Costa Rica Central Pacific Region

The Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica is possibly the most popular tourist destination in the whole country, and certainly one of the most easily accessible. The Central Pacific coastline features superb beaches, rain forests and world class sports fishing, along with many important national and protected areas and is easily accessible from Costa Rica's capital city of San Jose via either plane or car.

The primary province of the Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica is that of Puntarenas. Puntarenas is the area where you can sample a little of everything that makes Costa Rica what it is, with breathtaking beaches, pounding surf and dry and rain forests. Unlike many other provinces, such as Guanacaste, Puntarenas actually has no dry season, but along with the inevitable rain which comes all year long, the weather is actually quite fair in the area for the majority of the time. In terms of protected areas, the province of Puntarenas plays home to no fewer than ten National Parks, all of which serve as sanctuaries for the preservation of Costa Rica's exotic and unique local fauna and flora.

In addition to the world famous Manuel Antonio National Park, other Costa Rica National Parks situated within the province are the Panas Blancas National Wildlife Refuge, the Guayabo, Negritos and Pajaros Islands Biological Reserves, Curu National Wildlife Refuge, Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve, Carara Biological Reserve, Ballena Marine National Park, La Amistad International Park, Corcovado National Park, Cano Island Biological Reserve, Golfito National Wildlife and Cocos Island National Park.

The Manuel Antonio National Park is, quite simply, the most visited tourist attraction in the whole of Costa Rica by quite some distance, with up to a hundred and fifty thousand tourists descending on the park every year, despite (somewhat ironically) actually being the smallest such National Park in the country, covering just four thousand and fourteen acres (just over sixteen kilometers) of land. Home to numerous endemic species of plant and animal life, Manuel Antonio National Park is famed for its stunning beaches (Manuel Antonio, Espadilla Sur, Teldoro and Playita) and hiking trails. Despite its relatively small stature in comparison to other National Parks, the reason for Manuel Antonio's status as the most visited park in Costa Rica is actually quite simple - it contains more diversity of wildlife within those parameters than any other such institution.

There are a hundred and nine separate species of mammals (including the Brown-throated Three-Toed Sloth, the Black Spiny-Tailed Iguana, Green Iguana, Common Basilisk, White-nosed coati, various snake and bat species, and three of Costa Rica's own four unique species of monkeys- the Mantled Howler, the Central American Squirrel Monkey and the White-Headed Capuchin Monkey) within the park's boundaries, and a quite staggering one hundred and eighty four different species of bird life, including toucans, woodpeckers, tanagers, parakeets, motmots and potoos. Dolphins and the odd migrating whale's can also be spotted in the Park sometimes, with many activities on offer designed to give tourists the best ways of sampling what the park has to offer, such as hiking, mountain biking, scuba diving, sea kayaking and snorkeling.

Carara National Park, also known as the Carara Biological Reserve, was originally a Reserve but was upgraded to full National Park status in 1998 (twenty years after its creation) due to the sheer volume of tourists that it attracted. It contains more actual rain forest than the nearby Manuel Antonio National Park, and as such is wetter, with more mosquitos and various other insects, and has much denser tree growth than its rival, which in turn makes it more of a haven for bird species. This has made Carara a haven for birdwatchers as well, with bird species such as various different types of egret, kingfishers, orange chinned parakeets and other parrots, several types of heron, anhinga, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, several varieties of water birds, several species of trogon including but not limited to the black throated trogon, motmots, jackamars, manikins, antbirds and the famous Scarlet Macaws. Mammal species to be found in the park include white tailed deer, brown throated three toed sloths, red brockets, Hoffman's two toed sloths, collared peccaries, white faced capuchin monkeys and howler monkeys, agouti and kinkajous, with reptile species including the American crocodile, green and black poison arrow frogs and various lizard and snake species.

Corcovado National Park (Parque Nacional Corcovado) spans around four hundred and twenty five kilometers of land and was described by no less than National Geographic as "the most biologically intense place on Earth", with the largest primary forest on the American Pacific coastline. Corcovado serves as home to several endangered species, such as the Baird's Tapir and very rare Harpy Eagle, and is also one of the last places in Central America to find the jaguar. One of the other biggest tourist attractions in the area, with more than seventy thousand visitors per year, is the internationally renowned Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Situated along the mountain ranges between Puntarenas and the adjoining province of Alajuela, the Reserva Biologica Nuboso Monteverde, as it is locally known, was named after the nearby town of Monteverde. Founded in 1972, the Reserve features over ten thousand and five hundred hectares of tropical rain forest and is a major example of the region's biodiversity, containing over two and a half thousand different plant species (including the largest number of orchid species found anywhere), a hundred different species of mammals, four hundred species of birds and a hundred and twenty species of reptiles and amphibians, along with many thousands of insect species. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is also famous as being the home of one of the world's most beautiful birds, the Resplendent Quetzel.

There are many beautiful beaches in the Central Pacific Region, including Herradura Beach and Jaco Beach. Jaco Beach is arguably the biggest tourist attraction of the beaches in the region, serving as a hub for accommodations, nightlife and shopping and with the infrastructure to cope with so many visitors. Herradura Beach, on the other hand, is almost the direct opposite, a small, quiet cove that while having an adequate infrastructure, seems to fall off the map of many tourists. Nonetheless, for those wanting a quieter area, Herradura Beach still offers plenty of activities such as sport fishing, visits to Tortuga Island, romantic sunset tours and numerous water related pastimes such as snorkeling, water skiing and wind surfing.

The province's capital, Puntarenas City itself, is also an increasingly popular tourist destination in its own right, being a busy seaport town with some of the best seafood and authentic Costa Rican food in the country. It is also the largest commercial harbor in the region. Other popular towns in the region include the surf town of Playa Hermosa, which hosts an annual international surfing competition, Dominical, which features several lovely beach resorts and also offers good surfing opportunities, and Jaco, a beach town in close proximity to San Jose which has long served as an ideal 'home base' for tourists wishing to explore the surrounding area.

The Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica is the most popular tourist region within the country, and not without good reason. A vacation in Costa Rica would not be complete without a visit and, indeed, deserves a full vacation - if not many more - all on its own.