Riding the Waves in Costa Rica

Though perfect curls roll in on both of Costa Rica’s coasts year round, April marks the beginning of big wave season on the Pacific side. Serious surfers have scores of sites to explore, from the southernmost swells in pretty, pristine Pavones, home to one of the longest lefts in the world; to epic Ollie’s Point in the far northwest—named for Oliver North, who handed off supplies to Nicaraguan Contras here during the 1980s.

Like many of Costa Rica’s best breaks, Ollie’s Point and neighboring Witch’s Rock, with its eerily howling backdrop, were immortalized in Bruce Brown’s 1994 movie Endless Summer II. The flick followed its iconic 1966 predecessor to Costa Rica (among other locales) to check out the growing global surf scene, and helped this small Central American country grow from an almost undeveloped surfing secret to one of the top destinations for waveriders from all over the globe.

The movie focuses on the Nicoya Peninsula, home to legendary surf spots such as the festive beach town of Tamarindo, with hotels for every budget and amusements for the whole family; much more isolated Nosara, where surfing is still the main attraction; and the incredibly beautiful twin surfing communities on Nicoya’s southern tip, Mal Pais and Santa Teresa.

But don’t overlook the lush Caribbean Coast’s wild and wonderful waves, which are less predictable than those on the Pacific, but can grow to Hawaii-sized proportions depending on the weather. The most popular eastern beach town is Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, with easy access to expert-only Salsa Brava, right offshore, and more beginner-friendly breaks up and down the coast.

There are dozens of other waves crashing into Costa Rica’s undulated shore, with lefts and rights for every expertise. Although many of the most famous breaks are described in online guides such as Surf Costa Rica.com, CRSurf.com, and Costa Rica Surfing Travel Guide, as well as specialty guidebooks like Mike Parise’s recommended Surfers Guide to Costa Rica, keep in mind that there are plenty of secret surf spots you’ll only find out about once you’ve arrived.

Los Sueños Resort and Marina is happily splashed by some of the best-loved surf spots in Costa Rica, the most famous located right at our doorstep, in the bustling town of Jacó. The popular, reliable beach break is perfect for beginners, and fun for anyone warming up for the more challenging waves at Playa Hermosa, just five minutes away.

If you’re an experienced surfer, you’re already daydreaming about the peaks and barrels rising with the season—let us recommend local surf operators who’ll help you find the sweet spot. In the Jaco and Los Suenos Resort areas, we’ll set you up with national champion surfers (they teach as well as they surf!). If you’ve always wondered what it was like to ride the waves, but never had the chance to try, this is it! You won’t find a finer place for your first lesson. Don’t be shy—every surfer out there had a first time. Make this vacation yours.

View over the Osa Peninsula and Golfo Dulce

The Most Biodiverse Place on Earth: Corcovado National Park and the Osa Peninsula

Lost in lush lowland rainforests left pristine by millennia of isolation, Corcovado National Park is Costa Rica at its most fantastic and untamed. Its endless, undulating, and wholly undeveloped beaches, and its wild jungled heart, absolutely teem with life. Visitors to even to the wonderful hotels fringing the park will gasp as flocks of lapas (red macaws) and families of monkeys gossip in the vine-strewn canopy above.

Toucans make effective alarm clocks in Cabo Matapalo

There are a perhaps two other spots that can claim an equal ecological richness—Yasuni National Park in Ecuador and Weltevrede in South Africa—but the Osa Peninsula’s relatively easy accessibility, combined with Costa Rica’s long term commitment to conservation and sustainability, set Corcovado apart.

Costa Rica famously sits atop an ancient land bridge connecting two rich continents and two blue seas, home to a range of elevations and climates that nurtures some 4% of the world’s species on only .03% of its land mass. While the tiny nation preserves many regions with remarkable ecosystems (by global standards), Corcovado and, indeed, all of the Oso Peninsula that it occupies, are by far and away the most important.

Sharp-eyed visitors could potentially spot four species of monkeys, including the endangered and adorable red-backed squirrel monkey; dantas (Baird’s tapirs); six big cats, the highest concentration in Central America; and many other mammals. Birders quite rightly consider this paradise, with more than 400 bird species flitting around, along with scores of reptiles and amphibians, and more than 10,000 types of insect (bring repellant). There are many more species just offshore, including four types of sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and more than 40 species of fish. Scuba and snorkel trips to Isla Caño are a popular excursion from Drake’s Bay.

Puerto Jiménez's modest beach is still a fine spot to swim and relax.

While visiting the Osa Peninsula is pricey and time-consuming compared to other Costa Rican destinations, improving roads and regular flights to the peninsula’s major towns—Puerto Jimenez, Palmar Sur, Drake’s Bay, and nearby Golfito—make it easier than ever to visit. Charter planes can even be arranged to La Sirena Ranger Station, in the heart of the park.

The classic trek for fit adventurers is a challenging three-day, 37km (23mi) across the park; either arrange this through a tour operator or make reservations well in advance with AMBICOR, which administrates the park. Note that it rains almost year round, with August through November the wettest months. Most travelers try to visit between December and May, the driest months, when you should definitely have reservations, and expect bigger crowds.

Less adventurous wildlife lovers can enjoy the almost equally beautiful outskirts of the park while enjoying a variety of hotels and their thickly forested grounds. All can help arrange day trips into the park itself, as well as many other tours, including zip lines, cacao farms, dolphin trips, private reserves, and more. The most accessible, developed village on the peninsula is Puerto Jimenez, 43km (26mi) from the La Leona entrance to the park, where you’ll find a handful of other options. It’s the best choice for budget travelers because of bus access and several simple hotels. Cabo Matapalo, a picturesque beach between Puerto Jiménez and La Leona, also has a few hotels and hostels.

Lodging in much more isolated Drake’s Bay is pricier for what you get, and accessible primarily by plane or a dreamy boat trip along the Río Sierpe. It’s worth it for the fantastic scenery and the feeling of being right in the park, but with most of the amenities of civilization. Several other amazing lodges, tent camps, and beautiful hotels are scattered around the park’s parameters, including luxurious Lapa Rios, magical Danta Corcovado Lodge, and many more.

The road to La Leona and Corcovado National Park

Visiting the Osa Peninsula and Corcovado National Park takes a bit more effort and planning than other wilderness destinations in Costa Rica, and certainly isn’t for everyone. But if you’re up for a trek into the heart of one of the world’s last pristine rainforests and all it preserves, there is no easier or more accessible option.

A Hiker’s Paradise: Rincón de la Vieja’s Dry Tropical Forests

The misty rainforests, draped thick across most of Costa Rica, are justly famed for their pristine wilderness. But adventurers who seek to penetrate their muddy understories must come prepared: Guides are almost always required to identify birdcalls in the fog, while rubber boots—or better, hanging bridges and canopy tours—are recommended in the slippery rainy season.

Hikers in search of drier trails, however, with clearer views and no need for guides (though they can be arranged) could consider visiting easily accessible Rincón de la Vieja National Park instead, less than an hour from and the international airport. The huge volcanic massif, sometimes called the “Colossus of Guanacaste,” dominates northwestern Costa, covering 14,084 hectares (34,800 acres) and rising to 1916m (6286ft). Most of the volcano is covered with dry tropical forest, Central America’s rarest biome because it is so easily explored—trails are easily negotiated and wildlife clearly visible, particularly in summer months (December through May) when many trees lose their leaves.

Birders in particular will appreciate Rincón de la Vieja’s prodigious fauna, including several species of parrots, parakeets, trogons, and hummingbirds, as well as urracas (magpie jays), bellbirds, toucans, woodpeckers, and perhaps even quetzals at the highest altitudes. Spotting monkeys (howler, spider, and capuchins swing through these trees), pizotes (coatimundis), and kinkajous is almost guaranteed; luckier hikers may find two-toed sloths, armadillos, anteaters, dantas (tapirs) or even big cats. Butterflies flutter in colorful clouds between the buttressed roots of enormous matapalos (strangler figs), while the park’s varied bouquet includes stands of guaria morada orchids, Costa Rica’s national flower.

There are two entrances to the park, about 30km (18mi) from downtown Liberia; many local hotels run shuttles, which take about an hour on the unpaved roads. There is also lodging closer to the top. Both sectors have ranger stations with potable water and shady campgrounds, complete bathrooms and grills, still a rarity even in this outdoorsy nation.

The Santa María Sector is a good choice for people who want to visit Los Azufrales, simple, cement-lined hot springs about 4km (2.5mi) from the ranger station. The majority of trails, however, begin in the Las Pailas Sector, where most shuttle drop you off; the entrances are connected by a little-used, 9km (5mi) trail through the rolling, forested volcanic skirts, primarily hiked by wildlife watchers.

The most popular trail is a relatively flat, 4km (2.5mi) loop past a variety of volcanic features: simmering fumeroles, boiling lakes, bubbling mud pots, popping sulfur vents, and even a sweet little volcanito (small volcano) where iguanas often sun themselves. We recommend saving this trail for the afternoon, if you plan to visit to one of the two picturesque waterfalls as well.

Both waterfall trails run about 4.5km (2.5mi) from the Las Pailas ranger station. Catarata Cangreja is the slightly easier trail (though still challenging), and is perhaps the lovelier cascade, dyed that celestial volcanic blue. Visiting Catarata Escondida requires a much steeper hike, and is the smaller fall. But, as the majority of hikers are put off by the climb, you may have the “Hidden Cascade” all to yourself. Either way, pack some snacks and enjoy a swim in paradise.

Serious climbers will want to take on the very steep, 12km (8mi) trail to active Von Seebach Crater, a simmering acid lake surrounded by a 5-kilometer-wide, barren lunar landscape, a compound caldera that most recently spewed forth lava in 1998. The hike takes all day, and the last two kilometers are extremely steep, and can be slippery and dangerous. The peak may be entirely enveloped in foggy rain even on otherwise sunny days, which will not only obscure your volcanic view, but may even necessitate turning back. You’ll be rewarded, regardless, with views across Guanacaste and to Lake Nicaragua, well worth the trip.

Rincón de la Vieja National Park is open Tuesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; entrance is US$10 for foreign visitors. Day trips can be arranged from Los Sueños and Jaco; many offer the option of a canopy tour at Hacienda Guachipelin, with decent lodging, horseback tours, and more. Much plusher accommodations can be arranged at Blue River Resort Hotel or Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa.

Costa Rican Coffee
Those neat rows of gleaming, emerald green coffee plant climbing into the Meseta Central no longer produce Costa Rica’s most important export, this is true. That distinction is now held microprocessors, a modern concession of the nation’s romantic past to the globalized economy.

Regardless, the “golden bean,” as coffee was once called, remains a rich and aromatic symbol of the nation. Easily processed and stored, cheerfully addictive, and wildly profitable, it transformed Costa Rica from a forgotten backwater of the Spanish Empire to an agricultural powerhouse, just decades after its arrival in the 1779. It would go on to define an era—the Coffee Boom of the late 1850s to early 1900s—memorialized by the Central Valley’s finest architecture and a railway system, once the pride of the Americas, built to transport this precious cargo.

Today, the nation’s seasonal pulse is still defined by the all-important coffee crop. Tiny white flowers bloom every April in a tropical blizzard of pale petals, draped across the chill volcanic slopes. As rainy season begins in earnest, these become the hard green peaberries, or coffee fruits, that will ripen to a juicy ruby red by November or so, just in time for uniformed children to pluck a few on their way to school.

The dates vary, of course, according to elevation and variety, but the main December to February harvest sends the entire Central Plateau into high gear. Workers flood the fields with their baskets and wide-brimmed hats, picking each fragile fruit by hand. The beans are then usually wet processed, using enormous tubs to wash the surprisingly sweet fruit off the seed, before it has time to ferment and change the flavor. (Some specialty blends do used slightly fermented seeds, but this is an acquired taste.)

The beans are then dried, usually by raking them over cement patios in the sun; if you explore rural Costa Rica during harvest, you’ll see yellow beans spread out on the sides of paved roads. Finally, the coffee is hulled, to remove the “parchment,” then processed for roasting and grinding. The classic Costa Rican method of brewing coffee uses a chorreador, or coffee sock: a cotton filter filled with fresh coffee is suspended above a cup or pot, and hot water is poured through by hand.

Several fincas, or coffee plantations, offer tours year-round, and the very best time to visit is during the harvest. The most popular tours are offered by Britt Café, complete with costumed song-and-dance numbers that entertain the kids; and Doka Estate, a more sedate, traditional tour, both just outside San José. There are several other fincas with similar offerings, including the Santa Elena Fair Trade Cooperative and Don Juan Coffee Tour, both in the Monteverde cloud forests, and even smaller operations in Tarrazu and Orosí, just south of San José.

No matter where you go, however, be sure to pick up a few bags of fine Costa Rican coffee before heading home—this is one souvenir that just about every adult on your list will appreciate. While the most popular brands, such as Britt, are sure to keep your favorite caffeine addicts happy, don’t discount the cheaper, pre-ground store brands preferred by locals, like Café 1820. Because only perfect, whole beans can be considered for exports, cracked but otherwise delicious coffee is relegated for the local market, but well worth a try.

Our favorite is Quick Monkey, the farm boarders primary rainforest and the coffee is shade grown on the side of a mountain in Monte Azul’s nature preserve near Chirripo, Costa Rica’s highest peak at 12,530 feet (3,727 meters) in the Talamanca Range. We include a bag in all of our guests’ vacation rental gift baskets when they stay in Costa Rica with Mead Brown.  Guests often make a special effort to rave to us about how marvelous the coffee is. You can visit the once abandoned coffee farm or take the full organic coffee tour. As a proud member of their local organic coop of family farms, La Alianza, Monte Azul Hotel + Center for Contemporary Art guarantees their process is 100% natural and organic, straight to your cup!

Coursing a brilliant blue through the jungled slopes of Tenorio Volcano, today protected as a national park, the Río Celeste is one of Costa Rica’s most beautiful, and mysterious, natural wonders. A cerulean stream of liquid sky, it cascades into magnificent falls and pools that transcend any hue nature elsewhere provides.

The source of its fantastic color, which gives the Río Celeste (Heavenly Blue River), is difficult for the layperson to pin down. Some experts say that microscopic shards of silica in the water reflect long waves of pure light; others suggest that sulfur and calcium carbonate react with an azure abandon atop the volcano. Indigenous inhabitants supposedly believed that after God painted this sky, this was where he washed his brush.

Whatever the true explanation, it is a miracle that almost anyone can see with their own eyes, just a moderately difficult, easy-to-follow, 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) hike from the national park’s ranger station.

Two streams, as clear and unremarkable as any in the world, course through the tapir- and orchid-strewn cloud forests without a hint of the magic to come. When they meet, however, as suddenly as love, they are transformed into that brilliant blue.

Subsequently fed by hidden thermal springs, where you can relax into Tenorio’s liquid heart, the Río Celeste forms fantastic pools (the brightest with signs asking visitors not to swim) before falling in a magnificent waterfall. Below its mighty cascade, visitors are welcome to splash around in the turquoise water.

Active Volcán Tenorio’s gentle summit (6,287ft/1,913m), in southeastern Guanacaste, enjoys a moist, cool Caribbean microclimate, thanks to a trick of swirling winds that form above Costa Rica’s tectonic spine. Several species, including howler and capuchin monkeys, tapirs, ocelots, jaguars, and several trogons, are at home in the premontane rainforest and cloud forest that define the park.

Tenorio is little visited, compared to other volcanic attractions, because of its rather remote location—about four hours from San José, 2 hours from Liberia, and 1.5 hours from La Fortuna. Buses serve Bijagua, a quiet, agrarian village at Tenorio’s base, but you’ll need to hire a 4WD taxi (around US$30 roundtrip) or rent a 4WD car (2WD is possible, but not recommended, in dry season) to ascend the very rough, 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) access road to the ranger station. Several tour operators offer all-inclusive day trips, the most convenient from La Fortuna (Arenal).

There are a handful of lodging options close to the park, including a few rather basic spots in Bijagua. The most comfortable options include Tenorio Lodge, with polished bungalows, a Jacuzzi, and magnificent views; and Celeste Mountain Lodge, offering eco-friendly accommodations and specialized tours. Travelers who don’t mind more rustic conditions (read: no electricity) will love , on gorgeous green fringes of the park, with access (perhaps on horseback) to hot springs and swimming.

The View of Arenal Volcano from The Springs Resort and Spa

Thanks to its well-watered rainforests and warm volcanic heart, Costa Rica is awash thermal rivers. Many hot springs that flow through this lush, tropical landscape have been left entirely wild, protected by the nation’s famed national park system. Others have been beautifully developed, and cater to every fantastic whim.

The most popular springs cascade down Arenal Volcano, a majestic lava-streaked cone that has become a symbol of Costa Rica. The most luxurious is famed Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort, sculpted from three mineral-rich thermal rivers into Central America’s most celebrated spa, one of the region’s true wonders. Newer, and The Springs Resort and Spa, nearby, also gets raves from discriminating travelers for its wonderfully landscaped pools and uniquely decorated suites.

Other fine spots to soak your cares away include festive Baldi Hot Springs Resort Hotel & Spa, offering good accommodations, a fun atmosphere, and a serious waterslide. Budget travelers head to affordable, family-owned Eco Termales, featuring five fine pools and traditional Costa Rican cuisine.

Look beyond Arenal, however, for healing hot springs less traveled, bubbling up through Costa Rica’s rich volcanic soil. Just an hour north of the San José, for example, you’ll find a local favorite, delightful Termales del Bosque, with wild pools ensconced in butterfly-strewn forests, featuring family-friendly accommodations and activities onsite. Neighboring Occidental El Tucano caters to luxury lovers, with its elegant Mediterranean-style pools and facilities. Or, just a few minutes south of the capital, is the misty coffee-growing town of
Orosí with two inexpensive warm springs you could visit on an easy afternoon outing.

Guanacaste, best known for its epic Pacific coastline, is home to scores more springs. Within an hour of the Liberia International Airport, you’ll find a handful of wild aguas termales (thermal waters) at
Rincón de la Vieja National Park. Or head down the slopes of the massive volcano to find developed springs, such as elegant Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa, with natural steam rooms, and newer
Blue River Resort Hotel.

Miravalles Volcano, rising to twin peaks just south of Liberia, has Costa Rica’s largest collection of hot springs in Costa Rica, many of them simple, inexpensive-to-visit cement pools that cater to local families, advertised with only hand-lettered signs. But consider three excellent developed options: Yökö Termales, with awe-inspiring views and perhaps the hottest soaking pool in Costa Rica; wild and wonderful Termomanía, with several pools and very affordable accommodations, perfect for families on a budget; and Las Hornillas Volcanic Activity Center, well worth visiting even if you’re staying elsewhere for the raised walkway through an active crater.

But these are just a few of Costa Rica’s most easily accessible springs, there are many, many more. From the deepest known thermal pool in Central America, a simple ojo caliente (hot eye) of dark water stretching some two kilometers beneath Cahuita National Park, on the Caribbean Coast; to the delightful springs perfect for an after-yoga soak at San Gerardo de Dota’s Río Chirripo Retreat, the possibilities are almost endless.

Costa Rica has long been known as a healing destination, its natural bounty offering much to sooth both the body and soul. The thermal springs welling up from these living mountains and luxuriant jungles are perhaps its most profound gift to visitors here to relax and rejuvenate in paradise.

Lonely Planet Images/Alamy

According to Travel + Leisure magazine (September 2010), the country that emerges as both the safest and the happiest in the world turns out to be the place where many Americans got their first taste of adventure travel.  

Those same travelers keep coming back to Costa Rica to go rafting on the Reventazón River, brave the surf in Malpais, or head out on horseback to explore the volcano and geysers at Rincón de la Vieja National Park.  Or maybe to simply lie on one of the country’s dozens of Pacific beaches and stay at a small, affordable lodge.  

One of those rare countries without armed forces, Costa Rica gives fresh meaning to the term peaceful.