Thinking about planning a trip to Costa Rica? Start Here! We’ve rounded up all of our blog posts to help you explore the best luxury travel options in this diverse and exotic (yet surprisingly convenient) destination.
Explore your wild side in the country of Costa Rica. Costa Rica offers tourists a variety of different experiences. I was just lucky enough to travel the country and find out the true meaning of the country’s motto, Pura Vida.
Pura Vida perfectly describes the vibe you will immediately feel when you touch down in Costa Rica. Pura Vida means “simple life” or “pure life”. In Costa Rica, the term has taken on a bigger meaning and is used for just about anything. If you are saying hello or goodbye or just want to wish someone a good day, you will hear Pura Vida. Pura Vida is engrained in the culture now and is the best way to describe the Costa Rican way of life.
see the interactive map of our favorite hotels here.
GEOGRAPHY
Costa Rica is located in Central America between Panama and Nicaragua. Its location provides some of the most unique biodiversity in the world. Although Costa Rica is quite a small country, you can find a huge variety of natural destinations right next to each other. In fact, in one day you might visit a beach, waterfall, nature reserve, cloud forest, wildlife refuge, volcano, and tropical rainforest! What makes Costa Rica so amazing, though, is its abundance of tropical rainforests that make up a majority of the country.
The beaches are varied an offer something for everybody. From surfing to snorkeling, you can find unique experiences to enjoy Costa Rica’s coastal regions. We recommend beginning your trip in the tropical rainforests and then extending your trip to spend some time on the gorgeous beaches of Guanacaste.
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Costa Rica is a beautiful country and its citizens and government intend to keep it that way. I think one of my biggest takeaways from the trip was how each resort or tour company is trying to showcase their country, but also giving back to the environment. Although Costa Rica covers a relatively small geographic area, it makes up about 5% of the earth’s biodiversity. Fortunately, this natural treasure is protected by the National System of Conservation Areas, preserving a total of 25% of the national territory.
Visitors can enjoy the country’s majestic volcanoes, Pacific and Caribbean beaches, tropical dry, wet, and rain forests, as well as exhilarating jungle landscapes, all without traveling long distances between each. Costa Rica’s version of ecotourism aims to provide beautiful natural experiences for tourists, but also to educate visitors about the importance of protecting natural resources.
Our preferred partner in Costa Rica, Swiss Travel, has been operating in Costa Rica for over 47 years and they are a pillar in the Costa Rica travel community. They are extremely knowledgable on the area and can make just about any request happen in the country.
To start our trip, we flew into the San Jose airport. San Jose is the biggest and busiest airport in Costa Rica. The airport is centrally located within the country, so it is a great starting point if you are looking to explore multiple locations in Costa Rica. Our itinerary was designed with 2-parts to allow us to experience both the lush green “jungle” environment as well as the northern, coastal/dry forest regions of Costa Rica.
Read on for more on our experiences in Costa Rica:
- Explore Your Wild Side in the Arenal Region of Costa Rica
- The Luxury Hotels of Guanacaste Costa Rica
- Four Seasons Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo
- A blast from the past: A photo tour of The Four Seasons back in 2012
- David’s hotel review from his visit in 2014 including El Silencio in the Costa Rican Cloud Forest
