From coast to capital: Costa Rica's three gateway destinations
Costa Rica is home to some of the planet’s most biodiverse rainforests, as well as extraordinary beaches and volcanoes — and all are within easy reach of its three gateway destinations of San Jose, Guanacaste and Costa Verde.
Orchid-swathed jungles, misbehaving monkeys, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, dangling sloths and mangrove-dwelling crocodiles: in Costa Rica, life plays out in all its technicolour glory. Renowned for its extraordinary biodiversity and epic national parks, it’s a country made for eco-adventures. Here, leisurely hikes might mean ascending into the hazy mists of a cloud forest to zip-line through the verdant canopy, or surfing on wave-battered, white-sand Pacific beaches before taking a soothing soak in a geothermal spring.
Whatever your preference, Costa Rica offers a little piece of paradise for every type of traveller, whether that’s sipping the locally grown coffee, lazing on castaway beaches or exploring under-the-radar cities and resorts with a tropical vibe.
San José
Best for: culture connoisseurs
Although San José is often overlooked in the mad dash to the jungle, don’t just blaze through it; Costa Rica’s capital hums with life, entrances with street art and tropical parks and punches high culturally with a hattrick of museums. To get acquainted with the country’s history, culture and cuisine, spend a day or two here to click into Costa Rica’s groove.
Kick off with a bean-to-cup brew, then dive into the madness of Mercado Central, thronging with Josefino locals buying coffee beans and, seemingly, every tropical fruit under the sun. A single museum pass gets you into the city’s trio of museums: Museo de Oro, dazzling with pre-Columbian gold, Museo del Jade, a feast of jade carvings, and Museo Nacional, delivering a serious hit of history and an enchanting butterfly atrium.
Did you know? San José was built on the coffee trade and Grano de Oro (Gold Bean) plantations still fringe the city. A coffee tax was introduced to bankroll the lavish, late 19th-century National Theater of Costa Rica, San José’s pride and joy.
Costa Verde
Best for: beach-lovers
Monkeys howling in the jungle behind the beach, national parks pulsing with wildlife, black volcanic sands fizzing into the turquoise waves of the Pacific — the Central Volcanic Coast is quite possibly the Costa Rica of your wildest fantasies.
The beaches are pinch-yourself pretty. Take Playa Herradura, for starters, with its dark sands bounded by rainforest and crashing surf — never lovelier than when lit by the fiery skies of sunset. Come to ride waves, paddle a kayak or balance on a standup paddleboard (perhaps in yoga pose). So dramatic is the backdrop that it featured in the 1992 Ridley Scott film 1492: Conquest of Paradise.
Stray from the beach and you’ll find a tropical wonderland in Carara National Park, brimming with wildlife, including scarlet macaws, toucans, crocodiles three-toed sloths and capuchin, spider and howler monkeys. Try whitewater rafting, hiking, horse-riding, zip-lining and parasailing in the thrilling Manuel Antonio National Park, where the jungle meets ocean
Don’t miss: Surf’s up at Playa Hermosa, famous for having one of the country’s most powerful reef breaks. In 2022, the beach became a World Surfing Reserve.
Guanacaste
Best for: active travellers
If you thought Costa Rica was wild, wait until you reach Guanacaste, a spectacularly biodiverse province in the northwest of the country. Here, volcanoes of the Cordillera de Guanacaste bubble up above geothermal springs, which give way to vast savanna-like grasslands, mist-veiled cloud forest and tropical dry forest.
There’s hot competition, beach wise, but few playas are more insanely beautiful than frost-white Playa Conchal, formed by millions of crushed seashells. Swim, snorkel and raft by day, and by night peer up to starry skies or join a night-time turtle-watching tour.
A stone’s-throw from the coast, you can get thrillingly close to wildlife in some of Costa Rica’s greatest national parks, such as lagoon-dotted Palo Verde, where boat tours and trails get you close to the likes of bight-pink roseate spoonbills and long-legged wood storks. Coyotes, jaguarundis and howler monkeys also inhabit the park. Want more? Diriá is a delight, with its crashing waterfalls, swimming holes and wildlife, from coatimundi to anteaters and electric-blue morpho butterflies.
Don’t miss: Teeming with wildlife, Santa Rosa National Park contrasts one of the world’s largest swathes of tropical dry forest with pristine, deserted beaches where sea turtles nest.
Plan your trip
Where to stay
For beach weather and wildlife-watching, visit during dry season (December to April). Set in a stylishly revamped former coffee plantation hacienda, Costa Rica Marriott Hotel Hacienda Belen is brilliantly placed for exploring San José, with luxury rooms, a restaurant riffing modern on Costa Rican cuisine, a golf driving range, palm-rimmed pool and a spa featuring coffee-infused treatments.
Pacific waves are the backbeat at Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort, reclining on Playa Herradura, a whisper away from Carara National Park. Located between rainforest and ocean, the hotel has everything from in-room hammocks to a swim-up bar, nature-driven spa treatments and an 18-hole, par-72 golf course.
Embedded in mangrove forests on the flour-white sands of Playa Conchal, W Costa Rica - Reserva Conchal fuses daring design with pops of bold colour. Go for a treehouse room or an ocean-view suite with private plunge pool and hand-crafted surfboard table. After a day of golf, surf and rainforest adventures, return for beach cocktails and bocas (tapas) at the beach club and spa.
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