3 Best Restaurants in Tortuguero and the Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

An easy-to-miss Caribbean-style clapboard house near the bus stop makes a great place to fortify yourself for a day of sightseeing. The industrious staff here start the day with omelets and freshly baked banana bread, bagels,and pastries, and lunch gives way to a variety of sandwiches—you choose from ingredients to construct your own.

Miss Edith—women in Caribbean communities are addressed as "Miss" regardless of marital status—is revered for her flavorful Caribbean cooking, vegetarian meals, and herbal teas for whatever ails you. She dishes up food (albeit at a slower pace than you might be used to back home) at her semi-open-air restaurant on an easy-to-miss street at the north end of town. Jerk chicken and rondón, a fish stew, are specialties (the latter is quite labor-intensive; stop by in the afternoon to see if it will be on the menu that night). There is a bit of Christian overlay here—a Jesús te ama (Jesus loves you) sign greets you at the entrance—but nothing about the place crosses a line into proselytizing.