What to do in Dominical with kids? Dominical is a quiet surf village which lies on the big ocean and can be reached by car from San Jose in about 4 hours. So Dominical is a very fine stop for multiple options during your tour of Costa Rica with kids. From Dominical you can easily visit the famous Manual Antonio and Uvita Natural Park. If you are passing through to Corcovado, Domincal is a fine stop, but also if you want to take the ferry from Puntarenas to peninsula Nicoya. In this blog, we list all the fun children’s activities in Dominical.
Best travel time Dominical with kids
Dominical is located on the Pacific coast in Costa Rica, and Costa Rica experiences 2 types of seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. December begins the dry season and with it the high season with a peak in February and March. From April starts the transition to the rainy season, and May and June are very quiet months in terms of tourism.
In the months of July, August and September, it rains more, but the weather can still be good. In October and November, there is a lot of rain on the Pacific coast. This is a lesser time to visit Dominical with kids. Therefore, the best travel time for Dominical is the dry season.
Transportation in Dominical
We always find traveling by car the best. You have a lot of freedom, no waiting around with kids. You can get yourself around Dominical quickly and easily with a car. There is public transportation in Costa Rica, but in certain places we have been you can really only get there by your own car or through a tour operator.
Traveling through Costa Rica with kids is easy and fast if you have your own rental car. In Dominical itself, you can easily get around on foot. It is actually 1 big long street leading to the beach. Along the shore are all kinds of eateries and stores. If you want to rent a car in Costa Rica, you can rent a car through Sunny Cars.
With Sunny Cars, you pay one price and there most insurance and often the deductible are included in the price. For more information on renting a car in Costa Rica through Sunny Cars, take a look here.
Children’s activities Dominical
#1 Poza Azul
You can visit a nice waterfall in the area of Dominical with kids. In fact, you are very centrally located in Domincal. You can easily go to Manual Antonio if you would like but also to Uvita, known for the whale tour. At the same time, you do stay in a super relaxed village, which is not overrun by tourists. From Dominical, we made several trips. For example, about half an hour’s drive towards Uvita is a small waterfall: Poza Azul.
Navigate on Poza Azul and you will come out at a small parking lot along the road. There is a local person here to supervise the car for a small fee. With a short and fairly easy walk down, so also very suitable for young kids, you come to a small but nice and refreshing waterfall. You may and can enjoy swimming here.
There were a number of locals with kids and some young people jumping into the water with a rope from the rocks. Nice to cool off for a while. There are no facilities here, so bring your own food and drink to the waterfall.
#2 Nauyaca waterfalls
Another much larger waterfall we visited as a family is the famous Nauyaca Falls. You pay $10 entrance fee per person for the hike here at the waterfall office. There are several types of options and prices to get to the waterfall, such as on horseback or by jeep.
It is about a 4-kilometer hike to the waterfall, but because of the heat and elevation changes, we still found it quite a climb. Make sure you have plenty of water with you. You can swim at the waterfall and sunbathe on the rocks. Be careful with kids, though, because it’s very slippery on the rocks! We all wore water shoes, which gave us more grip.
After about an hour, we left again. Fortunately, we were able to ride back with one of the jeeps that go back and forth between the entrance and the waterfall every hour. The walk out was beautiful. The scenery is so beautiful and along the way you walk past streams, over bridges and tree stumps.
We walked mostly under the trees which made the walk with kid doable. We would not have wanted to miss this, but were very glad that for a small fee of a few dollars we could ride back with a jeep. Therefore, it is definitely recommended, for example, to go hiking with kids and go back by jeep.
There are restrooms and changing cubicles to change. For more information on these falls, check out the official website of Nayaca Falls.
#3 Whale tour Uvita
Another great activity to do in the Dominical area with kids is a whale tour. If you travel to Costa Rica during whale season (December to March and July to October) you can spot whales. From Uvita (which is a half-hour drive from Dominical), several tour operators take a speedboat in search of these giants.
We went with Aventura Uno and had a positive experience with this airline. After a few hours of sailing, we arrived at the whale, a mother and her calf. We thought they gave the whales enough space. There was a neat change of spots with other boats so everyone could get a closer look at the whale. After 15 to 30 minutes, all boats left the whale alone.
I have read several reviews on this that this can therefore vary by tour operator. Always consider this carefully; any interaction with animals is not in the best interest of the animal. As we experienced it, enough distance was kept, and the ocean is large. The animal was not hunted, although of course you follow the whale for a short time.
There were 5 boats and you sail with the whale. We found this to be a pleasant experience. After saying goodbye to the whales, we had to sail back for a few hours. Our daughter fell asleep against us, but very comfortable for us bet was not. We had contacted Aventura Uno well in advance to secure a spot on the boat. This is a very popular activity in this area and availability is limited.
#4 Beaches Dominical
Around and near Dominical are several beaches worth visiting. We did not do this ourselves because after an active morning, we enjoyed staying in the pool at our accommodation. But what I have read good reviews about is Playa Linda This is a large and wide beach with beautiful sunsets.
Playa Dominicalito also seems to be highly recommended. Playa Dominicalito is also suitable for surfing and here too you can enjoy a beautiful sunset. You should not confuse this beach with Playa Dominical near the village of Dominical itself where you also seem to have good surfing.
#5 Parque Nacional Marino Ballena
The national park : Parque Nacional Marino Ballena is known for its whale tail. When the tide is out, a piece of sand that looks like a whale’s tail from above is visible. From here you will also board the boats for the whale watching tour. Of course, it is quite a coincidence that in this area you can actually spot whales. The beach here is long and wide and I loved the view of the rainforest and mountains. You also seem to be able to hike here possibly with a guide .
#6 Hacienda Barú Lodge
Visit Hacienda Barú Lodge where you can zip-line and walk several trails through the rainforest in search of wildlife. At the zipline, you can use 8 different ziplines. You have several platforms, where you can get great views of the area. The Flight of the Toucan zipline tour is a combination rainforest tour and Canopy adventure suitable for the whole family.
Most groups see animals in the wild. You may encounter monkeys, sloths and toucans, among others, during the 45-minute ecological hike to the first cable here. So this children’s activity in Dominical is a nice change between nature and an exciting activity with kids.
Family-friendly restaurants Dominical
Dominical is a quiet village with several cozy restaurants and stores making it very suitable also with kids. Dominical, as we mentioned earlier, is actually a big long street. Because it is a big long street, cars drive here, so you do have to keep an eye on your kids.
Our experience though was that the cars here all drove super quietly and everyone was considerate of each other. There were surfers walking with their surfboards and people with kids. Between the stores and restaurants, though, you can safely walk along some sort of sidewalk. We ourselves have had lunch a few times at Café Mono Congo. This one is at the beginning of the street. You have a view of the river here and they have delicious sandwiches, salads, cakes and coffee.
Our daughter liked the fresh mango smoothies and freshly baked croissants. Want some fish? Then go eat just down the street at El Pescado Loco The fish tacos there are really delicious! The menu also included just fries and burgers. These were also very well liked.
Restaurant Crocodile is a family-friendly restaurant which was at our accommodation, was also good and has a lot of varied food. We were even thoughtful and prepared a very special menu for our daughter. Nothing was too much! This restaurant is located at Villas Rio Mar, just outside the center.
Family-friendly hotel Dominical
You can stay in Dominical with kids just fine. You have several family-friendly hotels in Dominical. We found our stay Villas Rio Mar to be very family-friendly. It has a beautifully landscaped jungle garden that you can enjoy walking in and everything is within walking distance. It is a small resort with several rooms scattered throughout the garden just outside the village of Dominical.
You can walk from the resort to the village to visit one of the nice restaurants, but the resort itself has everything you need for a nice stay with kids. The hotel has a good restaurant, where you can get food and drinks throughout the day, and by the pool there are wait staff walking around who are happy to serve you cold drinks.
It was wonderful to acclimate the first few days here. We had a suite with two large double beds, air conditioning, a spacious bathroom and a refrigerator. Outside we had a nice covered patio with nice chairs. At the resort itself there are two swimming pools; when we lay on our sun loungers here, toucans flew over us. This was really awesome. For more information about Villas Rio Mar, take a look here.
Of course, there are other different family-friendly accommodations, and we list some well-reviewed accommodations in Dominical below.
Budget hotel: La Posada del Mar
Mid-range hotel: Bamboo River House and Hotel
Luxury hotel: Villas Alturas
Are the above accommodations not a suitable option for you? Then take a look at the full list of family-friendly accommodations in Dominical!
About the author: I’m Kim, married to Jeroen who works as a steward for a major Dutch airline and flies all over the world. Together we have a 4-year-old daughter and as a family we try to take a faraway trip as often as possible to discover new cultures, tastes and countries. Our motto ; Travel & Food = Life
