San José
On the southern side of the Plaza de la Cultura resides the Teatro Nacional, San José’s most revered building. Constructed in 1897, it features a columned…
Must-see attractions in Costa Rica
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
Featuring lush jungle, picture-perfect beaches and craggy headlands, this tiny park (1680 acres/680 hectares) absolutely brims with wildlife (and often…
Cahuita
At the northwestern end of Cahuita, Playa Negra is a long, black-sand beach flying the bandera azul ecológica, a flag that indicates that the beach is…
Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
Around 500km southwest of the Costa Rica mainland, Isla del Coco is a natural wonder that teems with wildlife, including the largest schools of hammerhead…
Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
From 1968 until 2010, Volcán Arenal was an ever-active and awe-striking natural wonder, producing menacing ash columns, massive explosions and streams of…
Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
The world-class Wilson Botanical Garden is internationally known for its collection of more than 2000 native Costa Rican species. Species threatened with…
San José
This museum houses the world’s largest collection of American jade (pronounced ‘ha-day’ in Spanish), with an ample exhibition space of five floors…
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
Geography fun fact: this isthmus, which is the centerpiece of the park, is called a tombolo and was formed by the accumulation of sand between the…
Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismática
San José
This three-in-one museum houses an extensive collection of Costa Rica's most priceless pieces of pre-Columbian gold and other artifacts, including…
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
A half-hour hike from the park entrance, the exposed Playa Espadilla Sur is to the north of Punta Catedral and gorgeous with pinch-me scenes of white sand…
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Monteverde & Around
The exquisitely misty 310-hectare Reserva Santa Elena offers a completely different cloud forest experience from Monteverde. Cutting through the veiled…
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Montezuma
A 40-minute river hike leads to a waterfall with a delicious swimming hole. Further along, a second set of falls offers a good 12m leap into deep water…
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Uvita
Around 2.5km inland and uphill (toward Cascada Verde hostel), this waterfall plunges into an inviting deep pool, perfect for a refreshing dip. Visitors…
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San José
Though josefinos mainly do their shopping at chain supermarkets, San José’s crowded indoor markets retain an old-world, authentic feel. This main market,…
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Catarata Manantial de Agua Viva
Central Pacific Coast
This 200m-high waterfall is claimed to be the highest in the country. From the entrance, it’s a steep 3km (45-minute) hike down into the valley (an hour…
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Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
This site, 4km north of Sierpe, offers the best opportunity to view the mysterious pre-Columbian spheres created by the Diquís civilization between 300…
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Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
Set on a verdant hillside between Pavones and Punta Banco, Tiskita Jungle Lodge consists of 100 hectares of virgin forest and a huge orchard, which…
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Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
While much of the Cordillera de Talamanca is difficult to access, Costa Rica’s highest peak, Cerro Chirripó (3820m), is the focus of popular two-day…
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Mal País & Santa Teresa
Playa Santa Teresa is a long, stunning beach that's famous for its fast and powerful beach break. The waves are pretty consistent and can be surfed at…
Northwestern Costa Rica
At the head of the Golfo de Nicoya, the 198 sq km Parque Nacional Palo Verde is a wetland sanctuary in Costa Rica’s driest province. The park’s shallow,…
San José
Entered via a beautiful glassed-in atrium housing an exotic butterfly garden, this museum provides a quick survey of Costa Rican history. Exhibits of pre…
Caribbean Coast
This misty, green coastal park sits on a broad floodplain parted by a jigsaw of canals. Referred to as the ‘mini-Amazon,’ Parque Nacional Tortuguero is a…
Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde
Monteverde & Around
This beautiful cloud forest reserve came into being in 1972, when the Quaker community (which had already set aside a third of its property for…
Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Curú
Península de Nicoya
Situated at the eastern end of the peninsula, this tiny 84-hectare wildlife refuge holds a great variety of landscapes, including dry tropical forest,…
Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Ostional
Península de Nicoya
This 85 sq km coastal refuge extends from Punta India in the north to Playa Guiones in the south, and includes the beaches of Nosara and Ostional. It was…
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Parque Nacional Barra Honda Caverns
Península de Nicoya
This 23 sq km national park protects a system of 42 caverns. The only cave with regular public access is the 41m-deep La Terciopelo, which features…
San José
Northwest of Plaza España lies this pleasant, historical neighborhood, home to a cluster of 19th-century cafetalero (coffee grower) mansions. Recently…
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Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste
Península de Nicoya
Las Baulas national marine park encompasses the entire beach at Playa Grande, as well as the adjacent land and 220 sq km of ocean. This is one of the…
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
With its turquoise waters, this lovely forest-backed beach fronts a deep bay, sheltered by the Punta Catedral on the west side and a promontory on the…
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Northwestern Costa Rica
This wild-animal shelter was started in the 1960s by the late Lilly Hagnauer, a Swiss environmentalist. It’s one of the largest shelters of its kind in…
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Montezuma
Here's your chance to see a waterfall crashing down a cliff, straight onto the rocks and into the ocean. El Chorro Waterfall is the pièce de résistance of…
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Península de Nicoya
A local NGO that is dedicated to the conservation of Costa Rica's two species of macaw: the great green macaw and the scarlet macaw. The group…
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Central Pacific Coast
If you’re driving from Puntarenas or San José, pull over by the Río Tárcoles bridge, also known as Crocodile Bridge running over the Tárcoles River where…
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Montezuma
About 6km north of town, Playa Grande is the best surf beach in the area. It's a 3km-plus stretch of waves and sand, which never gets too crowded as it…
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Museo de los Niños & Galería Nacional
San José
If you're wondering how to get your young kids interested in art and science, this unusual museum – actually two museums in one – is an excellent place to…
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Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
Clasped by volcanic rock and jungle, Playa Gemelas is smaller than the other beaches, but no less spectacular: this place could be a desert island beach…
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Montezuma
The best beach close to town is just to the north, where the sand is powdery and sheltered from big swells. This is your glorious sun-soaked crash pad…
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Mal País & Santa Teresa
Somewhere north of town, Playa Santa Teresa ends and Playa Hermosa starts. This gorgeous beach deserves its hermosa (beautiful) moniker and then some. It…
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Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
Just past Playa San Josecito is the less famous but more impressive beach, Playa Rincon de San Josecito. It's a vast stretch of sand – 1km or more –…
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Puerto Viejo de Talamanca
Nestled into the Cordillera de Talamanca, 15km outside Puerto Viejo, this private 135-hectare reserve is centered on a former finca (farm), on land…
