Inside Costa Rica's Alcatraz and five top film locations
Inside Costa Rica's Alcatraz — San Lucas Island — was the country's main prison from 1873 to 1991 and is now a national park eyed for film and TV shoots. Variety reports no major fiction project has filmed there yet, even as location scouts flag it and five other Costa Rican sites for productions.
Key Takeaways
- San Lucas Island, dubbed Costa Rica's Alcatraz, held inmates from 1873 to 1991 and is now a national park and wildlife refuge.
- Preserved prison buildings, a torture "hole," and tropical scenery make it a rare period and thriller set — still unused by major fiction shoots.
- Variety also highlights five more production-ready zones: Gulf of Nicoya, Golfo Dulce/Golfito, Limón, Turrialba Volcano, and Bajos del Toro.
- Location pros say Costa Rica's mix of access, culture, and landscapes could reshape where streamers and filmmakers shoot.
What is inside Costa Rica's Alcatraz today?
San Lucas sits off the Pacific shore of the Gulf of Nicoya in Puntarenas District. Crystalline waters once ran red during its penitentiary years; the island housed some of Costa Rica's worst criminals for often short, brutal sentences.
Today a white bridge with cobalt poles leads visitors past a sign reading "Ocean and forest protecting history." Tours pass a makeshift hospital with tiled floors and photos of convalescing prisoners — the island's only doctor was a veterinarian sent after desperate pleas for care.
The complex still holds a church, semi-circular cells, a main office, and a concrete disc once meant for a water tank. It was repurposed as an underground torture chamber: prisoners sent to the "hole" often died in the heat, with bodies left as others arrived. Wall drawings include a woman in a red bikini and football legend Pelé.
Costa Rican novelist José León Sánchez was imprisoned there for decades on a later-overturned robbery conviction. His book "Island of Lonely Men" chronicled the violence; a fiction adaptation attempt never fully landed. For more streaming and TV alerts, the location buzz matters because streamers chase authentic, under-filmed worlds.
Why are film and TV crews eyeing San Lucas?
According to Variety's report, the Costa Rica Film Commission sees the preserved infirmary and heavy atmosphere as primed for the right story. Heat and humidity may not fully translate on screen, but the mood could suit period dramas, thrillers, survival tales, and historical productions.
Isolation looks like a hurdle, yet minimal modern clutter, flexible set-ups, and local help are selling points. Puntarenas is a 30–40 minute ride away, with hotels, marinas, and suppliers for a hub of nearly 100,000 people. The district is under two hours from San José by highway or ferry.
Location scout Lyall Gardiner (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One; John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) called a recent visit "insightful and invaluable," praising Costa Rica's diversity, culture, and people: "So much still to be discovered."
Which other five Costa Rica locations made Variety's list?
Gulf of Nicoya offers islands, mangroves, bays, and fishing villages — including Isla Venado and Isla Jesucita — reachable by boat from Puntarenas. Golfo Dulce, one of the world's few tropical fjords, pairs rainforest with calm waters known for humpback whales and dolphins; Golfito's United Fruit–era Colonial and Victorian houses recently hosted Neto Villalobos's "Love Is the Monster."
Limón's Caribbean coast mixes Afro-Caribbean streets, Cocles and Punta Uva beaches, and Moin Canals wildlife. Gordon Ramsay filmed "Uncharted" there; Apple TV+'s Emmy-winning "Jane" and other projects also shot in the area. Mickey Ryan notes most Southern Caribbean spots sit within a 10-mile radius.
Turrialba Volcano and the Burnt Forest deliver ash-scarred, post-apocalyptic looks about two hours from San José — seen in Felipe Zuñiga's "The Dive." Bajos del Toro in Alajuela, the "Land of Waterfalls" with more than 30 falls, remains largely undiscovered by foreign crews, though "Clara Sola" filmed nearby in Vara Blanca.
For streamers and studios hunting fresh backdrops, inside Costa Rica's Alcatraz and these five zones offer history, biodiversity, and logistics in one country — with plenty still unclaimed on camera.