210 Best Sights in Costa Rica

The curved beach here is rocky but good for walking, especially at low tide when tidal pools form in the volcanic rock. Sunsets are gorgeous, but despite its Blue Flag designation, this is not a great swimming beach. Be sure to take a stroll through the small village up from the beach, which is a memorable experience. Food and drinks are all available through the Aura Beach Club. Amenities: food and drink; showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; walking.

The area’s most beautiful beach is also one of the more reliable places to swim, the crescent-shaped inlet taking the edge off the strongest currents (still use the same precautions as you would at any other beach in the area). On the southern end of the beach stands a tall outcrop, navigable by trails, and a short climb displays sweeping coastal views in both directions. Drop down to the other side and you are on Punta Uva Arrecife, an extension of the beach that looks just as spectacular. At one time this beach was somewhat of a secret, but it has since been discovered. High-season weekends are crowded with people, the upside being that the lot of beachfront restaurants and vendors can sustain you during an extended beach day. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: sunrise; surfing; walking.

Just beyond the northeastern boundary of Braulio Carrillo National Park, about 15 km (9 miles) before the Caribbean-slope town of Guápiles, a 1,200-acre reserve houses a privately owned and operated engineering marvel: a series of gondolas strung together in a modified ski-lift pulley system. Each of the 24 gondolas holds six people and the ride covers 2 km (1 miles) in 80 minutes. For an extra $11, you can hire a guide to accompany you on the tram to help you to find and identify the wildlife. Several add-ons are possible, too, with frog and butterfly exhibits, an orchid garden, and a zip line canopy tour on-site, as well as a half-day birding tour. There is also on-site lodging.

For visitors based in San Jose, you can arrange a personal pickup there for $29 round trip, or there are public buses (on the Guápiles line) every half hour from the Gran Terminal del Caribe in San José. Drivers know the tram as the teleférico. Many San José tour operators offer a day tour that combines the tram with another half-day option; combos with the Britt Coffee Tour, near Heredia, are especially popular. These folks operate a similar facility near the Central Pacific town of Jacó as well as in Panama and the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and St. Maarten.

Billed as a natural playground, this is not your average walk in the forest, as Savia invites guests to engage all their senses while exploring the trails, gardens, zip lines, barefoot space, meditation pods, and more. There are four different "Immersion" options available including Bird Quest, which takes birders of all levels to find the reserve's more than 400 species of birds, and Nightfall, which invites you to witness the change in the forest as the sun sets, from the change in light to the sights and sounds. Each tour includes a 91-foot rope climb that's guided by mobility experts (open to all ages and skill levels) to the top of a fig tree where guests relax on a platform and nosh on farm to (treetop) table gourmet goodies and sip on cocktails before rappelling back down. For those averse to climbing, there is an elevated walkway option. 

This nature-themed adventure park—complete with a canopy tour and hanging bridges—is just outside the Santa Elena Reserve. An enclosed 20-species mariposario (butterfly garden), a sloth sanctuary, a herpetario (frog and reptile house), and insect exhibition are located near the visitor center. The only zip line tour built entirely inside the Monteverde Cloud Forest has 12 lines through the misty canopy and 18 platforms, with an optional Tarzan swing at the end to round out the excursion. The Tree Top Walkway takes you to heights ranging from 36 feet up to 180 feet on a 3-km (2-mile) walk. These are some of the longest and strongest bridges in the country and run through the same canopy terrain as the zip line tour, which sometimes makes for a not-so-quiet walk.

You can choose from numerous mix-and-match packages, depending on which activities interest you, or take it all in, with lunch included, for $169. Most visitors get by for much less, given that one day isn't enough for all there is to do here.

The National Theater is Costa Rica at its most enchanting. Chagrined that touring prima donna Adelina Patti bypassed San José in 1890 for lack of a suitable venue, wealthy coffee merchants raised import taxes and hired Belgian architects to design a proper building. The theater opened seven years later to rave reviews of a Costa Rican premiere of Charles Gounod's Faust. Soft, illuminated coppers, golds, and whites highlight the theater's exterior of cast iron and Italian marble nightly from 6 pm to 5 am.

The neobaroque interior is equally sumptuous. Given the provenance of the building funds, it's not surprising that frescoes on the stairway inside depict coffee and banana production. Note Italian painter Aleardo Villa's famous ceiling mural Alegoría del Café y Banano (Allegory of Coffee and Bananas), a joyful harvest scene that appeared on Costa Rica's old 5-colón note. You can see the theater's interior by attending one of the performances that take place several nights a week; intermission gives you a chance to nose around. Stop at the boletería (box office), around the left side of the building as you face the entrance, and see what strikes your fancy. Ticket prices are a fraction of what you'd pay at a similar stateside venue. Don't worry if you left your tuxedo or evening gown back home; as long as you don't show up for a performance wearing shorts, jeans, or a T-shirt, no one will care.

For a fee you can also move beyond the lobby for a guided tour in Spanish and English, offered hourly on the hour from 9 until 4 daily, except at noon.

Better known for its aquamarine river and waterfall than its namesake volcano, this park is one of the most stunning parks in Costa Rica. The hike is not terribly arduous, but there are a lot of steps. The first part of the hike, about 1½ km (1 mile), features a trail with well-maintained steps down to a breathtaking waterfall. At this point, you may choose to head back up the same way you came, especially if you have young children or have reached your limit. More adventurous hikers can go back up the steps and continue to a lookout point, the Laguna Azul (Blue Lagoon), and bubbling hot springs. The trail has some hanging bridges, and at the end, you can see the two rivers converging, as if by magic, creating an azure color. Head back the same way you came; the round-trip is 6 km (3½ miles). Plan for around four hours of hiking. Swimming is prohibited inside the national park, but there are public entrances outside the park. One is about 1 km (½ mile) past the entrance near the bridge. Make sure you arrive before 2 pm, when the park stops allowing visitors. The trail can get very muddy, so don't go in flip-flops. If you don't have hiking shoes, there are rubber boots to rent ($5) at the park entrance. Remember that national parks in Costa Rica no longer allow single-use plastic, and they check bags, so bring along your reusable water bottle and bug spray. You must purchase tickets in advance at the Costa Rican Park Services website; you will use the bar code in the email they send you to enter the park.

One of Costa Rica's many animal-rescue facilities, Toucan Rescue Ranch is a great place to see wildlife. There are more than just toucans—the good-hearted folks here care for many sloths and owls, too. The ultimate goal is to return the animals to the wild; the frail condition of some means that this will be their permanent home. The general 2½-hour walk focuses on observing the facility's work with toucans and sloths. Tickets must be purchased in advance on the facility’s website.

Limón's hottest attraction is a 4,000-acre nature theme park, about 30 minutes west of the city. It's popular with cruise-ship passengers in port for the day and is well worth a stop if you're in the area. Veragua's great strength is its small army of enthusiastic, super-informed guides who take you through a network of nature trails and exhibits of hummingbirds, snakes, frogs, butterflies, and other insects. A gondola ride overlooks the complex and transports you through the rain-forest canopy. A branch of the Original Canopy Tour, with nine platforms rising 150 feet above the forest floor, is here. The zipline tour is not included in the basic admission to the park.

The northwestern end of town is the so-called American Zone, full of handsome wooden houses where the expatriate managers of United Fruit lived amid flowering trees imported from all over the world. Many of these vintage houses, built of durable Honduran hardwoods, are now being spruced up. Eccentric garden features, such as a restored railway car, make the neighborhood worth a stroll. If you're on foot, there's also excellent birding in and around the gardens.

A short drive from town along deep forest backroads leads to tidy villages of more than 200 handmade wooden bee homes, each painted in different colors and mounted throughout decadent flower gardens. Butterflies flit between the blooms alongside the bees, of which there are over 15 species, many having been relocated to the farm from inhospitable conditions such as residential homes or the insides of felled trees. The farm has expanded from its bee rescue beginnings into honey production and farm tours, which help fund their rescue projects. The 1½ hour tour includes a guided walk through the garden, a look into the inner workings of a hive, and a travel-size jar of honey. Honey and other bee products are available for purchase, including the rare and highly medicinal Mariola honey produced exclusively by stingless bees. Tours must be scheduled in advance. Volunteer programs are available.

An ambitious project begun two decades ago has slowly improved the survival prospects for the once-endangered great green (Ara ambiguus) and scarlet macaws (Ara macao). A daily 3 pm tour (reservations are required) of the field station acquaints visitors with the breeding and reintroduction into the wild of these colorful birds. A viewing platform set among a forest of mighty trees provides a superb vantage point from which to observe the birds crunching their almonds on nearby branches and to feel the whoosh as they zoom above your head. Throughout the 98-acre property are approximately 100 macaws.

Although the volcano is in a resting phase, you might see an occasional plume of smoke. It is still worth visiting the network of three easy trails leading to old lava flows, secondary rainforest, and a lookout point. (You are still limited in how close you can get, since no one can predict when Arenal will roar to life again.) The park is home to more than 500 species of birds, as well as monkeys, sloths, coatis, deer, and anteaters. A top trail within the park is Heliconias (0.61 km [0.38 mile]), which has a lookout point and connects to Las Coladas Trail (2 km [1 mile]). You'll see hardened lava streams from 1992 and a 200-year-old ceiba tree on El Ceibo loop (2.3 km [1.43 miles]) toward the edge of the park. Los Miradores Trail (1.29 km [0.8 mile]) takes you on a paved trail to Lake Arenal. Old lava flows are also visible on the popular Los Tucanes Trail that begins near the Arenal Observatory Lodge. Guides are available for hire at the neighboring tour office, Arenal 1968. Bring plenty of water, but remember that single-use plastics are prohibited in all of Costa Rica's national parks (a reusable water bottle will make a nice souvenir).

The warm, calm water and relative isolation makes this one of the best swimming beaches on the Golfo de Santa Elena. Stay for the day or camp out right on the beach in the well-kept, shaded camping area with cold-water showers, bathrooms, firepits, grills, and picnic tables ($15 per person onetime park entrance for foreigners, plus $19 per person per night to camp). Compared with other camping areas in Costa Rica, prices are steep since this is part of the Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge. You can snorkel if you bring your own gear. Amenities: showers; toilets. Best for: fishing; solitude; swimming.

A mecca for speleologists, the caves beneath the 1,184-foot Barra Honda Peak were created millions of years ago by erosion after the ridge emerged from the sea. You can explore the resulting calcium carbonate formations on a guided tour, and perhaps catch sight of some of the abundant underground animal life, including bats, birds, blindfish, salamanders, and snails. The caves are spread around almost 23 square km (9 square miles), but many of them remain unexplored.

Every day starting at 8 am, local guides take groups 58 feet down ladders into Terciopelo Cave, which shelters unusual formations shaped (they say) like fried eggs, popcorn, and shark's teeth. You must wear a harness with a rope attached for safety. The tour costs $40 per person (minimum of two) including equipment rental, guide, and entrance fee. Kids under 12 are not allowed into this cave, but they can visit the kid-sized La Cuevita cavern ($5), which also has interesting stalagmites. Both cave visits include interpretive nature hikes. The caves are not open during the wet season for fear of flooding.

Those with a fear of heights, or claustrophobia, may want to skip the cave tour, but Barra Honda still has plenty to offer, thanks to its extensive forests and abundant wildlife. You can climb the 3-km (2-mile) Los Laureles trail (the same trail that leads to Terciopelo Cave) to Barra Honda's summit, where you'll have sweeping views over the surrounding countryside and islet-filled Gulf of Nicoya. Wildlife you may spot on Barra Honda's trails include howler and white-faced monkeys, skunks, coatis, deer, parakeets, hawks, dozens of other bird species, and iguanas. It's a good idea to hire a local guide from the Asociación de Guías Ecologistas. The park has camping facilities ($2 per night), and the ranger station, open 8 am to dusk, has potable water and restrooms. There are also a couple of basic cabins to rent ($30).

We should get one thing straight about the capital's Chinatown: San José is not San Francisco. But the Chinese government has financed the transformation of five blocks of Calle 9 into a pleasant pedestrian mall. A large arch modeled on the architecture of the Tang Dynasty marks the north entrance to the street and several Chinese–Costa Rican businesses—mostly groceries and nail salons, but nary an Asian restaurant—line the walkway.

About 3 km (2 miles) due north of Heredia, this colonial town is famous for mask making and for its Parque Central, still with the original adobe buildings with Spanish-tile roofs on three sides, and a white-stucco church to the east. The park is filled with whimsical sculptures, including a park bench shaped like an entire seated family, and bizarre masks and clowns' heads decorating garbage receptacles. An amphitheater and stage stand ready for the annual mask festival held every August. (A less pleasant part of the August festival is the tradition of smacking one's fellow townspeople with cow or pig bladders—perhaps not a good time to visit.) The stout, handsome church with terra-cotta bas-relief flourishes dates from the late 18th century and has a lovely grotto shrine to the Virgin Mary in the church garden. On a clear day you can see verdant Volcán Barva towering to the north.

Cartago's major tourist sight is a hodgepodge of architectural styles from Byzantine to baroque, with a dash of Gothic thrown in. The interior of this 1926 basilica is striking, with a colorful tile floor, intricately painted, faux-finish wood columns, and lots of stained glass. Tradition holds that an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the form of a dark stone occurred here in 1635. This "Black Virgin" (La Negrita) is Costa Rica's patron saint, and she sits high above the main altar. To the left as you face the altar is a room decorated with amulets given in dedication to the Virgin for her intercession in everything from triumphs over disease to triumphs on the soccer field.

Butterflies, frogs, and snakes have their own Monteverde-area exhibits, and bats get equal time with guided tours that provide insight into the life of one of the planet's most misunderstood mammals. If you've had an aversion to bats in the past, be prepared to start loving them. Admission includes a 45-minute guided tour (no reservations required) through a small exhibit and glass enclosure housing nearly 100 live bats; guided tours in English available daily from noon to 3 pm. You can watch them fly, eat, and even give birth.

The 54,000-acre rainforest—the largest private reserve in Costa Rica—dwarfs the Monteverde and Santa Elena reserves and is much less crowded. It began life as a school project in Sweden among children interested in saving a piece of the rainforest, and blossomed into a fund-raising effort among students from 44 countries. The reserve's Bajo del Tigre trail makes for a gentle, self-guided 3½-km (2-mile) hike through secondary forest. Along the trail are 27 stations at which to stop and learn about the reserve, many with lessons geared toward kids. A separate guided twilight walk with a knowledgeable guide ($35) begins at 5:30 pm and lasts two hours, affording the chance to see the nocturnal side of the cloud forest; reservations are required. Much of the rest of the reserve is not open to the public, but the Monteverde Conservation League offers stays at San Gerardo and Poco Sol, two remote field stations within the forest.

Butterflies are the "livestock" at this working farm in the heart of Escazú, where caterpillars are raised and then exported in chrysalis form. A two-hour tour of the operation takes you through the stages of a butterfly's life. The highlight is the garden where fluttering butterflies surround you. Sunny days fuel the most activity among them; they are quieter if the day is overcast. (The latter conditions make for easier photos.) Bilingual tours in English and Spanish are included in the admission price. The place can be difficult to find. Call for directions or take a taxi. Drivers know the facility as the mariposario.

Bite your tongue before requesting Costa Rica's ubiquitous Café Britt up here. Export-quality Café Monteverde is the local, sustainably grown product, and the tour lets you see the process up close from start to finish from the area's Turín plantation, where the plants are grown in the shade; transported to the beneficio, the processing mill where the beans are washed and dried; and finally to the roaster. Reservations are required, and pickup from area hotels is available. They also operate the Monteverde Coffee Center (coffee shop) in town next to CASEM and the Café Monteverde in Santa Elena.

With rainforest extending right to the edge of a curving, utterly undeveloped 3-km (2-mile) white-sand beach, this popular national park is the stuff of picture postcards. The park was created to protect the 2½-square-km (1-square-mile) coral reef that encircles the coast and offers excellent snorkeling off Cahuita Point. Trails into the rainforest reveal a wealth of wildlife. February through April and September and October are slightly drier months, and offer the best visibility for snorkeling. A nice touch to the infrastructure here is the "plastic walk," a boardwalk path made of recycled plastic. Visitors in wheelchairs can be wheeled down to the surf in the park’s own chairs. The location means you’ll find a great selection of in-town dining and lodging options within a few blocks of the park’s northern entrance, making this one of the country’s easiest protected areas to visit. Choose from two park entrances: one is in downtown Cahuita; the other is at Puerto Vargas, just off the main road, 5 km (3 miles) south of town. If you don't have a car, you can get here easily via bike or taxi.

This company offers three-times-daily van/boat-shuttle service between Puerto Viejo de Talamanca or Cahuita and Bocas del Toro for $34 one way. Caribe also offers multiday packages from Puerto Viejo to Bocas that include accommodations.

Next to the Fortín, the tile-roof building with the handsome wood veranda is Heredia's Casa de la Cultura, which almost always has a free exhibition by local artists. Inside is a very small museum of town history, as well as a handsome inner atrium, with wooden galleries, where concerts are often held. The house was originally the stately home of early-20th-century president Alfredo González Flores (1877–1962).

This is Costa Rica's tallest waterfall, cascading 600 feet into freshwater pools where you can cool off after a strenuous 3-km (2-mile) hike to the river basin. You're not likely to see other tourists here—it's not one of the more well-known waterfalls. This steep trek is not suitable for children, the elderly, or those with health conditions. Bring drinking water and wear proper shoes as rocks can be sharp and slippery.

The large neoclassical Alajuela Cathedral has columns topped by interesting capitals decorated with local agricultural motifs, and a striking red-metal dome. Construction was completed in 1863. The interior is spacious but rather plain, except for the ornate cupola above the altar.

Built in 1871 and completely refurbished in the late 1990s to repair earthquake damage, the neoclassical cathedral, topped by a corrugated tin dome, isn't terribly interesting outside. But inside are patterned floor tiles, stained-glass windows depicting various saints and apostles, and framed polychrome bas-reliefs illustrating the Stations of the Cross. A magnificent 1891 Belgian pipe organ fills the church with music.

The interior of the small Capilla del Santísimo (Chapel of the Host) on the cathedral's north side evokes ornate old Catholicism, much more so than the main sanctuary itself. A marble statue of Pope John Paul II stands guard over the garden on the building's north side. Masses are held throughout the day on Sunday starting at 7 am, with one in English each Saturday at 4 pm. Although not part of the cathedral complex, a small statue of Holocaust victim Anne Frank graces the pedestrian mall on the building's south side. It was donated by the Embassy of the Netherlands.

On the left side of the highway as you enter Limón is a large cemetery. A glance as you pass by is probably enough, but notice the "Colonia China" (Chinese colony) and corresponding sign in Chinese on the hill in the cemetery: Chinese workers made up a large part of the 1880s railroad-construction team that worked here. Thousands died of malaria and yellow fever.

A good place for bird-watchers and garden enthusiasts, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center—better known by its Spanish acronym, CATIE—is one of the leading tropical research centers in Latin America, with headquarters here and affiliates in nine other countries. You might catch sight of the yellow-winged northern jacana or the purple gallinule in the lagoon near the main building. The 10-square-km (4-square-mile) property includes landscaped grounds, seed-conservation chambers, greenhouses, orchards, experimental agricultural projects, a large swath of rainforest, labs and offices, and lodging for students and teachers. The most popular attraction is the Botanical Garden Tour, a two-hour guided walk to taste, smell, and touch tropical fruits, along with cacao, coffee, and other medicinal and stimulant plants. A favorite stop is the "miracle fruit" tree, whose berries magically make anything sour taste sweet. Reservations are required for guided tours.