Top Five Things To Do in Costa Rica
Where else in the world can you see an active volcano with a nightly lava show, visit a national park where monkeys and other wildlife creatures welcome you with open arms, and that has over 800 miles of amazing coastline? Costa Rica!
This tiny country, known to have 5% of the world’s bio diversity, has so much to offer the you’ll be wishing you simply moved here! I did:)
Top Five Must Do’s When Visiting Costa Rica
1. Volcano Arenal – Every day and every night this magnificent volcano spews out lava that calmly flows off the side of it. You can safely do the volcano walk to witness this phenomena for yourself. Or, why don’t you just hang out in any of the naturally heated hot springs at the base watching it with a cocktail in hand?
2. Poas Volcano – If you don’t have a chance to visit Arenal, no worries. Less than 1 hour from San Jose is another active volcano – Poas Volcano. What’s so cool about this place? For starters, you can walk up to the crater and look down on it’s boiling crater full of sulfur!
3. Manaul Antonio National Park – The most accessible park in Costa Rica that is so ripe with wildlife, it will be a miracle if you don’t have a close-encounter with a monkey, or sloth or iguana! Plus, to end your day with a reward, hang out on one of the pristine white sanded beaches inside the park, while monkeys fight with you over your food!
4. The Gold Coast Beaches – Costa Rica, a country that has over 800 miles of coastline. It’s hard to go wrong with beach locations. However, on the top of the list are the Gold Coast beaches located in the Guanacaste area: Tamarindo, Playa Grande, Flamingo, Conchal and Ocatol are some of the best choices for fun!
5. Corcovado National Park – This park, located all the way south in Costa Rica in the Osa Peninsula, has been called by National Geographic ‘The most biologically diverse place on earth’. There are over 100 mammal species, 700 birds, and practically an infinite number of insects that are being discovered daily living in this gorgeous rain forest.
So come for a week, or a month or a year. You’ll never run out of things to do:)
Marina K. Villatoro has been living in Central America for over 7 years and her site Travel Experta is all about traveling in Central America. Marina loves to help people plan the perfect vacation to this amazing part of the world!
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July 21st, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Perfect time for this post to come up in my feed reader. I’m contemplating a trip to Costa Rica in December or January. Those definitely look like some cool things to do!
Nate’s last blog post..Avoid disappointment and future regret
July 21st, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@Nate – Glad we could help…
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:22 am
I still kick myself when we didn’t go to Costa Rica on our friend’s wedding. But that’s alright. We will make it one day and this list will come in handy.
Amy @ The Q Family’s last blog post..Tips Before You Go to Paris
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Costa Rica is quickly shooting to the top of my travel list. Wonderful post, I’m going to bookmark it.
July 29th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Great place! We live down by Osa and Pavones. When you get to Costa Rica you have to get to the southern zone and stop by and go surfin!
July 29th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Those are definitely good choices Marina, but I would have to include surfing as a must do in Costa Rica. Surf tourism is huge down there, and for good reason, it’s a great place to learn how to surf or to catch some very good waves if you are an experienced surfer.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
@Amy – there’s always time in the future..
I’ll join you!
@Anil – Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for visiting… group trip to visit Rex?
@Rex @Gibran – I’m not a big surfer.. I’m up for watching our stuff on the beach with a large tasty beverage while everyone else has fun. Sound ok?
July 29th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
@ Andy – would be great
December 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 pm
[...] It’s true that parts of Central America can be a bit dodgy but Costa Rica (along with Belize) is one of the most peaceful and easily traveled countries in the region. More visitors come to Costa Rica than any other Latin American country, so it’s definitely tourist friendly. And don’t miss our top five things to do in Costa Rica. [...]
January 6th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
[...] Welcome to Samasati in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Waking up in the rainforest with a cup of fresh local coffee in hand and the excitement of having an entire day ahead of me … that is my inspirational place. If you can manage to tear yourself away from this little slide of paradise, don’t miss our other top five things to do in Costa Rica. [...]
March 8th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I think that one of the most beautiful places around the world is Costa Rica, the nature and the adventures are great.