The question people actually mean when they ask about Costa Rica’s December weather is: will my Christmas trip get rained out? The answer depends entirely on which coast you picked, because December is simultaneously the start of the Pacific dry season and one of the wettest months of the year on the Caribbean side. A guide that gives you one answer for the whole country is wrong for half of it.
Here is the regional breakdown, plus the two December factors that surprise people more than rain: the wind, and the prices.
On the Pacific side, from Guanacaste down through Manuel Antonio, December is the month the switch flips. The rains that defined October and November taper off, the sky clears, and the coast settles into the sunny pattern that holds through April.
Guanacaste is the most reliable corner. Tamarindo in December runs around 31 degrees C, about 88 F, for daytime highs with lows near 24 C, and monthly rainfall drops to a rounding error at the driest spots along the coast. The Nicoya coast can even overshoot, with the occasional mid-90s F day. This is why the December resort crowd concentrates here; our Guanacaste resorts guide and Tamarindo guide cover where they all go.
One honest caveat for early birds: the first week or two of December is a transition, not a guarantee. Most years the rain is done. Occasionally the wet season lingers, and 2017 famously stayed wet on the central and southern Pacific well past Christmas. Treat a December 1 arrival as very good odds, not a contract.
Further south, Manuel Antonio and the central Pacific follow the same pattern a notch wetter and greener, which is arguably the best version of it: the forest is still lush from the rains while the beach days stack up.
Now the exception this site will not stop repeating, because most December content gets it wrong: the Caribbean coast, Tortuguero down through Puerto Viejo, runs on an inverted calendar. Its driest windows are February to March and September to October. December is one of its wettest months, and it typically gets wetter as the month goes on, driven by the Atlantic storm systems locals call temporales del Atlantico that push prolonged rain onto the coast.
It stays warm, roughly 70 to 85 F, and Caribbean rain does not mean around-the-clock rain; you will still get bright mornings. But if you are choosing where to point a precious Christmas vacation, do not point it at Puerto Viejo. Save that coast for a September trip, when it is the sunniest place in the country while the Pacific drowns. Our Puerto Viejo guide covers that inverted season in detail.
The Central Valley, where you land, is at its best in December. San Jose runs 5 to 10 degrees cooler than the coasts, roughly 60 to 75 F, with rainfall falling to about a third of November’s. The first week of December brings the Festival de la Luz, the capital’s Christmas light parade and fireworks, and the holiday season is genuinely festive here rather than something staged for visitors.
The mountains are another story. Above 5,000 feet, temperatures run 20 to 30 F below the lowlands, and December is windy and misty at elevation. Monteverde in December means quetzal country with a real chill: pack a warm layer and a rain shell and expect the clouds that give the cloud forest its name. Arenal and the northern lowlands sit in between, transitional and still somewhat rainy in December, with the volcano more likely to hide in cloud than in February.
| Region | December weather | Verdict for this month |
|---|---|---|
| Guanacaste / Nicoya | Dry, hot, windy afternoons | The safest bet in the country |
| Central Pacific (Manuel Antonio) | Dry season starting, still green | Excellent, slightly better value |
| Central Valley (San Jose) | Mild, 60s to 70s F, festive | Great arrival and departure days |
| Arenal / northern lowlands | Transitional, some rain lingers | Good, pack a rain layer |
| Monteverde / high elevations | Windy, misty, 20 to 30 F cooler | Fine if you dress for it |
| Caribbean coast | One of its wettest months | Skip it, come back in September |
The dry-season switch changes more than beach odds. With the rains ending, rivers stop dumping sediment into the Pacific, so snorkeling and diving visibility improves noticeably through December compared to the green season. Boat trips out of the Guanacaste and Papagayo marinas also carry a bonus this month: this is when humpback whales from the northern hemisphere arrive along the Pacific coast, so a December sail comes with a real chance of an escort. Our Papagayo guide covers that stretch of coast.
Turtle watchers get a December option too. Leatherback nesting season on the northern Pacific beaches, centered on Las Baulas National Park at Playa Grande near Tamarindo, generally runs from late October into February, with guided night tours as the only legal way onto the beach. Numbers vary a lot year to year, so book with a local operator and treat a sighting as a privilege rather than a promise.
The trade-off activity is white-water rafting: as the rivers drop through the dry season, the big-water runs mellow out. If class IV rapids were the point, the tail of the rainy season serves them better than February will.
December introduces the Papagayo winds, which locals call los Vientos de Navidad, the Christmas winds. Cool, dry air pushes down from the north, squeezes through gaps in the mountain ranges, and comes out the other side fast; gusts in the northwest can exceed 62 mph. In practice this means blustery afternoons in Guanacaste, chop on exposed water, and the occasional cancelled catamaran trip.
It also has an upside surfers plan around: the winds blow predominantly offshore on the Pacific, grooming the incoming swell into clean, organized waves. Combined with the smaller December swell, this makes it one of the better months of the year to learn to surf on the Pacific beach breaks.
Weather is only half the December story. The other half is that this is when the country’s pricing calendar goes vertical, and the split lands mid-month.
The first two weeks of December are the best value window of the entire dry season. Pacific weather has already turned, the North American holiday wave has not landed, and hotels are still charging shoulder rates. If you have date flexibility, this is the play.
Christmas through New Year is the most expensive week of the year. Expect peak pricing 20 to 50 percent above normal high-season rates, minimum stays of three to seven nights at many hotels, and mandatory holiday dinners at some resorts running $50 to 100 per person on top of the room. The desirable lodges book out months ahead, sometimes a year for the top properties. If your dates are fixed to the school holidays, book flights and rooms at least three months out, and closer to six or twelve for first-choice hotels.
Rental cars follow the same curve, so reserve early there too. And the standing reminder for any December driver: the mandatory third-party liability insurance, the Tarifa Basica or TPL, at roughly $15 a day, applies no matter what the booking site quote implies. It cannot be declined and credit card coverage does not substitute for it. Our San Jose car rental guide has the full breakdown.
The December bag is a dry-season bag with two additions people skip.
Build a December trip on the Pacific side and the interior: Guanacaste or Manuel Antonio for the beach, Arenal or Monteverde for the volcano-and-cloud-forest half, San Jose’s holiday season as a bonus on arrival or departure. Skip the Caribbean this month. Come in the first half of December if you can, and if you cannot, book everything early and budget for the peak premium. Our 7-day itinerary and 10-day itinerary both slot cleanly into a December window, and our Costa Rica beaches guide ranks the coasts the sun will actually be shining on.
Uvita, Costa Rica: the Whale Tail sandbar, Marino Ballena's $6 park, whale-watching seasons, Nauyaca and Uvita waterfalls, drive times, and when to visit.
Verdict: Base in Uvita for the Whale Tail sandbar, two humpback seasons, and a cluster of cheap waterfalls, all off a scenic coast highway. Rent a car because it sprawls, come in dry season or late July for whales, and time the beach around low tide.
Peninsula Papagayo resorts compared: Four Seasons, Andaz, Nekajui Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and the Waldorf next door. Who each suits, prices, and the gate reality.
Verdict: Peninsula Papagayo holds Costa Rica's tightest cluster of five-star resorts. Pick Four Seasons for the safe classic and golf, Andaz for a relaxed design-led week at the lowest entry price, and Nekajui for the newest ultra-luxury. Base here for a gated resort stay half an hour from Liberia, not for local town life.
Santa Teresa, Costa Rica guide: the ferry-and-dirt-road route from San Jose, the surf beaches, when to go, honest costs, and where to stay.
Verdict: Come to Santa Teresa for consistent surf, some of the best sunsets in the country, and a worldly food scene that has no business existing on a dirt road. Take the ferry-and-shuttle from San Jose, budget more than you think, and give it four nights. Skip it if you want easy roads, resort infrastructure, or a bargain.
