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Costa Rica Guide
Use our short travel guides to Costa Rica to help you plan your trip
Around Costa Rica
Costa Rica may be small, but it's very varied and packed with things to see.
Mountain sierras strung with volcanoes form a spine that runs the length of Costa Rica, creating some spectacular scenery. Costa Rica's busy Central Valley, ringed by the mountains, includes the capital San Jose, with the quiet Turrialba valley to the southeast. The Southern Highlands include wonderful cloud forests, chilly paramo moorlands, challenging peaks for trekking, and quiet farmlands.
On the Pacific side of the mountains there is a great variety of scenery and beaches. The climate changes from very wet in the South Pacific and the rainforested Osa Peninsula (not too bad in the dry season), to progressively more dry the further north you go.
Still on the Pacific side, the Northwest includes the well-known cloud forests of Monteverde, the grasslands and dry forests of Guanacaste (Costa Rica's cowboy state), and the beautiful Nicoya peninsula with its many good beaches.
The beaches of the Central Pacific are closest to San Jose and can get quite busy, but the lovely Manuel Antonio national park is definitely one of Costa Rica's many high spots.
Costa Rica's Northern Lowlands are a little off the beaten track. They meet the coast at Tortuguero on the Caribbean side, where flooded forests are excellent for seeing wildlife. Other interesting places on Costa Rica's Caribbean side include Puerto Limon (a short stop) and the relaxed Puerto Viejo.
Costa Rica's regions
Costa Rica Regional Guides
Get to know your way around Costa Rica:
San Jose
Costa Rica's capital, San Jose, is worth a day's visit for its museums and for a taste of local city life ...
› San Jose
Central Valley
The hub of Costa Rica, a plateau ringed by mountains and volcanoes, with lots of sights to see ...
Turrialba
A step apart, the Turrialba valley is a scenic farming region with tumbling rivers popular with white-water rafters ...
Central Pacific
Beautiful beaches, headlands and bays, and easy access to San Jose, make this the most popular stretch of Costa Rica's coast ...
Southern Highlands
Very diverse. Steep valleys swathed in cloud forest, high paramo, and rich farmlands. Among the quieter parts of the country...
South Pacific
A remote and natural region, at its wildest on the Osa Peninsula, where drenching wet season weather creates lush rainforest ...
Northwest
Mountains, volcanoes and cloud forests give way to dry ranchlands where cowboys still round-up on horseback ...
Northern Lowlands
Lowlands drained by slow rivers, with dense forests teeming with wildlife. Mostly very little visited...
Caribbean
Wonderful wildlife in the flooded forests of Tortuguero. Banana boats dock at busy Limon. Southern beaches have a soft African-Caribbean vibe...
Costa Rica's wildlife, and where to see it
With over 5% of all the species on earth to be found in an area a fifth the size of the UK, Costa Rica is an excellent place to see wildlife...
› Costa Rica's wildlife and where to see it
Costa Rica's Volcanoes
Costa Rica's 200 volcanoes include some of the most accessible and dramatic volcanoes in the Americas...
Costa Rica's Beaches
Looking for the perfect beach? Choose it from our guide to Costa Rica's beaches...
Travel information for Costa Rica
Practical guides to when to visit Costa Rica, how to get there, where to stay - all that stuff you need to know...
BASICS
From electric plugs to time-zones, here's the basic information any traveller to Costa Rica might find useful.
› Basics
PASSPORTS & VISAS
The formalities for visiting Costa Rica are very simple, but do make doubly sure you have everything necessary...
MONEY
The US dollar is widely accepted in the most popular tourist destinations in Costa Rica, but you can't rely on using it for everything...
SAFETY & SECURITY
Costa Rican safety standards are not the same as in the UK. Take care and be safe...
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