Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica

The Poas Volcano National Park is on the Cordillera Central of Costa Rica and was created on January 25, 1971. The Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica is one of the greatest natural attractions for tourism nationally and internationally. It is one of the areas of the system National Parks that receives greater influx of visitors.

Poas is a volcano that is over 2700 meters high. This is one of the most impressive volcanoes in Costa Rica, with tropical scenes that make you lose your breath. The land in this area is ideal for growing products and is an area of considerable potential for hydrological and geothermal energy.

Costa Rica Poas Volcano Lake

The Poas Volcano of Costa Rica is one of the most spectacular volcanoes in the country with and extraordinary scenic beauty. It has several types of habitats such as little forests, areas with low vegetation, an area of myrtles and beautiful cloud forests. In the last type of forest, there are an abundance of epiphytic plants like mosses, ferns, bromeliads and orchids that grow on tree trunks. However is most common to identify four major habitats that are dominated by the high mountain forest, with pygmy vegetation, also is possible to find cloud forest and areas with little or no vegetation. The flora of this area includes, but is not limited to cedar and cypress.

Some of the animals living in the park are the marmots, bats, toucans and quetzals, among the most common.  Additional to the main crater Botos, there is the Botos Lake and the cone von Frantzius and at least half a dozen other pyroclastic cones in the vicinity, consisting of dried lava and ash.  This park is located on the north-east of Alajuela, located adjacent to San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica) in a distance of 37 kilometers away, in the so-called Central Valley. The park has an area of 5599 hectares.

Marino las Baulas National Park in Costa Rica

The Leatherback National Marine Park of Guanacaste is another of the major sites of Costa Rica where the sea turtles nest. It is located on the south side of the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica in Guanacaste province, near the tourist town of Tamarindo. This national park is considered one of the most important points in the world where the Leatherback sea turtles nest every year. It was founded in 1990 with the aim of protecting these turtles that come every year to nest on the beautiful beaches of Playa Grande.

Surrounded by 445 hectares of mangrove forests and rugged coastlines, the Leatherback National Marine Park has four beaches, Playa Grande, Playa Langosta, Playa Playa Ventanas and Carbon. The two estuaries park’s mangroves are the Tamarindo Estero and the San Francisco Estero that is considered the largest mangrove estuary in Latin America. The park extends 12 miles to the beach and also protects sea turtles from hunters and tourists.

Las Baulas National Park in Guanacaste - Costa Rica

Besides being the land of thousands of Leatherback turtles that travels every year to this national park, the Leatherback National Marine Park also protects 174 species of birds and a number of animals living in the estuaries. This place is home of white ibises, herons of the livestock, the blue wing teal and the Moscow duck. It also protects the capuchin monkey, the raccoon, the crocodiles, pacas and gray squirrels.

The world’s largest reptile, the Leatherback turtle comes here to the park every year to lay their eggs. The Leatherback turtle is the world’s largest turtle and can weigh up to 500 kilograms and is considered a delicacy in the East. Unlike other species of turtles that have a hard shell, the turtle has a black skin suede.

Golfito in the south pacific of Costa Rica

The area of Golfito is at the south of Costa Rica and is known as its last frontier as it is a remote and distant region of the country. Southern Costa Rica is a little inhabited where the facilities are basic, but it is also an interesting place to experience something different in comparison with the rest of bustling and popular destinations that are popular in the country. It is a coastal village located on the great bay of Golfo Dulce, located in the extreme south of Costa Rica. It was built in 1930 as a deep water port. Golfito is located about 400 kilometers from San Jose.

One of the main reasons why this beautiful region remains so remote from San Jose is due the distance. A typical trip from downtown San Jose to Golfito, the main town in the south, can take you 8 hours or more. However, you should not worry if you want to travel through the area, because there is the Golfito Local Airport which is located 4 km north of the town center with regular flights with airlines like Sansa or Nature Air. The flight from San Jose takes 50 minutes.

Golfito in Costa Rica south pacific

Golfito was an important port in the south until mid-1980. Golfito was the center for this growing region for banana cultivation. The United Fruit Company had its headquarters here in the north of the city. Since its closure, this city has suffered great economic losses and unemployment, but with the advent of tourism, this community is slowly rebuilding with more modern lines. It is a rustic, quiet place with an abundance of hotels and accommodations as many people use Golfito as a stopover before heading to the stunning beaches of Playa Zancudo, Pavones, and the National Park Piedras Blancas.

With an amazing diversity of flora and fauna, the magnificent National Park Piedras Blancas is an important nature reserve and wildlife refuge located just north of Golfito. Sport fishing is also another important feature to the south of Costa Rica, with many recreational fishermen who use Golfito as a base while they captured the magnificent Pacific sailfish. The best season for this is from November to May.

In this port, people are engaged in commercial fishing, which makes Golfito a very important in this area and is also a gateway to the beautiful beaches in the South that has a wide variety of marine life. The National Wildlife Refuge Golfito is an impressive site near the city.
The National Wildlife Refuge Golfito is located in an area where is a heavy rain abounded. This land was formed by the succession of layers of basalt dating from between 50 to 65 million years.
The forest is very thick in the wildlife refuge; a plant that grows commonly in these lands is the Palma Negra. You can also find botanical rarities such as the Quira (Carydaphnopsis burgeri), a tree that belongs to the family of Lauraceae, that is a very primitive plant.

There are many mammals living within the park boundaries, as the aguti, which is a rodent that belongs to the same family of the paca, very useful to spread the seeds of different plants and fruits that consume. It is also possible to find raccoons, rats and some reptiles like snakes. From this splendid area you can get to places like the Osa Peninsula, the Corcovado National Park and La Amistad International Park.

The Heredia province in Costa Rica centrall valley

The capital of the province of Heredia is the singular and small city of Heredia that is located 10 kilometers from San Jose in the foothills of the extinct Barva Volcano. Heredia is one of the most historic sites in Costa Rica and was founded in 1705. Its nickname “City of Flowers” is due to the large number of beautiful gardens and flora and fauna that are here. Located in the central part of Costa Rica among large coffee plantations and a lush green, Heredia is the ideal place to enjoy and relax with the family during the holidays.

Heredia is a place to relax and to rest; the biggest attraction is its splendid colonial architecture that is seen throughout the town. At the heart of the city and around the main square, a popular site for the people of the city, is the historic and majestic church of the Immaculate Conception of Heredia. Built in 1796 with bells imported from Cuzco, Peru, and its stained glass color is one of the oldest in the country. This church is located in the Central Park in Heredia, and has a variety of shops and restaurants around it.

You can also find in the Central Park of Heredia a temple dedicated to music and El Fortin, a magnificent colonial tower that was part of a Spanish stronghold. Next to some old buildings the park is home to The House of Culture which has historical exhibits of art.

Another reason why the city of Heredia is popular is that the Universidad Nacional is located here and has the principal veterinary colleges in Central America, as well as an outstanding department of biology. For that reason is easy to find many students throughout the city.

When you go to Heredia you need to climb to the top of Monte de la Cruz from where you will have the pleasure to see a spectacular view of the city, its surroundings and a large coffee plantation. From Heredia you will also have the opportunity to see in the distance the Poas and  Barva volcanoes.

Being the perfect place to expend a holiday, Heredia is a great place to visit as it has a warm temperature throughout the year. With its proximity to San Jose you can enjoy a great vacation away from the crowds that usually fill the big cities.

Reaching Heredia is very easy, all you have to do is catch a flight to the airport in San Jose and from there take a bus or a car and drive 15 minutes to the city of Heredia. Beside the many wonderful cuisines of the many restaurants that are available in Heredia is easy to find enough hotels and lodgings throughout the city.

La Cruz

La Cruz is an important part of the province of Guanacaste. It is a beautiful area with typical landscapes of the north pacific of Costa Rica. Near La Cruz there are multiple points of tourist interest such as beautiful beaches and national parks.

La Cruz is the tenth region of Guanacaste, constituted as such since 1969. Approximately 70% of its economically active population works in animal husbandry, agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Its high economic development is due to the opening of the Inter American Highway and the arrival of tourist attracted to the beauty of the area.

The southeast limit of La Cruz, is made up of the dividing line of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, where there are located the Orosi Volcano, Rincon de La Vieja Volcano Miravalles Volcano and the Arenal Volcano. La Cruz has a complete supply of public and private services, especially in the area of health and education.

The town of La Cruz in Guanacaste - Costa Rica

This border region, it is located on the limits of what is known as Mirador La Cruz, from where the tourists can see beautiful and stunning sunsets, with the sun hiding in the Pacific Ocean, under the breadth of the horizon.

This beautiful landscape and the Santa Rosa National Park are their greatest tourist attractions, where the Casona de Santa Rosa, preserved since mid-nineteenth century, is a monument to the country’s history. The park protects a wide variety of flora and fauna of the tropical dry forest making it extremely attractive for ecotourism.
The beaches at La Cruz are wonderful and are quite known to the local and external tourism and overseas. The best known beaches near La Cruz are: Cuajiniquil, Bahia Salinas and Manzanillo. In this region is located also the biological reserve Isla Bolaños.

The development of tourism with the rest of the region has helped generously to the population of La Cruz, as many are working occupations related to tourism and others have turned their homes into small hotels and restaurants. The arrival of tourists (domestic and foreign) to the beaches of this region has been growing steadily, generating demand for luxury hotels and houses that have been developed across the coastal zone. This has caused a significant increase in the prices of real estate

Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica central pacific coast

Manuel Antonio is one of the most beautiful and expensive areas of Costa Rica for real estate and tourism. It is also one of the main tourism spot in the country famous for local and international tourists. It is a destiny almost mandatory for the international visitor. Despite of that the tourist can find cheap hotels and cabins. It is located in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica next to the town of Quepos. Manuel Antonio began as a small town that had a nice national park next door. As the national park became more known, hotels began to open. Because the town of Manuel Antonio is not very wide, the hotels and other buildings began to build on the road to Manuel Antonio National Park, and many of them took advantage of the panoramic views that this place offers. Soon, exclusive and expensive hotels were built to reach the current status of Manuel Antonio. Despite this, you can find cheap hotels but most of them are located next to the beach. The most expensive hotels and condos are located in areas of high hills that are more elegant and a little bit cooler.
If you want to go to Manuel Antonio first at all you need to go to Quepos that is located 4-5 hours to San Jose. In Quepos you can take a bus (run every 30 minutes) that travel to Manuel Antonio directly or rising from the town to the hills, but this can be difficult and heated because of the hot and sunny weather of the sun.

Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica

Among the variety of diversions for tourists that are offered in Manuel Antonio the visitor can do sport fishing (very famous around the world), canopy tours inside the jungle, horseback riding on the beach or trails, hiking through the rainforest and the sea kayaking among others.

Manuel Antonio National Park is small natural reserve, with only 682 hectares. But it contains anything that attracts tourists to Costa Rica: beautiful and luxury beaches, a magnificent landscape with islands near the coast, a lush rain forest with a network of interesting roads easy to walk and lots of wildlife. There are excellent chances of seeing monkeys (aulladores, cariblancos and even titi monkeys), sloth bears and coatis. The red macaws fly through there but often you need some luck to see them.

Despite being small, the Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most popular parks in the country, receiving about 150,000 visitors annually in recent years. A few years ago the deluge of visitors threatened to ruin the same resource that these visitors came to enjoy. The park’s director in those years believes the park can tolerate no more than 300 visitors per day. In 1994, the Park Service began limiting the numbers of visitors to 600 per day (800 on Saturdays and Sundays), and the park is now closed on Mondays.