Los Chiles

Los Chiles is often forgotten and is not typically listed on the tourist’s trail, but there are a lot of activities and places of interest around this little frontier village. Medio Queso Wildlife and Marsh Reserve, located alongside the border with Nicaragua, is actually unheard of and hardly anyone goes there!

The beautiful Islands of the Lake Nicaragua, the Solentiname Islands, and Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge are all some of the most interesting and beautiful places to visit. Arenal is also very close. Finally, the beautiful Nicaragua city of Granada is only a small drive away. Convinced?

Los Chiles is in the province of Alajuela, only 3 kms away from Nicaragua and 14 kms away from San Carlos, on the banks of the Rio Frio. It is very, very hot there, with an average temperature of 27 Celsius, as it only 43 metres above sea level. It used to serve the Rio San Juan’s traffic between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Now the river is still the only link available for the locals to go from one village to another. People live off of fishing, and the cultivation of beans, cacao and corn.

Nobody knows how Los Chiles got its name; maybe originally there were a lot of chiles being cultivated there. Nobody knows for sure. Los Chiles was only granted the title of City in May 1970, so its history is fairly short. There is a lot of tropical wildlife there, with Toucans, parrots, sloths, as well as many wild cats. There is small variety of accommodations such as cabinas, and there is a bank there too, if you need to change money or travelers checks.

Trips on the Rio Frio are easy to organize and are definitely worth doing if you have a sense of adventure and would like to experience the feeling of really being in the jungle.