COSTA RICA > CENTRAL AMERICA  > INDEX


Republic of Costa Rica - Republica de Costa Rica in Central America

Provinces in Costa Rica [ provincias ]: Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas, San Jose.

Costa Rica is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south.

The Caribbean region of Costa Rica is noted for its variety of acuatic ecosystems and its beautiful white and black sand beaches, providing an ideal setting for activities such as sport-fishing, snorkeling, and sun bathing.

The Pacific coast boasts some of Costa Rica's most famous beaches for surfing, such as Esterillos, Jaco, Hermosa, Boca Barranca. In the Golfito region, near the Marino Ballena National Park, surfing fans can find the famous "big left wave."

Capital City of Costa Rica: San Jose 


car hire, hotels, travel agents, travel guides, transportation / traveling to costa rica

links


Car Rental Costa Rica

 Avis
World's second largest general-use car rental business, providing business and leisure customers with a wide range of services.
 Budget Rent A Car
 Dollar Rent A Car
 Dollar Rent A Car has suburban and on-airport car rental locations in all major cities throughout the United States.
 Hertz

Rental Homes / Apartments

 

Hostels

 Hostelbookers.com  - Great Hostels, Free booking, Fast & Easy to use
Hostelbookers.com is one of the worlds largest online booking services for hostels. All hostels you see here are offering realtime prices and availability. We do not charge a fee to use this service.

Hotels in Costa Rica

 Hotel Bougainvillea, tel.: 00 506 - 244 1414, Een half uur rijden vanaf de luchthaven bij San José. Eigenaar Hans van der Wielen die al bijna 40 jaar in Costa Rica woont. Restaurant, zwembad, tennisbaan en 4 ha tuin.

 Expedia.com
 Hotels.com 

More Hotels? See the page Hotels

National Parks

Costa Rica boasts 20 national parks, 8 biological reserves, and a wealth of other protected areas that have captivated lovers of ecotourism for decades. The variety of activities include horse-back riding, hiking mountainous paths in the cloud forests, and guided bird-watching tours.

 Tortuguero National Park
This park is especially famous for the hatching of baby sea turtles that takes place every year, and the natural canals that abound with protected species such as the crocodile, manatee, and otter.
 Volcan Poas national Park
The Poas Volcano's eruptions are known to have occurred as early as of 1747 when the Spanish governor Juan Gemir wrote about its activity.
The Life Zones represented in the park are the Mountain Rain Forest and Very Humid Low Mountain Forest. There are four principal habitats. The Cloud Forest surrounds Botos Lake and the back part of the Potrero Grander; here the predominant species are wild papaya, pitch apple, oak, and two species of ttsta. Along the edges of the Caribbean side, the forest is taller and very wet, with numerous palms, tree ferns, and epiphytes. Elfin Forest is found along the Main Crater-Botos Lake trail; the main species are pitch apple, ardisia compressa, and Alzatea verticillata. The arrayanes are predominant near the point overlooking the crater and on the first stretch of the natural Botos Lake trail; in a few areas near the crater there is little vegetation except for a few tolerant colonists like bracken ferns. Although larger animals are scarce, the avifauna is diverse and abundant. A total of 79 species of birds have been identified, including various hummingbirds, Black Guan, Resplendent Quetzal, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Sooty Thrush, Emerald Toucanet, Large-footed Finch, and Yellow-thighed Finch.

See Visit Costa Rica for more [ What to do > Eco Tourism > National Parks ]

Tour Operators / Travel Agents

 Tara Tours [ CT ] - Exotic destinations in Central and South America
 Tucan Travel
If you have an adventurous spirit, a strong sense of fun, a desire to embrace new cultures and long to see the world as it really is, then come and take the adventure of a lifetime with us and lose yourself in Costa Rica.



Incoming Tour Operator

 Costaricainfo.com
Arenal & Hot Springs, Canopy Tour, White Water Rafting, Carara & Jacó, San José City, Poás Volcano (NP), Grecia & Sarchí, Poás, Grecia & Sarchí, Irazú Volcano (NP), Lankaster Gardens, Isla Tortuga, Monteverde, Pueblo Antiguo, White Wate Rafting, Dinner at Mirador RAM LUNA, Braulio Carrillo (NPd),
Water Rafting Class IV, Arenal Volcano & Caño Negro, Monteverde 2D,1N, Horseback Ride, Mountain Biking, Peñas Blancas en Tortuguero National Park

Travel Guides Costa Rica / Related books

Travel Guides Costa Rica

 The Rough Guide to Costa Rica - Jean McNeil
As you fly over the Central American isthmus, Costa Rica spreads out beneath you like a whale basking in the sea, its narrow, mountain-ridged back clad with the barnacle-like forms of volcanos. To the north lies the broad bulk of Nicaragua, while to the south the crooked finger of Panam reaches out to South America. On the Pacific coast, two peninsulas, the Nicoya and the Osa, clutch at the sea like crab's claws; by comparison the Caribbean coast - just 280km away at the country's widest point - is dead straight and raked by waves.
Despite its small size, Costa Rica possesses five percent of the world's total biodiversity, in part due to its position as a transition zone between North and South America, and also to a complex terracing of micro -climates created by differences in altitude. With one of the most enlightened and dedicated approaches to conservation in the world, the country has made an impressive effort to preserve its wildlands, and in the Americas is second only to Ecuador for the proportion (about 25 percent) of land it protects...
Paperback 448 pages (April 28, 2005); Publisher: Rough Guides; Language: English; ISBN: 1843534290
 Costa Rica / Lonely Planet - Carolina Miranda, Paige Penland
Paperback 512 pages (November 2004); Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; Language: English; ISBN: 1740597753.

Transport / How do I travel to Costa Rica

 San Jose Santa Maria Airport

 Airline Tickets / Bargain Flights  - Flights to Costa Rica

The quickest way to get around is to fly, and several domestic airlines offer daily flights to most of the popular tourist destinations.

Bus services to just about every town and city, and high-quality buses serving the main tourist destinations.

 Online Map of Costa Rica [ Uni Texas - Perry-Castañeda Library - Map Collection ]
 The Rough Guide Map Costa Rica and Panama 
Costa Rica is one of Central America's most enticing destinations. The Rough Guide Map to Costa Rica and Panama combines clear modern mapping and bang-up-to-date research and is an essential companion to anyone travelling around the two countries by public or private transport. The Rough Guide Map provides invaluable infomation for those exploring the country, from remote Caribbean beaches to unspoilt cloudforests , with detail on everything from road numbers and petrol station locations to national parks and railway lines.
Map 1 pages (March 31, 2005); Publisher: Rough Guides; Language: English; ISBN: 1843534819


Links 

 Travel Insurance - online travel and holiday insurance

 Visit Costa Rica - Costa Rica Tourist Board [ ICT ]

 San Jose - Capital and largest city of Costa Rica
San José was a small village of little significance until 1824. In that year, Costa Rica's first elected head of state, liberal Juan Mora Fernández, decided to move the government of Costa Rica from the old Spanish colonial capital of Cartago and make a fresh start with a new city.

 Alajuela Provincia - north-central part of the country
Cantons : Alajuela, Alfaro Ruiz, Atenas, Grecia, Guatuso, Los Chiles, Naranjo, Orotina, Palmares, Poás, San Carlos, San Mateo, San Ramón, Upala, Valverde Vega
 Cartago - central part of the country - Capital = Cartago City
Cantons : Cartago, Paraíso, La Unión, Jiménez, Turrialba, Alvarado, Oreamuno and El Guarco.
 Guanacaste - in the northwestern part of the country, at the coast to the Pacific Ocean
To the north it borders Nicaragua [ in fact Guanacaste originally belonged to Nicaragua ]. Capital City = Liberia.
Guanacaste experiences little rain and consistent heat from November to April, providing enjoyable dry heat for tourists seeking time on any of the breathtaking Guanacastecan beaches throughout the North-American winter.
Guanacastecan residents are unique in culture and language among Costa Ricans, because the Guanacaste province to this day still resembles Nicaraguan culture to whom it once belonged.
Cantons : Abangares, Bagaces, Cañas Blancas, Carrillo, Hojancha, La Cruz, Liberia, Nandayure, Nicoya, Santa Cruz and Tilarán
 Heredia - in the north-central part of Costa Rica - Capital City = Heredia.
To the north the Canton Heredia borders Nicaragua.
Cantons : Barva, Belén, Flores, Heredia, San Isidro, San Pablo, San Rafael, Santa Bárbara, Santo Domingo and Sarapiquí
 Limon - in the eastern part at the coat of the Atlantic Ocean - Capital City = Puerto Limón
It borders Panama and Nicaragua.
Cantons : Guácimo, Limón, Matina, Pococí, Siquirres and Talamanca.
 Puntarenas - in the western part of the country, covering most of Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean coast.
It borders Panama. Capital City = Puntarenas. The island Isla del Coco, 500 km offshore in the Pacific Ocean, is considered a part of this province.
Cantons : Aguirre, Buenos Aires, Corredores, Coto Brus, Esparza, Garabito, Golfito, Montes de Oro, Parrita and Puntarenas.
 San Jose Province - in the central part of the country - capital = San José
Cantons : Acosta, Alajuelita, Aserrí, Curridabat, Desamparados, Dota, Escazú, Goicoechea, Leon Cortés, Montes de Oca, Mora, Moravia, Perez Zeledón, Puriscal, San José Canton, Santa Ana, Tarrazú, Tibá, Turrubares, Vásquez de Coronado

 Alajuela
 Cartago
 Escazú
 Golfito
 Jacó
 Liberia
 Limón
 Nicoya
 Puntaneras City - at the Pacific Ocean - white beaches
its port, Caldera, is one of the main ports in the country.
 San José
 Tibás

Touristic Regions :

 Caribbean
 Central Pacific
 Central Valley
 Monteverde
 North Pacific
 Northern Zone
 South Pacific

 Press - The Tico Times Online - news
 Ticos
The Ticos, as Costa Ricans are commonly known, are famous for their hospitality
 University of Costa Rica - established in 1843.

Cuisine - Costa Rican Cooking Recipes

 Pura Vida - Ana's special recipes

History of Costa Rica

Independence: 15 September 1821 [ from Spain ].

In Pre-Columbian times the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of the Intermediate Area located between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions.

 Costa Rica's History - Wikipedia
In 1502, on his fourth and last voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus made the first European landfall in the area. Settlement of Costa Rica began in 1522. The native people of the Mayans and Aztecs were conquered by Spain in the 16th century. Costa Rica was then the southern-most province in the Spanish territory of New Spain...

Music, Culture & Entertainment

The predominant influence has long been European, which is reflected in everything from the official language -- Spanish -- to the architecture of the country's churches and other historic buildings.

 Costa Rican Spanish / Lonely Planet Phrasebook - Thomas Kohnstamm
This phrasebook gives an essential guide to mastering the local Spanish idiom, and includes an extensive section on the flora and fauna of Costa Rica. It covers food, accommodation and getting around, and gives a guide to grammar and punctuation.
Paperback 256 pages (June 16, 2000); Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; Language: English; ISBN: 1864501057
 Culture of Costa Rica
In Costa Rica the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures meet. The north of the country was the southernmost point of mayan influence when the Spanish conquistadores came in the 16th century. On the opposite, the center and south portions of the country had chibcha influences. Due to the practice of enslavement in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Atlantic coast of the country was populated with african slaves. In the meantime, thousands of Chinese families came to the country to work in the train railroads. So all of these influences have developed the extremely varied culture of Costa Rica...
 Afro-Limonese Music of Costa Rica [ To hear a song sample, click on the song titles ]
Audio CD; Number of Discs:1; Label: Lyrichord; ASIN: B0000022A8; Catalogue Number: LYRCD7412
 Music of Costa Rica - Compania Folclorica Matambu
Audio CD (June 13, 2005); Number of Discs:1; Label: Arc; ASIN: B0009OORJ2; Catalogue Number: EUCD1940

Web Portal / Search Engine / Costa Rica Directory

 Costa Rica Web
 Costa Rica Net
Hotels, campings, diving, beaches, economy and public transport.
 Costa Rica Online
 Costa Rica Traveler - Magazine
 Kostaryka
Web-page dedicated to the astonishing, beautifull, magical country and to its incredible nation - Ticos.
 1costaricalink.com

 Centramerica.com


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