Highlights

Its history, long coastlines, and lush and variant topography allow Costa Rica to offer a unique range of sights and activities to a diverse range of travelers. High-energy rain-forest ecotours, watersports activities, historical tours of the cities, and relaxing on the beach are all options.

Although contradictions abound, Costa Rica is blessed with a conscientious leadership that appreciates the value of the nation's natural heritage. Although much of Costa Rica has been stripped of its forests, the country has managed to protect a larger proportion of its land than any other country in the world. In 1970 there was a growing acknowledgment that something unique and lovely was vanishing, and a systematic effort began to save what was left of the wilderness. In that year, progressive Costa Ricans formed a national park system that has won worldwide admiration. Costa Rican law declared inviolate more than 10 percent of the land; an additional 17 percent is legally set aside as forest reserves, "buffer zones," wildlife refuges, and Native American reserves. Throughout the country, representative sections of all major habitats and ecosystems are protected for future generations.

The National Parks Service is in charge of managing 20 national parks, eight biological reserves, and a national monument. The Forestry Department and National Wildlife Directorate are responsible for 26 protected zones plus forest reserves and fauna sanctuaries.

In the Central Highlands you'll find Poás Volcano, with active fumaroles, viewing platforms, good geological displays, nature trails, and stunning views on clear days. Also worth visiting is the Guayabo National Monument, the nation's only pre-Columbian archaeological site of significance and an intriguing introduction to Costa Rica's heritage.

In the Northern Lowlands and along the Caribbean coast, visit Tortuguero National Park, a coastal jungle with vast numbers of birds and animals easily seen on guided boat trips. Turtles come ashore to lay eggs here, and you'll find superb fishing in the area. Other notable sites are Cahuita National Park, a coastal park with pretty beaches, coral reefs, and nature trails leading into coastal rain forest; and the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, a remote lagoon surrounded by wetlands with vast quantities of birds and other wildlife.

The Central and Southwest Pacific sections of the country are the location of Manuel Antonio National Park, a popular small rain-forest preserve with diverse wildlife, good nature trails, and beautiful beaches; Corcovado National Park, a remote and pristine rain-forest reserve harboring jaguars, macaws, and other rare species; and Chirripó National Park, a remote and rugged region surrounding Costa Rica's highest peak. The hiking to the summit is superb but strenuous.

In Guanacaste Province, in the northwest section of the country, you'll find La Casona, Costa Rica's most important historic site. This rustic farmstead, now a museum, has been the setting of three major battles. Guanacaste is well known for Lake Arenal. The area has quilted patchwork farmland and forest reaching to the lake. It is a favored windsurfing spot, with smoldering Arenal Volcano as a backdrop.

The Nicoya Peninsula offers Playa Grande, an important leatherback turtle nesting site and one of Costa Rica's prettiest beaches—great for surfing, too; Playa Conchal, a supremely beautiful white-sand beach on the threshold of development (Playa Flamingo, immediately north, gives it a run for its money); and Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, one of two major nesting sites featuring arribadas (mass nestings) of the Pacific ridley turtle.

Outdoor and sports enthusiasts will find plenty of resources in Costa Rica or through tour companies based in North America and Europe. Enjoy ballooning, bicycling (Costa Ricans are particularly fond of cycling, and bicycle racing is a major sport), bird-watching, ocean cruises and yachting, deep-sea fishing (the country is the Pacific sailfish capital of the world, the tarpon capital on the Caribbean), inland and coastal fishing, hiking, horseback riding (in Guanacaste Province, the nation's "Old West," horses are still the traditional means of transportation), motorcycle touring, scuba diving, sea kayaking, surfing, windsurfing, whitewater rafting, canoeing, and golfing.

In addition to outdoor activities, historic San José offers the National Museum, an old fort housing displays on Costa Rica's history and cultures from pre-Columbian days to the present; the National Theater, a landmark with magnificent murals and interior decoration; the National Arts and Cultural Center, housed in the former Liquor Factory, with art, architectural, and photo exhibitions as well as performing-arts theaters; and the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, with a superb collection of pre-Columbian gold figurines and ornaments.