If you want the most Costa Rican cool-down there is, it's a scoop of POPS. This is the country's homegrown ice cream institution — Ticos have grown up on it — and there's a bright, air-conditioned POPS right in Herradura, just a few minutes north of Jacó Beach. As your local private chef, when guests ask where to take the kids (or just themselves) for a real Costa Rican treat, POPS is the easy answer. Here's the scoop.
A true Costa Rican original
POPS isn't an import — it was born in Costa Rica back in 1968 and grew from a single San José ice cream parlor into the signature heladería of Central America, with hundreds of shops across the region. For Ticos it's pure nostalgia, and for visitors it's the most authentic ice cream you can order. The Herradura shop has the full experience: a long case of scoop flavors, a build-your-own fruit-smoothie bar, and a handful of shaded outdoor tables to sit and melt a little slower than your cone.
The flavor case
The scoop case is where it shines. Expect the classics — rich vanilla, cookies & cream, pistachio, chocolate — alongside the tropical flavors Costa Rica does best. Mango is a national favorite, and you'll usually find bright fruit sorbets and creamy local takes right next to them. It's the kind of case where everyone in the group finds their flavor, from the pickiest kid to the adventurous one who wants whatever's most tropical.
Build your own FruitMix
Want something a little lighter? POPS does a FruitMix — "hacé tus FruitMix a tu manera," or make it your way. You pick 3 fruits + 1 base and they blend it fresh. The fruit list runs mango, cas, melón (cantaloupe), papaya, sandía (watermelon), fresa (strawberry) and maracuyá (passion fruit), and the base is your choice of yogurt, milk, water or ice cream. It's the perfect refresher after a hot beach morning — tropical, customizable and kid-approved.
Good to know
Where: Herradura, just a few minutes north of Jacó Beach, Costa Rica (an easy stop on the way to or from Playa Herradura and Los Sueños). What to get: a scoop of mango, or build a FruitMix with 3 fruits + 1 base. Air-conditioned with shaded outdoor seating — a great midday break with the family. Menus and flavors rotate, so treat this as a guide.
Dessert out, dinner in — let us cook at your villa
Here's where we come in. If you're hosting a group — a villa full of family, a kids' birthday, or a wedding week in Jaco Beach — an ice-cream run plus a dessert spread back at the villa is always a crowd-pleaser, and we can help you organize it. And for the main event, that's our specialty: as your private chef in Jacó, we cook a fresh dinner right at your rental and handle the cleanup, so dessert out and dinner in makes the whole day easy. See our Jacó wedding planning guide, and for more local favorites check out Moyo Frozen Yogurt, Taco Bar and the Auto Mercado in Herradura right nearby.