Costa Rica has an area of 13 725 sq miles and inside this 0.1 % of world’s landmass there is a 5% of the world’s biodiversity contained. Costa Rica protects 25% of territory where the major rainforests are located. Each of these conservation areas have either been declared National Parks, Wildlife Reserves, or are privately owned refuges. Costa Rica has about 26 National Parks which contain around an 11% of the area of the country. Between the National Parks and the protected areas there are a total of 68 sites.

A chain of volcanic mountain ranges divide Costa Rica in two. From the Nicaraguan border descends the Guanacaste Mountain Range which is home to Orosi Volcano, Rincon de la Vieja Volcano, Santa Maria Volcano, Miravalles Volcano, and Tenorio Volcano. The Orosi Volcano is located in the Guanacaste National Park and the remaining mentioned are located in the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. The following mountain range is the Tilaran Mountain Range. This mountain range is home to the well known Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and to the always active Arenal Volcano, and Arenal reserve. The Central Mountain Range is the next one and it is where the Poas Volcano and the Irazu Volcanoes are located. These two volcanoes are in the center of the Poas National Park and the Irazu National Park. Volcan Barba follows this stream of volcanic mountains and is located in the Braulio Carrillo National Park. Finally, the last mother mountain range is the Talamanca Mountain Range. This mountain range has the highest mountain peak of Costa Rica, which is the Cerro Chirripo at 12 530 feet above sea level. All of these mountain ranges together belong to the Pacific Belt of Fire.

To the east of the entire Costa Rica mountain range lays the Caribbean coast. The lush and tropical Caribbean coast is 131 miles long, has very wet rainforest, swamps, mangroves, an intracoastal waterway, sandy beaches, and some good tides. It rains all year round at the Costa Rica Caribbean, the rain is usually torrential but it only rains for a few hours and not for days. There are some months over the Caribbean coast when it rains less; these are the months of September, October, February, and March. Sunny days or sunny hours are also present in the exotic Caribbean Coast year round, but even if it rains the humid rainforest is still enjoyable. Actually the rain adds a magical and vibrant element to the rainforest making plants and trees greener and birds and insects livelier.

The rugged and rocky Pacific Coast of Costa Rica lays on the west and south parts of the main mountain range, with a 631 mile long coastline. The Pacific Coast is bordered by Dry Forest, swamps, mangroves, and beaches. It has various gulfs and peninsulas and many offshore islands. The main peninsulas; are Nicoya Peninsula, which is famous for its beach resorts and the other one is the Osa Peninsula where the Corcovado National Park is located.

The tropical Costa Rica climate has two seasons, dry season (December to April) and rainy season for the rest of the year. During the rainy season it usually rains in the afternoon or evenings for a few hours. Occasionally it rains in the mornings. Regardless of the season Costa Rica always manages to offer sunny days. The exuberant Caribbean coast has its own microclimate with a year round rainy season. Some months during the year are less rainy at the Caribbean and these are usually other months different from the dry months in the rest of Costa Rica. The weather is usually pleasant all year round in the Central Valley. Usually this pleasant weather at San Jose, Costa Rica has hotter temperatures during the rainy season and windiest and coldest temperatures during the dry season. The average low temperature in San Jose, Costa Rica is around 59 F and the highs at 78 F. The temperature at the Caribbean and Pacific coast is much hotter, with lows of 69 F and highs of 86 F.

The different altitudes in such a small area have made Costa Rica flourish with twelve different tropical life zones. Each of these tropical life zones is named accordingly to the type of forest they have and for the altitude at which they are located in this biologically diverse Costa Rica. The most commonly used names for these zones are: Dry Forest, Moist Forest, Wet Forest, and Rain Forest in tropical, premontane, lower montane, montane, and subalpine areas.  Not only does Costa Rica have all these different tropical life zones, there are also life zones that have several types of habitats occurring within, as it happens in the Santa Rosa National Park, which has deciduous forest, evergreen forest, mangrove swamp, and litoral woodland.

Costa Rica has about 112 volcanoes, ten of which have some kind of activity. Five are active and expectacular each in their own way, which definitely makes them worth visiting. These top of the top five volcanoes are Arenal Volcano, Poas Volcano, Irazu Volcano, Rincon de la Vieja Volcano, and Turrialba Volcano. Arenal Volcano is the most active of these five and it has a perfect conical shape. Poas Volcano has one of the greatest and biggest craters to be seen. Irazu Volcano is the tallest of them all with an altitude of 11 257 feet over sea level. Rincon de la Vieja Volcano is the largest of the five and it is just magnificently stunning. Turrialba Volcano is one of the few were you can get really close to the craters, although lately it has shown some activity so distance from the craters is advised.

So, yes, there is a plethora of natural destinations that are worth visiting in Costa Rica. Once you visit Costa Rica you’ll realize that you’ll need more than one week of vacations to cover all the invaluable natural treasures it holds, which will only make you want to come again to visit the places you were not able to visit or to spend more time at the places that you loved.