The small town of Bijagua is one of my favorite places in Costa Rica. It might be one of my favorite places I’ve ever traveled to, although not for reasons that I would have expected.
As travelers, we’re often adventure seekers. We hop on surfboards, climb volcanoes or trek through jungles in search of thrilling tales we can bring home with us. Interesting stories we can collect and fit in our luggage alongside the other cheap souvenirs.
That’s all fine in its own way, but sometimes what you need is the opposite. Bijagua is the opposite in all the best ways. Sure, you can find some adventurous hikes nearby. The town is the gateway to the Volcán Tenorio National Park and the sky-blue waters of the Rio Celeste, and there are plenty of adventurous backroads to explore outside of the national park.
Yet, those things feel like an afterthought. Bijagua is a town with one main road and two restaurants. The bar has a hitching post where the local cowboys can tie up their horses while they get drunk.
It’s not exactly off the beaten path, but it feels like a world away from the hyper touristed hot spots that fill Costa Rica. Bijagua is Costa Rica’s best town to simply do nothing at all. If you can escape the chihuahuas, that is.
What to Know About Bijagua
We stumbled on Bijagua almost by accident while looking for a place to stay while we waited to meet up with some friends. At that point, we’d been traveling for months and wanted a break from the adventures. A ‘vacation from our vacation’ so to speak. We found that in Bijagua.
As I mentioned before, Bijagua just has one main road. There’s a couple of restaurants, a bar, and some supermarkets. One restaurant sells local Costa Rican food, while the other is more of a coffee shop that seemed geared towards tourists on their way to somewhere else but maybe needed to stop and use the bathroom. The food at both places was pretty good.
There may be some hotels and jungle lodges hidden away somewhere along the side roads. We didn’t come across any in the town. Tourism infrastructure is blissfully absent in Bijagua, which means you’re on your own for just about everything here.
Bijagua is located about two hours from Liberia by bus. There are only a couple of buses each day, and the schedules change regularly. You’ll want to double check with your accommodation or the bus station to confirm the times. Travelers who’ve rented a car will gain a bit more freedom and options for travel times, but will lose a significant amount of money and authentic experience.
Where to Stay in Bijagua
I can’t speak for the surrounding hotels and jungle lodges. I’m sure many of them are quite nice. We stayed at the one place we found in town in our budget, and have zero regrets.
Bijagua Paradise Rio Celeste is a friendly little place that’s something between a guesthouse and an Airbnb cabaña. The accommodation is owned and run by the local high school music teacher. He was very nice and helpful, and patient with our non-native Spanish.
Bijagua Paradise Rio Celeste is far from fancy, but our little cabaña had everything we needed. I one hundred percent recommend this place, especially for travelers who want to experience a side of Costa Rica beyond the fancy lodges catering exclusively to foreign tourists. Click here to book your stay at Bijagua Paradise Rio Celeste and I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What to Do in Bijagua
Despite all my blathering about how much we relaxed in Bijagua, I never felt bored during our time there. We spent five nights in Bijagua. I was plenty happy to spend my evenings watching the red and purple sunsets and to spend long mornings sitting in the garden sipping coffee and watching the poison dart frogs hop among the leaves.
Maybe part of me feels a little guilty for my laziness in Bijagua. The town is surrounded by fields and farms, and the Ticos who work those fields and farms probably work harder than I ever will in my life. The guy who rode his horse to the bar probably really could use that drink. Even the owner of our accommodation divided his time between running a guesthouse and teaching. And here I am saying “I need a vacation from my vacation.”
There’s a strange dissonance that comes with relaxing while the people around you toil away. To our credit, at least we did a lot of walking.
Some of us like to fly by the seat of our pants and not plan anything. Others crawl by the hem of our pants and meticulously plan every detail. If you’re a planner, I suggest using Get Your Guide to book tours. They’re generally cheaper than online alternatives and offer a wide range of activities. If you book through the following link, I’ll get a small commission at no cost to you and you’ll gain the satisfaction of supporting an independent travel blog. Click here to explore tours in Costa Rica.
Visit Volcán Tenorio National Park and Rio Celeste
One of the places we walked in was the magnificent Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio. This national park is probably Bijagua’s star attraction. I imagine most tourists who pass through Bijagua are on their way to or from this park.
Volcán Tenorio national park is gorgeous, with easy trails that wind through dense green jungle. The star of the show is the sky-blue water of the Rio Celeste that flows down the slopes of the volcano through the park. Volcanic minerals work their magic and turn the water a celestial rich blue color. The waterfall is especially photogenic.
The park is also home to a number of animals, but they are quite shy and difficult to see. Supposedly it’s possible to see tapirs on the road leading to the park, but none of them graced us with their presence during our visit. We would have to wait for Corcovado National Park to see a tapir. There are, however, plenty of howler monkeys in the trees just outside of town.
Volcán Tenorio National Park is only about a half hour drive or so from Bijagua. Unfortunately, there is no public transportation. We got arranged a ride through our accommodation, but I imagine you could also find a taxi. Or possibly hitchhike.
Hike to the Cataratas de Bijagua
Another lovely place to walk is the Cataratas de Bijagua, or Bijagua Waterfalls. To be completely honest, these waterfalls are nowhere near as impressive as the waterfall along the Rio Celeste in the national park. The walk, though, is very lovely.
The trail is located on the property of the aptly named Cataratas de Bijagua Lodge. You’ll have to pay a small fee to access the trail. I don’t remember how much, but it wasn’t expensive. The property also has a splendid mirador (viewpoint) that provides some gorgeous views of Bijagua and the surrounding countryside.
The trails take about two hours, depending on how fast you walk and how often you stop for photos. You can reach the Cataratas de Bijagua by taxi or hitchhiking. We took the long way and walked about an hour and a half south of town.
Wander the Backroads (But be Look Out for the Chihuahuas)
Walking, walking and more walking. The area surrounding Bijagua is very beautiful, and it’s a fantastic place to wander around and observe rural Costa Rican life first hand. The main road through town is paved, but all sorts of dirt roads branch out from the main road and weave their way up into the surrounding hills. They’re all practically begging to be walked on.
Bijagua is very safe, and there’s almost no traffic. You can just pick a direction and go. Just be sure to download a map of the area and keep your phone charged in case you get lost. Or just get lost.
I have to admit something here. When I said Bijagua was safe, maybe I wasn’t being one hundred percent honest. We did have an incident here. A terrifying incident.
We were walking down a random dirt road when we heard a high-pitched barking from behind a fence. A scruffy chihuahua burst out onto the road, growling and yipping at us. Then came another. Then another. We soon found ourselves surrounded by like ten growling and yipping chihuahuas.
Maybe chihuahuas don’t seem dangerous to you, but you’ve probably never been surrounded by a pack of them in the middle of nowhere in rural Costa Rica. They yipped and barked and growled and snapped their teeny jaws at us like brutal petite predators.
Somehow, we managed to escape that marauding horde of chomping purse dogs. I think I might’ve had to throw a handful of gravel at them or something. But, somehow, we made it back to the center of Bijagua with our ankles intact.
Final Thoughts on Bijagua, Costa Rica
Thankfully, the beauty and magic of Bijagua overshadowed that terrifying chihuahua attack. The rest of our adventures were very, very, low-key. You could barely call them adventures at all. Maybe it’d be better to just call them lovely strolls.
And that’s why Bijagua will hold a special place in my heart. Sometimes exactly what you need is to find a place that’s perfectly suited for lovely strolls. In a hyper-touristed country like Costa Rica so many things, zip-lines and ATV tours and surfing schools, are built for overstimulation and adventure. Bijagua stands out as being built for little more than some lovely strolls.
If you want more adventure in Costa Rica, check out our guide here: Come to Costa Rica: A Travel Guide to the Tourist Hotspot I Still Love
