Costa Rica travel is practially synonymous with ecotourism—travel focused on education about and preservation of the environment and natural resources. Costa Rica's national parks and nature preserves boast a huge variety of mammals, reptiles, rain-forest plants and especially birds: Some 850 avian species are packed into the relatively small country, making a Costa Rica vacation a memorable one.
But ecotourism-rich Costa Rica offers plenty of exciting outdoor activities for travelers not expressly interested in birds: Costa Rica excels in adventure sports, including surfing, mountain biking, river rafting, hiking, deep-sea fishing and scuba diving. Visitors who prefer a less strenuous Costa Rica vacation can view several active volcanoes, take boat trips down jungle rivers and either float through the rain-forest treetops in a rain-forest aerial tram or speed through Costa Rica's forest canopy on one of several dozen zipline systems.
Approximately 25% of Costa Rica's land has been set aside in protected areas, furthering the country's reputation as an environmentally sensitive leader in ecological conservation. Nonprotected areas have not fared so well, however: Because of the Costa Rica tourism boom, the number of visitors has quintupled over the past decade, and Costa Rica's large resorts and condominiums are being constructed to accommodate them. The rate of deforestation in Costa Rica during the past few decades is one of the highest in the world.
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Sights—Watching glowing lava flow down the side of Arenal Volcano; a trip to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve; a bird's-eye view from the Rain Forest Aerial Tram; bird- and animal-watching in Cano Negro; a climb to the top of Mount Chirripo to see the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean at the same time; unspoiled diving at Isla del Coco; wild excursions through Manuel Antonio National Park; watching marine turtles at Tortuguero or Playa Grande.
Museums—The farmhouse museum in Santa Rosa National Park commemorating the defeat of William Walker, a U.S. adventurer and invader; a museum of religious art in Orosi; the Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold in San Jose; the Museum of Indigenous Culture in La Virgen.
Memorable Meals—Authentic Caribbean food in Cahuita; tamales and corvina (sea bass) from an eatery serving Costa Rican dishes; Gallo pinto, the national dish.
Late Night—Listen to reggae and dance all night in Cahuita or Puerto Viejo; learn some salsa moves at El Tabogan in San Jose; groove to live jazz at San Jose's Jazz Cafe.
Walks—An energetic hike through Barra Honda National Park; strolling along the malecon seafront boulevard in Puntarenas; a challenging hike to the summit of Cerro Chirripo, Costa Rica's highest peak.
Especially for Kids—An evening turtle-watching excursion or a predawn boat ride at Tortuguero National Park; the Children's Museum in San Jose.
A small country—just 75 mi/120 km separates the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea at the narrowest spot—Costa Rica still has some of the most diverse scenery in the world. Its coasts have both sandy beaches and marshy swamps, and its interior is dotted with volcanoes and rugged mountain chains, dense rain forests and abundant unusual flora. Its geographic diversity and elevation, ranging from sea level to more than 13,000 ft/4,030 m atop Cerro Chirripo, have blessed the nation with 12 distinct life zones.
Columbus first saw this portion of Central America in 1502 during his last trip to the New World. But Spanish settlement did not begin until the mid-1500s because early expeditions were beset by disease and resistance from the indigenous people. The Spanish did find some gold in the area—inspiring the name Costa Rica (Rich Coast)—but not the large reserves they sought.
Colonization proceeded slowly along the east coast until the Spanish finally moved to the cooler, fertile valleys and mesas of the interior, known as the Central Valley. The predominantly mountainous terrain kept the plantation system, with its attendant slavery, from developing in Costa Rica (an exception was the far northwest plains). Instead, the colonists gathered near the indigenous communities and built small-scale subsistence farms. Towns grew slowly and evolved intense rivalries for political dominance. Such independence and self-reliance are thought to be the reasons democracy came more naturally to Costa Rica than to its neighbors when the country gained its independence in the early 1820s. Brief civil wars erupted among the major cities in which the more liberal forces of San Jose emerged victorious, moving the country toward fair, democratic elections in the late 1800s and establishing San Jose as the undisputed capital.
In the 1940s the country became politically polarized, and civil war broke out once again. After a brief struggle, socialist insurrectionist Jose Maria "Don Pepe" Figueres emerged as the country's leader. He continued to be a central figure in Costa Rican politics through the 1970s, overseeing reforms that helped keep the country peaceful and prosperous in a region known for its armed conflicts and wretched poverty. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 and invested in education and public-health facilities, actions that helped prevent a flood of rural poor into the major cities. These measures have prompted many to view Costa Rica as a model Latin American country, although it has had its share of economic problems that accelerated in the 1980s and continue today. Costa Rica has cut back on its extensive social programs to deal with a large national deficit, massive internal debt and a massive influx of Nicaraguan refugees and unemployed.
The tourism boom that began in the 1980s has brought rapid development to much of the country. Nonetheless, Costa Rica's democratic system has been challenged in recent years by corruption and cronyism—three of the past four presidents have been indicted. In 2006, former president Oscar Arias (winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize) was re-elected president after successfully lobbying for a constitutional change permitting presidents to serve more than one term.
The main attractions of Costa Rica are amazingly diverse natural beauty, wildlife, bird-watching, black- and white-sand beaches, deep-sea and river fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling, casinos, surfing, white-water rafting, volcanoes, horseback riding, good restaurants, world-class resorts and its friendly, well-educated people (often known simply as Ticos).
Those who enjoy exotic plants and animals and those who participate in outdoor activities will get the most out of Costa Rica. To observe the country's varied forests, visitors need to be moderately fit and comfortable with the claustrophobic, often damp jungle environment, or with the hot, dry conditions of the forests in northern Nicoya and Guanacaste.
You're likely to notice that plastic-surgery vacations are advertised heavily as a tourism option. If people you know return from a trip to Costa Rica looking younger and particularly refreshed, it may be that they went under the knife.
Costa Rica has a rich mix of races and ethnicities. Two of the nation's heroes are NASA astronaut Franklin Chang, a Costa Rican of Chinese ancestry, and Olympic swimmer Claudia Poll, whose parents emigrated from Germany. Poll won the first gold medal in the country's history at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
In the 1850s, Costa Rica was invaded by an army led by American William Walker, who had earlier taken over Nicaragua and hoped to rule all of Central America. A hastily convened and poorly equipped Costa Rican army defeated Walker's forces, spoiling his plans of empire.
Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to grow coffee (in 1808) and bananas (in the 1870s).
Former President Oscar Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1987 for his efforts to end the various armed conflicts that plagued Central America.
The most mysterious relics of pre-Columbian culture are the perfectly round stone spheres—up to 6 ft/2 m in diameter—that are scattered throughout southern Costa Rica. Archaeologists can explain almost nothing about them.
