Costa Rica

Spotlight on Costa Rica

Pack your bathing suit, hiking boots, camera, and binoculars. Lush tropical Costa Rica offers the best in Sun, Beaches, and Forests! Northern Costa Rica is everything from secluded spots of breathtaking natural scenery to a water sports-lovers paradise. Its wealth of activities and attractions is provided by a variety of territories that comprise active volcanoes, rich flora and fauna, and the Pacific Coast and beaches of Costa Rica's Golden Coast. A rich multicultural heritage endowed San Jose sophisticated capital city with a vibrant street life as well as a refined cultural life.

San Jose – The sophisticated capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, has been endowed with a vibrant street life as well as a refined cultural life. You'll see contemporary structures of glass and steel, as well as colonial, Victorian, and classical architecture, exotic birds, giant butterflies, and picturesque scenery. Costa Rica offers some of the world's most thrilling sights to those who seek a new adventure.

Corcovado National Park - Considered one the most virgin regions of the country, the south Pacific encompasses one of the areas of major biodiversity in Costa Rica, the Corcovado National Park. Nature in its maximum expression… alive, exuberant, greened in every detail of the jungle growth. This, and more, is offered in the region that extends from the Barú River to the Panamanian border, and from the Talamanca mountain range to the Pacific coast.

Manuel Antonio National Park was established in 1972 by Costa Rica to preserve the biodiversity of one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Its stunning beauty and diverse wildlife is unequaled. Walk through rainforests to expansive, sandy beaches - then take a dive to coral reefs under the sea. The forest is home for sloths, iguanas, the rare adorable squirrel monkeys and millions of colorful little crabs. The trail around Punta Catedral affords some spectacular views. The southern facing beach, Playa Manuel Antonio, is a picturesque half mile long, white sand crescent with deep green foliage on one side and a private, secluded cove on the other. Standing with your feet dug into the sand watching waves crash against rocks on either side of the lagoon, it is easy to believe you are a thousand miles from anywhere.

Monteverde - The Monteverde rainforest area, which comprises ten towns with 8,000 people, is situated on the Continental Divide at an elevation of 5,600 feet. A walk through a Costa Rica Monteverde cloud forest reveals a lush green garden of mosses, ferns, flowers and epiphytes growing thickly on every tree. Clouds drift in and settle among the slopes, giving the continuous moisture required for such exuberant plant growth. Dangling roots and vines sweep across the trails. The air is rich with the sounds of birds and the occasional scurrying of small mammals on the forest floor. In the distance a howler monkey roars.

Arenal Volcano National Park - Arenal volcano is the most spectacularly active in Costa Rica. Hotels in the region tout their views of the lava flows and red hot boulders ejected from the volcano glowing in the darkness. Although eruptions are the main attraction, you should be aware that even in the dry season the clouds sometimes obscure the top of the volcano, and your chances of seeing a pyroclastic display are lessened in the rainy season. Volcano watching is better than a fifty-fifty proposition, but you should plan on taking advantage of some of the other attractions in the area, and consider it a bonus if you see Arenal put on a huge display.

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