Costa Rica holiday festivals: December and January dates

Costa Rica’s holiday festivals run for about six weeks. San José’s Festival de la Luz opens the season on 12 December, the capital adds a horse parade and its year-end fair, the Boruca hold the Juego de los Diablitos at New Year’s, and Palmares and Santa Cruz close it in mid-January. Here are the dates, as of November 2026.

What is on the holiday festival calendar?

Seven public events cover most of the season. The status column is what we could confirm on 2 November 2026; check the news the week before.

Dates	Event	Where	Status, November 2026
Sat 12 Dec 2026, 18:00	Festival de la Luz	San José	Confirmed; no floats
Sat 26 Dec 2026	Tope Nacional (Día Nacional del Caballista)	San José	Confirmed (Ministry of Culture)
Sun 27 Dec 2026	Costa Rica de Fiesta parade; no Carnaval announced	San José	Announced (Ministry of Culture)
25 Dec 2026 to 3 Jan 2027	Fiestas de Zapote	San José	In doubt; fairground not awarded
About 30 Dec to 2 Jan	Juego de los Diablitos	Boruca, Buenos Aires de Puntarenas	Held every year; 2026 dates not published
15 to 25 Jan 2027	Fiestas de Palmares	Palmares, Alajuela	Tope and bullfight nights listed
Mid-January 2027	Fiestas de Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz, Guanacaste	2027 dates not announced

For home and church traditions, see Christmas in Costa Rica; for 31 December, New Year’s Eve in Costa Rica.

When and where is the Festival de la Luz 2026?

Saturday 12 December 2026, in downtown San José. Teletica and La Nación reported on 15 September that the parade will run west from Plaza de la Democracia to Torre Mercedes on Paseo Colón; the 2025 edition circled La Sabana park instead. La Teja reported on 29 September that it starts at 18:00, with 12 bands chosen at auditions.

This year there are no floats. La Nación reported that the mayor confirmed it in August, after six public institutions withdrew theirs. In their place, San José’s council approved ₡31 million for giant helium balloons, per CRHoy, which La Nación compares to the ones in Macy’s parade in New York.

We found no closure map or official viewing areas as of early November 2026. In 2024, the last time the parade used Paseo Colón, El Observador reported partial night closures from the Wednesday before and a full closure from noon on parade day. Walk the last stretch or take a taxi or Uber, and go early: in 2022, El Observador found people waiting along Paseo Colón since the night before.

Is there a Tope Nacional and a Carnaval in 2026?

There is a tope; there is no Carnaval announced. The Ministry of Culture and Youth will run the national horse parade on Saturday 26 December 2026, from Plaza González Víquez to La Sabana, per CRHoy and La Nación (6 October 2026). The Municipality of San José stopped organizing it in 2024, when it was held in Montes de Oca, and the 2025 edition went to San Ramón, La Nación reports.

The ministry promises no alcohol at any of its season events (La Nación, 28 October 2026), plus 60 veterinarians and a horse ambulance (CRHoy). No start time had been published as of November 2026.

The Carnaval traditionally came the day after. We found no 2026 Carnaval as of November 2026; instead, the ministry closes its season on 27 December with Costa Rica de Fiesta, a parade of marching bands and the seven provinces from Plaza de la Democracia to La Sabana, per Delfino.

Will the Fiestas de Zapote happen this year?

Unclear as of 2 November 2026. The year-end fair in Zapote, east of downtown San José, is planned for 25 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, but the city must first auction the fairground and bullring to an operator. The third auction failed on 16 October with no bids, La Nación reported, and one councilor said that puts the fiestas in question.

On 22 October, El Observador reported that the city was preparing a fourth auction, after a last attempt with a base price of ₡420 million. We found no award as of 2 November 2026.

When it runs, Zapote is a fairground with rides, food stands, concerts and the country’s best-known toros a la tica, in a ring that holds about 3,000 people (CRHoy, 2022).

What is the Juego de los Diablitos in Boruca, and can visitors go?

It is the Boruca (Brunca) people’s New Year ceremony, held from the night of 30 December to 2 January, a reenactment of their ancestors’ resistance to the Spanish conquest. The diablitos, community members in hand-carved masks and costumes of banana leaves or burlap, fight a bull that stands for the Spanish invaders, a wooden frame of about 40 kg. Flutes, drums, horns and conch shells play as the group moves from house to house, where families serve chicha, a fermented corn drink. On 2 January the bull knocks down every diablito; they rise, carry it to another point of the village and burn it, per El Observador.

El Observador gave the Boruca dates as 30 December to 2 January in January 2026, and as 31 December to 2 January for the 2024 to 2025 edition, so check the start day locally. The game was declared intangible cultural heritage of Costa Rica on 14 December 2017.

Visitors are welcome: El Observador describes tourists offered chicha and buying masks, and 2 January draws the biggest crowd. Boruca is about 28 km from Buenos Aires de Puntarenas, some five hours by car from San José. Treat it as a ceremony, not a show.

When are the Palmares and Santa Cruz fiestas in January 2027?

Palmares has dates; Santa Cruz does not yet. As of November 2026, the Asociación Cívica Palmareña’s site lists the 2027 tope for Saturday 16 January at noon, toros a la tica nights from 15 to 25 January and a carnival parade on Friday 22 January. The Ministry of Culture’s registry calls them the largest civic fiestas in the country, with close to a million visitors. The 2026 edition ran from 15 to 26 January, per La Nación.

The Fiestas de Santa Cruz in Guanacaste honor the Santo Cristo de Esquipulas. In 2026 they ran from 14 to 18 January; the main day, 15 January, opened with a 5:00 diana (a dawn wake-up with music), then a tope of bulls at noon and the procession of the Negrito de Esquipulas, per CRHoy. The 2027 dates had not been announced as of November 2026. Costa Rica in January covers the month’s weather and crowds.

What are topes and toros a la tica?

Two staples of town fiestas, Palmares and Zapote included. A tope is a parade of riders on horseback through the streets. Toros a la tica is Costa Rican bullfighting in a redondel, a temporary ring: 20 to 30 volunteers called improvisados try to dodge 10 to 12 bulls per show, and the crowd cheers the bull when it tosses one, per an AFP report in CRHoy. There are no matadors: the rules forbid killing the bull, and Ministry of Agriculture veterinarians check the animals before, during and after. Animal welfare groups still object to the events.

Are there Christmas concerts and markets in 2026?

Yes, mostly in San José, through the Ministry of Culture’s “Es tiempo de compartir” season from 19 November to 27 December 2026, per Delfino:

• Jornada Coral Navideña, 1 to 3 December, in the gardens of the Teatro Nacional.
• Feria Hecho Aquí, a Costa Rican products fair, 4 to 6 December at the Antigua Aduana.
• Donde nace la luz, theater, dance and live symphonic music at the Teatro Nacional, 6 to 16 December, tickets ₡2,000 to ₡10,000.
• Mercado Navideño, crafts, food and concerts at the CENAC, 18 to 20 December.
• Christmas concert, 25 December at La Sabana, with national artists not yet named as of 28 October (La Nación).

Where to stay for the holiday festivals: our homes

Three of our homes cover the regions above. Our December guide covers the weather and the traffic.

• Alta Pietra, Escazú. Our one-bedroom apartment, about 15 minutes from downtown San José by our estimate and our closest home to the Festival de la Luz, the tope and Zapote. It sleeps two, or four with the sofa bed, with a shared rooftop pool and a private hot tub. The listing shows parking hours of 08:00 to 20:00, so tell us if you will come back late from the parade. Two-night minimum, from $150 a night.
• Casa Azul, Punta Leona. Our single-story family house for up to eight, with a private pool in the middle of the house, about 1.5 hours by car from San José airport (SJO) without traffic, and closer to 2 hours with it. The pool has no gate. From $287 a night.
• Casa Almendros, Sámara. Our beachfront house on Playa Sámara in Guanacaste, three bedrooms with air conditioning for up to six, about two hours by car from Liberia airport. Two-night minimum, from $303 a night.

Those are the lowest prices we have seen on Airbnb, and holiday dates cost more; the Airbnb page shows the total for your dates before you confirm. For the Christmas and New Year’s weeks, message us on WhatsApp with your dates.