What are your favorite parks in Costa Rica?
 

Hello Fodorites,

I'm the editor of the Fodor's Costa Rica guide and I was wondering if I could get a little feedback from some of you. I'm putting together a web article on Costa Rica's National Parks and wanted to poll you on some of your favorite parks and reserves. I suspect a few of you have been to just about every park in Costa Rica. What are your top recommendations and why?

Any feedback you can give me is greatly appreciated.

By the way-- thanks for all the great photos from the photo contest! They were absolutely stunning.

Thanks!
Maggie

This is a very tough question as they are many and varied and all fun and memorable to visit. Corcovado of course for its sheer "rainforest" power. Arenal, of course, for its magnificent volcano. Manuel Antonio and Cahuita for wildlife and beautiful beaches. . . Less seldom visited, Tapanti is such a great place for birding. So much depends on each person's passions. Same with Carara.

I can't imagine anyone responding anything other than "I liked different ones for different reasons!"

www.corcovado.org

Largest concentration of exotic wildlife in CR

We just went to Tortuguero National Park for the first time and found it to be amazing - traveling along the beautiful canals and seeing big crocs, river otters, toucans, three kinds of monkeys, and beautiful blue morphos was incredible.

One of my favourites is Rincon de la Vieja National Park. This park has interesting mud pots and hot springs,great hiking trails,and several very impressive waterfalls.

The park protects the slope of a "quiet" volcano and several different forest types as one moves from the drier lowland areas into moister forests at higher elevation. Some of the huge primary forest trees are nothing less than magnificent.

There is also plenty of wildlife including monkeys, anteaters, coatis and more butterflies than I have seen anywhere else in Costa Rica.

Another major advantage of Rincon de la Vieja is that is not yet over run with hordes of tourists.

cheers

Jerry

Manuel Antonio is probably the most visitor friendly, but Carara NP feels more like a real wilderness and authentic ecosystem. Arenal NP is good too, but to be honest the grounds at the Arenal Observatory Lidge are more beautiful, feature better wildlife, and have just as good views of the volcano. Poas offers two beautiful craters and a surreal, almost magical cloud forest setting.

Mark me down for Tortuguero, Maggie. You have the wildlife, and especially the turtle nesting, which is fascinating to observe. It's this whole big production to get there, but whoever coined the expression "Getting there is half the fun" must have been thinking of Tortuguero.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Gannetmusic--I've head so much about Rincon de la Vieja but have never been. Maybe on my next trip.

My vote goes for Tortuguero, too. We were just amazed at the beauty of the canals and the amount of wildlife. I love the fact that it is so remote and you really have to make an effort to get there. People who go there appreciate nature at its best.