Costa Rica offers excellent choices for outdoor family trips.
After spending one night in San José in a very comfortable and charming hotel, we’ll depart in the early morning for a beautiful 3 days / 2 nights expedition to the northeast region of the country to experience Tortuguero. It is one of the most important national parks on the Caribbean side and is only 100 miles from San José. We’ll be traveling across jungles and extensive banana plantations.
We’ll drive to the Parismina River for a two-hour boat trip, getting the real feeling of being in a rainforest habitat where we’ll see lots of wildlife. Actually, just to get to the park is simply awesome. Then the very next day, we’ll do boat trips on some of the canals of Tortuguero exploring one of the major rainforest ecosystems. The whole area is known as the epicenter of evolution in terms of species.
Fortuna is the northernmost town of the province of Alajuela where we’ll be staying the next three nights. This town is blessed by God in terms of tourism, as they have rivers, some of the most gorgeous waterfalls, beautiful rainforest and an active volcano.
You can do lots of exciting activities there like: lava walks, white-water rafting, hanging bridges, horseback riding to a wonderful waterfall, pure trek rappelling and more. All this at the base of Arenal — one of the most active volcanoes in Central America. Late in the afternoon you could enjoy thermal hot springs or maybe a good massage.
From Fortuna town to Guanacaste province is a beautiful drive. First we go around Lake Arenal to the lowlands of Guanacaste where most of the terrain is very flat except for some high volcanoes on the northern side.
Some of the best beaches are in these provinces where the weather is great from November to May. Surfing, snorkeling, and deep sea fishing are some of the great activities to do in Guanacaste. Also, you could fly directly in to Liberia International Airport which is in the province of Guanacaste, so you don’t have to drive three hours from San José.
Guanacaste covers the northwestern side of the country. In this region the temperature is normally 85˚ and the sun shines on the beautiful beaches. Zip lining canopy tours, tubing on rivers, horseback riding, volcano hikes, and many other activities can be arranged at this place or you could simply spend time at the beach.
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Click on the regions over the map
to see a description.
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Guanacaste Province
At the time of freedom from Spain in 1821, Guanacaste was an autochthonous province, so it was not part of Costa Rica until 1824 when it was decided to annex it to our country. At that time in history the access to this region was difficult for Costa Ricans, but easier for Nicaraguans.
So, for many years Guanacaste had a very strong Nicaraguan influence until the arrival of Costa Ricans during the 1970s. Costa Ricans loved Guanacaste because of its beautiful beaches, great weather, and most of all, its beautiful people. It is a great vacationing place for us. I personally think Costa Ricans are very proud of having Guanacaste as a part of our country.
Getting there is a very easy drive on the beautiful Pan-American highway or by flying to the second most important international airport, Liberia. In this area you’ll find good roads, restaurants and some excellent hotels.
Caribbean Side
Tortuguero National Park is located 100 miles east of San José on the Caribbean side in the province of Limón where 70% of the population is of Afro Caribbean influence. The reason is that some of the Jamaicans who came to work on the railway construction back in the 1870s decided to stay on in that part of the country after they finished the job.
Many years later, the area of Tortuguero was declared a national park to protect hundreds of acres of rainforest and the arrival of large numbers of different species of turtles that come to nest here every year. Now they have one of the most important national parks on the northeast side of the province bringing lots of benefits to the community and protecting the area at the same time. If you like green and big rivers plus incredible wildlife, you’ll love this place.
The best time to come is from February to September when the weather is great. But if you come in June, July or August the turtle season is awesome. The town is very small; there are only 400 inhabitants. The only way to get there is by boat or flying.
Northern Region
Alajuela is the second largest province in Costa Rica and it’s one of the vacationing places for Costa Ricans due to the big variety of places to go and things to do.
Here you’ll see volcanoes, lots of farmland and several national parks with a great diversity of ecosystems. When you fly into our country, you’ll land at Juan Santa Maria international airport, located in the Alajuela province.
Fortuna is a very prosperous town as 80% of the income comes from the tourism industry which is mainly owned by families from the area. These people keep everything clean and organized, so it’s a very nice town to visit. You could easily spend three or four days there. We highly recommend this section of the country.
In the Fortuna area you’ll find the biggest lake in the country and the most active volcano together with excellent river rafting and some incredible rainforest ecosystems. You’ll enjoy Fortuna town.
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Pacific Eco-Safari 
