Puntarenas Province extends along the Pacific Coast from Guanacaste to the Panamanian border.

The Central Pacific Zone roughly corresponds to the northern part of the province, from Monteverde, near the border with Guanacaste, to Quepos and Manuel Antonio National Park, about halfway down Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. Like Guanacaste, the Central Pacific is famous for its beaches, from the rocky coves of Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula to the half-moon jewels of Manuel Antonio.

Barely five blocks wide and four miles long, Puntarenas is an earlier era was Costa Rican's main port and principal vacation destination for San José residents. It still serves as the comercial fishing center for the pacific coast, and as jumping-off point for boat tours to exotic islands and ferry service to the Nicoya Peninsula.