjito from Quepos and Manuel Antonio?

  Close. Homes in the lower valley, including Finca Tranquila, are 15 to 20 minutes by car from Quepos and Marina Pez Vela, and Manuel Antonio is around half an hour from the Villa Nueva side. A bus links Quepos with Naranjito, Londres and Villa Nueva, taking about 40 minutes to the end of the line. The higher villages take longer, especially on gravel.

• What does the new bridge at Londres change?

  It removes the weakest link on the road up the valley. The old suspension bridge over the Río Naranjo had serious damage and was a risk for cars, and since 28 September 2026 a 95-metre modular bridge with one extra-wide lane carries the traffic on Ruta 616. More than 5,000 people in Londres and Naranjito use that crossing. It is still a single lane, so expect to give way at busy times.

• What should I check before buying a lot or finca by the river?

  Start with the river itself. The Río Naranjo and its streams rise quickly in the rainy season, so find out how high the water has reached on that bank and keep any building well back from the protection strip. Then pull the folio real and the cadastral plan at the Registro Nacional to confirm the boundaries match the land you walked, and ask the Municipalidad de Quepos for a land-use certificate. On forested parcels, have someone qualified mark where the forest begins, because that ground cannot be cleared.

• Can I reach the higher villages all year?

  Usually, but plan around the rains. The roads toward Santa Juana and the upper communities are gravel and cross rivers on the way, and from June to November fords can rise and ruts deepen. A four-wheel-drive vehicle makes life easier. Drive the route in October before you sign for anything far up the valley.

• What is it like to own in Finca Tranquila?

  It is a gated equestrian community of about 177 acres, with homesites of around an acre and some 144 acres of shared pasture and forest that reach down to the Río Gallega. A guard lives on site, horses are kept for residents to ride, and a few guest rooms let visiting family stay close by. Most owners live there full-time, with a small share of long-term tenants. Read the association rules and the monthly fees before you buy, since they set what you can build and what you pay to keep it.