Travel Blog Costa Rica

The Province of San Jose, named after the capitol city of Costa Rica is located in the center of the country. It has a population of almost 1,5 million persons and is surrounded by the provinces Alajuela, Puntarenas, Limon, Cartago and Heredia. The northern part of the province contains the city of San Jose and the suburbs from Santa Ana and Escazu in the west to Curridabat in the east. Curious but true, San Jose was the third city in the world, after Paris and New York to have electric light. Supposedly because the famous inventor Thomas Edison had a friend in the city. Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria International Airport, located in the Alajuela Province is only 20 kilometers away. In Pavas Tobias Bolanos Airport is the hub for several local flights. The southern part of the province is protected mountainous terrain that forms the natural eastern border of the Central Valley. Parallel to this mountain ridge runs the Interamericana Highway forming a part of the border with the Province of Cartago. It crosses the pass of the Cerro de la Muerte, before heading south towards the city of San Isidro, leaving the Cordillero de Talamanca with the Cerro Chirripo (Costa Rica’s highest peak) in the east. San Isidro offers easy access to Playa Dominical on the Pacific Coast. On the west side of Cerro de la Muerte you find the Reserva Forestal Los Santos, on the east side Reserva Forestal Rio Macho, located in the Province of Cartago. Most people don’t see much of the Province of San Jose, besides the metropolitan area around Costa Rica’s capital city. More favorite destinations to explore are located in the provinces of Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago. The Interamericana Highway is the main artery for traffic towards the beaches on the Pacific Coast in the Province of Puntarenas or towards the Panamanian border.

The Province of Cartago covers the southern part of the Central Valley and is located in the heart of Costa Rica. Together with the Province of San José they are the only two provinces of Costa Rica which share no borders with Nicaragua or Panama. The mountain range in the north of the Province of Cartago is called Cordillera Central and has two well known volcanoes: Irazu and Turialba. Cartago is home to several National Parks: Parque Nacional Volcan Irazu, Parque Nacional Volcan Turrialba, Parque Nacional Barbilla, Parque Nacional Tapanti and Parque Nacional Chirripo. The Province of Cartago was the first part of Costa Rica that was colonized by the Spanish invaders, who killed most of the native indigenous population in the process. The first Spanish settlement was named Cartago and was Costa Rica’s capitol until the middle of the nineteenth century. The history of the city of Cartago is one of disaster and perseverance. Several earthquakes, caused by the seismic activity of the Irazu volcano, destroyed the cities’ church, numerous times. Its ruins can still be visited and next to it you find the famous Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, home of Costa Rica’s patron saint and the destination of a yearly pilgrimage on the 2nd of August. In 1723 nearly the entire city was flattened. With the development of the Northern part of the Central Valley with cities as Heredia, Alajuela and later San Jose, the center of power shifted and Cartago lost its position as capitol of Costa Rica. The Irazu volcano offers a fascinating crater landscape and the emerald color lake is mesmerizing. In the south of the Province of Cartago the Parque Nacional Chirripo give hikers the chance to climb the highest peak in Costa Rica, Cerro Chirripo with an altitude of more than 3,700 meters. In the west, close the border with the Province of Limon is the Indigenous reserve of the Chirripo. Close to Turrialba you can visit the major archeological pre-Colombian site the National Guayabo Monument. Here you can visit the remains of Indigenous constructions roads, monticules, aqueducts and water basins. Archeologists have established that this 20 hectare site has been inhabited for almost 2,500 years from 1,000 BC to 1,400 AD. Although only a small part of the extensive site has been excavated so far, it offers a unique encounter with the amazing level of civil engineering and urban development of Costa Rica’s native indigenous population.

The Province of Limon covers the entire Caribbean coastline of Costa Rica, all the way from the northern border with Nicaragua to the Sixaola River in the south that forms the border with Panama. More inland this province borders with Braulio Carillo National Park and the Western slopes of the Turialba mountains. In the south the Province of Limon include the Talamanca Mountains. The road from San Jose to Limon is a beautiful one. You climb the mountains when you leave the Central Valley behind on a winding road leading you through the virgin tropical wet forest of the Braulio Carillo National Park. Coming down from the mountains just after leaving the park, you encounter the Rainforest Aerial Tram, one of Costa Rica’s top attractions, definitely worth a visit on your way to Limon. You will enter the planes when reaching Guapiles, where the right turn leads to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, but going straight ahead through Siquirres the road leads into the city of Limon, the capital of the province. From the ocean front of Limon you can see the little island of Uvita, where Christopher Columbus landed on his second journey in 1502 and gave Costa Rica its name. The province of Limon hosts a number of attractions. On the northern Caribbean coast you find the famous canals of Tortuguero and five kilometers south the town of Parismina. Both famous for its protected beaches where you can watch the sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The port of Limon is Costa Rica’s main harbor. Originally shipping bananas, pineapples and coffee, but now also the main container port, cruise ship destination and oil and fuel supplier for Costa Rica. Following the coast line to the south, amidst banana plantations you can really enjoy the Caribbean beaches of Cahuita, Puerto Viejo de Limon and Manzanillo the last town on the Caribbean coast. Besides the beautiful beaches, this area has some of the best Atlantic surfing hot spots and of course the famous laid back Caribbean atmosphere. In the south of the Province of Limon lays the Talamanca mountain range, home of the indigenous tribes of the Bribris, living inland along the banks of the border river Sixaola. Indigenous life can be observed in the village of Bribri the urban center of the Talamancan mountainous region. The Sixaola border town, where the old railroad bridge leads to Changuinola in Panama, is the hub for people traveling to the Panamanian island group of Bocas del Toro, only an hour of travel away.