Northern Costa Rica

Nosara Beach, Guanacaste

By Patricia Earnest

Look at pictures of Costa Rica and you will see mountains draped with misty rain forests, exotic birds and butterflies and a dramatic coastline. Costa Rica is devoted to wildlife protection and the National System of Conservation Areas manages a wide variety of parks, refuges, reserves, and other protected areas. For these reasons and more, visitors are drawn here to enjoy the varied and beautiful environment and people.

Geography and Travel
The northwest is the driest region with only 65 inches of rainfall per year. Bordered by Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean, its name Guanacaste comes from the ear-pod trees that cattle use for shade in the area.

Running down the center of the region are the volcanic mountains of the Cordillera de Guanacaste, the northern section of the Cordillera de Tilaran. Most of the destinations and parks are on the west side of the mountains. Road travel is challenging in this area, as it is in much of Costa Rica. You might want to consider large buses to navigate the potholes on access roads into these less populated areas.

Parks and Geology

Arenal Volcano

Parks include the cloud forest Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde and Cano Negro National Wildlife Refuge, a bird watcher's paradise and home to plants and animals unique to this park. Rincon de la Vieja National Park features an active volcano with nine craters on the summit.

A major sight in this area is the Arenal Volcano in Arenal National Park. One of the most active volcanoes in the world, Arenal is best seen at night when it is erupting. Another plus from this volcano are the Hot Springs at Tabacon, caused by the volcano heating the Tabacon River, feeding the Hot Springs.

Endangered Turtles
Further down the coast is a watery world with slow flowing canals and fast flowing rivers. Visitors are drawn to this area to study the endangered leatherback and sea turtles that come onto the sandy beaches to lay their eggs.

Tortuguero National Park is on eof the country's most important nesting sites for the green sea turtle, also for the leatherback and hawksbill turtles. In Tortuguero a small museum and visitor's center educates visitors on what is going on in the area and how they can help to protect the turtles.

Further yet down the coast towards Panama, surfing becomes the draw with the country's biggest and most powerful waves.

Accommodations
For the most part, accommodations in Costa Rica are small, in fact 70 percent of all Costa Rican hotels have less than 50 rooms. However, visitors will find a wide range of accommodations to suit every taste. The larger chains, such as Melia are well represented, as are boutique hotels, B&B's, cozy mountain lodges and jungle lodges.

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