Costa Rica
Top Sights
1. Manuel Antonio National Park
Manuel Antonio National Park, on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, encompasses rugged rainforest, white-sand beaches and coral reefs. It’s renowned for its vast diversity of tropical plants and wildlife, from three-toed sloths and endangered white-faced capuchin monkeys to hundreds of bird species. The park’s roughly 680 hectares are crossed with hiking trails, which meander from the coast up into the mountains.
2. Corcovado National Park
A reserve on the Osa Peninsula that protects varied tropical ecosystems. Considered one of the world's most biodiverse regions, its wildlife includes scarlet macaws, tapirs, jaguars and squirrel monkeys. Hiking trails follow coastal and inland routes through habitats ranging from Pacific beaches and mangrove swamps to lowland and montane rainforests.
3. Arenal Volcano
Arenal Volcano is an active andesitic stratovolcano in north-western Costa Rica around 90 km northwest of San José, in the province of Alajuela, canton of San Carlos, and district of La Fortuna.
4. Monteverde
Monteverde is a town in mountainous northwestern Costa Rica. It’s renowned for its biodiverse forests in the clouds. The famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve shelters countless wildlife species, including jaguars, ocelots and the colorfully plumed resplendent quetzal. The reserve’s marked trails cut through ferns and orchids, and way overhead, suspended bridges allow walks above the forest canopy.
5. Dominical
Dominical is a beach-front town in Bahía Ballena de Osa District in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica, approximately 45 km south of Quepos. It is well known for large, year-round waves and is popular among surfers in Costa Rica
6. Tamarindo Beach Costa Rica
Tamarindo is a town in the Guanacaste Province, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. It’s known for beaches with strong surf, like Playa Tamarindo and Playa Langosta. To the north, Playa Grande beach is a major nesting site for huge leatherback turtles, and forms part of Las Baulas National Marine Park. The mangrove-lined estuary of Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge protects animals such as howler monkeys and crocodiles.
7. Malpais and Santa Teresa
Malpais is a town in Puntarenas Province, which began as a fishing and cattle-farming village, and has become popular among surfers and adventure travelers around the world.
8. Jaco Beach
Jacó is known for its surf beaches and nightlife, and as a gateway to national parks. Rocky, gray-sand Jacó Beach is west of town. Southeast, Hermosa Beach has big waves. To the north, Carara National Park has crocodiles at Tárcoles River and scarlet macaws. A path through rainforest in Pura Vida park leads to Bijagual Waterfall.
9. Tortuguero National Park
Parque Nacional Tortuguero is a protected wilderness area on Costa Rica's northern Caribbean coast. Its beaches are famous nesting grounds for sea turtles, including endangered green turtles. The park's freshwater creeks and lagoons, which can be navigated by boat or canoe, shelter spectacled caimans and river turtles. The surrounding dense rainforest is also rich with wildlife, from monkeys to many bird species.
10. Irazú Volcano
The Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. The name could come from either the combination of "ara" and "tzu" or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano.
11. Braulio Carrillo National Park
Braulio Carrillo National Park is a National Park in Heredia Province and San José Province, in central Costa Rica It is part of the Central Volcanic Conservation Area.
12. Rincón de la Vieja National Park
The Rincón de la Vieja Volcano is active and last erupted in 2011 resulting in the closure of the hiking trails leading to the summit. There are other trails leading to waterfalls and hot springs.
13. Montezuma
Was a fishing village and now a good location for the nearby areas of the Cabo Blanco National Park, the Isla Tortuga and the Curu Wildlife Reserve.
14. Puerto Viejo
Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a town in southeast Costa Rica, on the Caribbean coast. It’s known for the Salsa Brava surf break and beaches like black-sand Playa Negra. The Jaguar Rescue Center rehabilitates wild cats and other animals. Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge has rainforest, wetlands and mangroves. To the north, Cahuita National Park protects a large coral reef and has a shipwreck dive site.
15. San José
San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, sits in the Central Valley region with the Talamanca Mountains to the south and volcanoes to the north. The city is distinguished by its Spanish colonial buildings, like the ornate, neoclassical National Theatre of Costa Rica overlooking downtown’s Plaza de la Cultura, a popular gathering spot. Below the plaza, the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum displays hundreds of gleaming artifacts.
