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Puntarenas is a city in the Puntarenas canton of Costa Rica's Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast. It is given the status of city since it is the capital of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, which is made up of the Puntarenas, Chacarita, and El Roble districts. According to Costa Rica's administrative divisions, it is also the capital city of the Puntarenas Province as the city of the province's first canton.

Gil González Dávila found Puntarenas in 1522. Despite the usage of the Gulf of Nicoya as an entrance point into Costa Rica's inland region, the Puntarenas port was not built until 1840, when coffee output in the highlands reached exportable levels. Puntarenas was proclaimed a duty-free port by the Congress of the Republic in 1845. (with the exception of Cognac and hard liquor). Originally, the coffee was transported to port in oxcarts through a mountain path. Between Puntarenas and Esparza (one of the country's first Spanish towns, built in 1574), a length of railway track was constructed in 1859. The railway was eventually completed all the way to San José, and service began in 1910.

The Pacific port's activities remained an important component of the region's economy throughout the twentieth century, thanks to the railway connection to the Central Valley. However, due to the age and degradation of the port infrastructure, as well as the necessity to handle the considerably bigger boats of contemporary shipping fleets, a new port was built to the south of Puntarenas in the 1980s. Caldera, where ships had anchored during colonial periods, was chosen as the location. Caldera was a better fit for bigger ships, and it was the first port utilized since 1522.