Weather in Puntarenas in December

A good month. December works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. Highs average 30.9 °C, lows 24.5 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

December is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is January, and the month at the other end of the year is May.

Rain on 7 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 30.9 °C days and 24.5 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 24 days top 30 °C, making the heat continuous rather than occasional. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 34.9 °C and the coldest night fell to 20.8 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 59 mm — roughly 174% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. December rainfall has ranged from 4 mm to 168 mm across the twenty years measured — a 164 mm spread around an average of 34 mm. The average is real but almost no individual December looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 8.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 29.8 °C in November, 30.9 here, 32.5 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 11 days fewer than November had.

Daylight in December

Puntarenas sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.5 hours in December, against a range of just 1.2 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 27.9 °C in December — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.5 °C in April and bottoms out at 27.7 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

December in Puntarenas versus nearby

If Puntarenas is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. San José is close enough to be a coin toss — 7.2 °C cooler, 7 days more rain. Liberia is a better bet in December — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: December is the answer for Puntarenas. If it is booked out or priced out, January is the next best thing at 1 points behind, and May is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Puntarenas

See all twelve months in Puntarenas, or where else to go in December.