Golfito, Quepos and Puntarenos?

Could someone tell me how far the ports are from the local towns. We have arranged several tours in other ports, plus we have ground time of 12 in rainforests and San Juan, so don’t feel we need to do any of the advertised tours in Golfito, Quepos or Puntarenas. We would just like to go into town for a mooch around and a spot of lunch.

The cruise ship docks in Golfito and Puntarenas are right in town, so easy to walk off the ship and explore the town. Quepos is a tender port. There are some modern, expensive Americanized restaurants where the tender drops you off. The town itself is a ten-minute walk from there. On Saturday, there is a wonderful local farmers' market in Quepos with stalls also selling coffee, spices, and souvenirs. In Golfito, we were not interested in the ship tours or a private hike through the nature preserve. So we spent a delightful few hours at Lola's Restaurant Playa Cacao. It's just across the bay from the cruise ship dock and, if you buy food and drink at the restaurant, the water taxi is free. Just ask one of the tourist information ladies at the cruise ship dock to arrange the water taxi. Lola is so friendly and speaks good English. Our local lunch was quite enjoyable -- huge, perfectly cooked mahi-mahi filet and fried plantains, and hubby had respectable fish stew packed with fish chunks and mussels in a coconut milk broth. The open-air restaurant has free wifi and accepts Visa and MasterCard. A popular place with local families. We spent a couple of hours just sitting by the water watching boats and local kids swim. The best thing was mid-afternoon, 4 large scarlet macaws perched in a tree right next to the restaurant. Awesome!

The dock in Golfito is pretty close into town. Qepos is a tender port and again the tender dock is in town.

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