Tortuguero National Park
Nesting ground for four sea turtle species — jungle canals, manatees and exotic birdlife in Costa Rica's Caribbean rainforest.
TTQ · MRBT · Costa Rica
Tortuguero Airport
Tortuguero — Caribbean. No road access — boat transfer to lodges.
Runway
530m
Surface
Grass
Elevation
3m
Hours
6am-5pm
Book your private flight to Tortuguero
Airport at a glance
Tortuguero — Costa Rica
There is no road to Tortuguero. There has never been a road to Tortuguero, and there is unlikely ever to be one: the village sits on a sandbar between the Caribbean and a network of freshwater canals, backed by a national park of flooded forest that runs unbroken to the Nicaraguan border. You arrive by boat or you arrive by air, and the airstrip is the only piece of hard infrastructure connecting the place to the rest of the country.
TTQ is that strip — 950 metres of asphalt at 2 metres above sea level, laid along the narrow spit between the Tortuguero river and the shoreline, about 3 kilometres northwest of the village. On the approach you have water on both sides and rainforest ahead, and it is one of the more memorable arrivals in Central America.
Runway 02/20, 950 metres by 12 metres, asphalt, at 2 metres elevation. ICAO: MRBT. Coordinates: 10°34′10″N, 83°30′55″W. Daylight operations, managed by the DGAC.
Two metres of elevation on a sandbar between a river and an ocean is exactly as exposed as it sounds. The strip is flat, the approach is clear, and the constraint is weather rather than terrain. Aircraft are the Cessna Caravan class; the village itself is reached from the airstrip by boat, which takes a few minutes.
Getting there
Tortuguero Airport — Getting there
The overland route to Tortuguero is a genuine expedition. From San José it means roughly three hours by road to Moín or La Pavona, then between one and three hours by boat along the canals depending on the departure point and the season. Call it five hours door to door on a good day, more when the road through Braulio Carrillo is affected by landslides, which happens most years.
The charter from San José takes about 30 minutes.
For a destination where most visitors stay two or three nights, that difference is the trip. A five-hour transfer each way consumes two of your three days; a thirty-minute flight leaves them intact.
That said, the canal journey is not merely transport — it is a wildlife experience in its own right, and some travellers deliberately do one leg by boat and one by air. It is a reasonable compromise and one worth suggesting.
Connections. Tortuguero connects by charter to San José (~30 min) and along the coast to Limón and Barra del Colorado. The Barra hop in particular — a few minutes north — is otherwise a long boat journey.
| San José | ~30 min | ~5 h incl. boat |
Nearby
Things to do near Tortuguero
Tortuguero is the most important green turtle nesting beach in the western hemisphere. Females come ashore along a 35-kilometre stretch of black sand between roughly July and October, with the peak in August and September. Leatherbacks nest earlier, from about February to May. Night tours are guided, tightly regulated, run in small groups, and permitted only on designated sectors — this is a functioning conservation programme, not a spectacle, and the restrictions are the reason the population recovered.
The canals are the other half of the appeal. Early-morning boat trips through the flooded forest routinely produce howler and spider monkeys, three-toed sloths, caimans, basilisk lizards, river otters and a bird list that includes the great green macaw. Kayaks are better than motorboats for the narrow channels.
Tortuguero National Park: 77,000 hectares of flooded forest, canals and nesting beach. Cerro Tortuguero, a 119-metre volcanic plug that is the only high ground for miles and gives the best view of the canal system. The village itself, car-free, walkable end to end in fifteen minutes, with a turtle conservation museum run by the Sea Turtle Conservancy. And the beach — beautiful, black, and genuinely unsafe for swimming because of rip currents and sharks, which nobody tells you until you are standing on it.
Luxury Lodge in the Jungle — Tortuguero
Exclusive eco-lodge stays deep inside Tortuguero's rainforest — no road access, only by boat or private flight.
Private Canal Tours — Tortuguero
Private boat tours through Tortuguero's labyrinthine jungle canals — caimans, river otters, monkeys and hundreds of bird species.
Premium Birdwatching — Tortuguero
Tortuguero's Caribbean rainforest hosts over 300 bird species — private guided birding tours with specialist naturalist guides.
Nature Photography — Tortuguero
Guided nature photography expeditions through Tortuguero's wildlife-rich canals and beaches — ideal for professional and enthusiast photographers.
Night Caiman Spotting — Tortuguero Canals
Private night expedition by canoe through Tortuguero's canal system — spotlighting spectacled caimans, fishing bats, boat-billed herons and the rare West Indian manatee in the darkest wildlife corridor in Costa Rica.
Caribbean Reef Freedive — Tortuguero Coast
Freediving the rarely-visited Caribbean reef north of Tortuguero — among the healthiest coral in Costa Rica, with eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks and large grouper in crystal-clear water accessible only by private charter.
Multi-Day Kayak Expedition — Tortuguero
Three-day self-supported sea kayak expedition along the Tortuguero coastline — camping on remote beaches, sea turtle encounters at night, and paddling the open Caribbean coast between the protected canal system and the open ocean.
When to fly
When to fly
Tortuguero follows the Caribbean pattern, which runs opposite to the Pacific. Its most reliable dry windows are September and October — when the Pacific coast is at its wettest — with a second around February and March. The wettest stretch is typically December and January, and again around July.
Rain here is heavy and can persist rather than passing in an afternoon burst. TTQ is visual and daylight-only, and the strip's exposure means weather closures happen. Morning flights and a buffer before onward connections are the sensible defaults.
From $1,270
Fly from TTQ to
Cóbano · 54 min · $2,145Drake Bay · 55 min · $2,330Golfito · 58 min · $2,492La Fortuna · 36 min · $1,685Liberia · 59 min · $2,705Limón · 29 min · $1,896Nosara · 64 min · $2,547Palmar Sur · 50 min · $2,170Pérez Zeledón · 40 min · $1,796Puerto Jiménez · 60 min · $2,552Quepos · 41 min · $1,716San José (Pavas) · 31 min · $1,270San José · 32 min · $1,582Tamarindo · 66 min · $2,672Tambor · 52 min · $2,066Upala · 47 min · $2,153
FAQ
Tortuguero Airport — Frequently asked questions
What is the runway length at Tortuguero (TTQ)?
950 metres by 12 metres of asphalt, runway 02/20, at 2 m elevation. Daylight operations only.
How do I get to Tortuguero?
There is no road. Access is by boat from Moín or La Pavona, or by air to the TTQ airstrip. The charter from San José takes about 30 minutes against roughly five hours overland.
When is turtle nesting season in Tortuguero?
Green turtles nest roughly July to October, peaking in August and September. Leatherbacks nest from about February to May. Night tours are guided and regulated.
When is the best weather in Tortuguero?
September and October are typically the driest and most reliable, with a second dry window around February and March — the reverse of the Pacific pattern.
How far is the airstrip from the village?
About 3 kilometres, reached by boat in a few minutes.
Can I swim at Tortuguero beach?
It is not recommended. Strong rip currents and shark presence make the surf here genuinely dangerous.