Santa Cruz is located in the centre of the Nicoya Peninsula in the Province of Guanacaste. After Liberia, with its Daniel Oduber International Airport, Santa Cruz is the second important city in the province. Coming from San Jose in the Central Valley through Puntarenas or from Liberia’s airport on the way to the beaches of the Northern Pacific Coast like Tamarindo or Nosara, you will most likely cross the National Folklore City of Costa Rica, as Santa Cruz was declared by the Central American Institute of Tourism. The Province of Guanacaste is famous for its rural culture, with cowboys, wide pastures with cattle and green hills. The highlights of that culture culminate in the festivities that are regularly organized in the town of San Cruz; lively fiestas with music that simply makes everybody move, cattle shows, bull fights and rodeos. During all of these colourful activities you can enjoy the best Costa Rica’s kitchen has to offer in one of the town’s many restaurants or a cold refreshing drink in a soda or bar. Santa Cruz has a wide variety of shops were you can buy the skilfully made beautiful handicraft. The town of Guatil is close by where the Chorotega Indians produce pottery in a traditional way that goes back to pre-Colombian times and can also be found in Santa Cruz. If you are lucky when you visit the town there is a rodeo or a tope (horse parade) and you can admire the energetic, hot blooded horses with their riders, who come from all over the region to Santa Cruz, dressed cowboy style in their most beautiful clothes for the occasion. Santa Cruz is a town where you can walk around and observe the rural city life and the perfect place to enjoy a typical Guanacastecan dish, while listening to local marimba players. The closest beaches on the North Pacific coast are no more than an hour away. In January Santa Cruz is full of festivities, delicious food, music and dancing dedicated to the city’s patron saint Santo Cristo de Esquipulas.