The abundance of outdoor activities hosted by Jaco never ceases to amaze. Did you know, from Jaco you have access to a gorgeous island filled with jet skis, kayaks, banana boats, volleyball, tropical fish to snorkel with, and loungers? Let me share with you my recent experience at Isla Tortuga. My day started with a gorgeous one and a half hour boat ride from Playa Herradura where I observed ju...

Hoteliers in Guanacaste and other tourist hotspots in Costa Rica have been doing brisk business and are enjoying the high season thus far in 2014, but their counterparts in San Jose are not. According to recent surveys conducted by the Costa Rica Chamber of Hotels and the National Board of Tourism (Spanish initials: ICT), hotels in the capital city have seen a 15 percent drop in occupancy comp...

As record-high levels of snow, ice and rain and record-low temperatures continue to grip North America and Europe, Costa Rica is looking better and better as a Spring Break 2014 destination. Tired of that heavy winter coat, snow boots and wet, dismal weather? We agree. It’s time for some sun, and Costa Rica has plenty of it. Costa Rica’s dry summer season continues to deliver endless tropical s...

Scene from DrumFest 2013 DrumFest Costa Rica is an international event organized by the Sanders Music Academy that has become an important cultural and musical gathering in Latin America. DrumFest 2014 will be the fourth iteration of this important event, which is dedicated to a very special guest: Renowned jazz drummer John Bernard Riley. John Riley is one of the foremost drum and percussi...

Among the numerous reasons medical tourism in Costa Rica has grown significantly over the last few years, quality of care stands out as being among the most important. In the 21st century, a handful of nations have consistently ranked among the top countries for health care in terms of quality and affordability, and Costa Rica is the most attractive destination for North American medical travelers...

Exploring Costa Rica by kayak is a fun way to enjoy nature and spot wildlife in a myriad of different settings. Costa Rica counts close to 800 miles of ocean coastline between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, along with hundreds of rivers and estuaries, and several lakes – all full of kayaking possibilities. Kayaking is good exercise, and you can work on your tan at the same time! Oftentimes, ...

Part of Santa Elena Preserve Luxury beach resorts, marinas, theme parks, and hotels: This is Guanacaste in the 21st century. It was not too long ago when this region of Costa Rica was known as the “forgotten province.” These days, however, luxury resort developers and assorted capitalists are looking at Guanacaste with hungry eyes. A new $125 million project recently announced that it will ...

The Puntarenas Carnival is one of the most prominent beach celebrations in Costa Rica, and this year it will feature an international gathering of motorcycle aficionados, one of the largest conventions of iron horse riders in Latin America. This event will follow the successful live music presentation by Inner Circle, the legendary Jamaican reggae band known for their hit songs “Bad Boys” and “Swe...

In the heart of San Jose, Costa Rica, the National Theatre (Teatro Nacional) remains one of the capital city’s most popular tourist attractions. The ornate Neo-Classical theatre is considered the finest historic building in San Jose, and is known for its exquisite interior decorated with lavish furnishings and beautiful murals. One of the theatre’s main ceiling murals, in fact, was just na...

Merrell Manistee: Conquering Costa Rica one step at a timeEver since I authored, Becoming an Expat: Costa Rica, I have received hundreds of questions from those who are planning trips to Costa Rica. Whether they were planning a research trip to potentially become expats themselves, or whether they were simply looking for a vacation in paradise, they all have similar questions. What should they pa...

The hospitality and tourism industry of Costa Rica welcomes a diversity of tourists. From surfers to eco-tourists and from science researchers to language learners, Costa Rica loves them all –even sexual tourists, as long as they do not engage in garish behavior in public. There is, however, one special interest tourist group that Costa Rica should strive to attract for various reasons: Birdwatche...

If you are a single woman traveling to Costa Rica read this previous article about exciting things to do on the Caribbean side of the country. In my travels, I have come across single women around the world who say, “I’d like to travel, but I don’t have anyone to go with.” Having traveled alone, I asked what was stopping them. What I found was a mixture of fears and concerns: Blending In ...

1 in 5 Canadian enjoy sex on the beach in Costa Rica For most people, sex on the beach involves mixing vodka and peach schnapps with orange and cranberry juice. For some Canadians visiting Costa Rica, however, sex on the beach involves mixing with each other in the sand. As recently reported by the Toronto Star, a survey by Expedia.ca indicates that visitors from Ontario and Quebec are more li...

Expotur Costa Rica Travel Mart 2014 The 29th edition of Expotur will take place from May 14th to May 16th, 2014. This event, which is organized by the Costa Rican Association of Tourism Professionals (Spanish acronym: ACOPROT), will bring together more than 300 tourism and hospitality businesses from across the country and the region for three days of industry insight and networking at the Wyn...

Sandwiched between North and South America and two oceans, Costa Rica is an amazing bridge of biodiversity bursting with natural wonders. For such a small country, it is home to more than 500,000 species; 250 of which are mammals. Costa Rica’s south Pacific region of Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) is one of the most intense zones for plants and animals. Surrounded by the Corcovado National Park, Pied...

tripadvisorcostarica.com Costa Rica is one of the most queried destinations on popular and respected travel review website TripAdvisor. In fact, La Fortuna in San Carlos is one of TripAdvisor's top ten 2013 Travelers' Choice Awards for Destinations on the Rise, and Guanacaste is a favorite discussion topic among travel reviewers therein. For this reason, a TripAdvisor website dedicated to Cost...

Azamara Quest docked at the Puerto Caldera, in PuntarenasA new type of tourism was launched in Costa Rica this past Wednesday, the very first time a cruise liner has started its journey from a Costa Rican port. Azamara Quest, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean, launched the Ruta Mesoamericana, a journey from the Puerto Caldera, in Puntarenas to different ports in Central America, Mexico and Los A...

Traveling with kids. For the seasoned traveler, it’s no big deal, they say. A bit more luggage and stuff to carry. For first-timers they tend to fall in two camps – optimistic or terrified. Did you know that children can be the ideal travel companions? Their excitement at nearly everything, interest in the smallest of details, energy, adaptability and rapid ability to pick up other languages ma...

An abundance of tourists caused a series of water outages in some areas of Nosara this past holiday season. Carl Wells, a member of the American Project’s ASADA in Nosara, reported that during the the December 24-31 festivities, at least two outages were reported due to excessive usage. According to Wells, the sections with highest consumption are K, J, H, I, which are areas with the majorit...

The Ministry of Cultural and Youth Affairs of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: MCJ) is reporting that the new Museum of the Stone Spheres in the southern Pacific region of Osa has been an astounding success. To encourage visitors to explore the 10 hectares where ancient indigenous tribes somehow manipulated these mysterious objects to line up in perfect sync with the sun each solstice, the MCJ will o...

Photo of the Marlin del Rey catamaran in Playas del Coco Guanacaste Costa RicaThe high tourist season is just starting to warm up in Costa Rica, and Marlin del Rey Catamaran Sailing tours on the Gold Coast is already feeling the heat. As one of the leading day-cruise providers in Guanacaste, Marlin del Rey operates three majestic sailing ships: The eponymous Marlin del Rey in Tamarindo, the New M...

Some of the best whitewater rafting in Costa Rica is found in the country’s Caribbean mountains. Rainforest-fed rivers thunder down canyons and valleys, eventually ending in flat plains and marshes before reaching the sea. For its sheer beauty and monumental whitewater rapids, the Pacuare River of Costa Rica is one of the world’s top whitewater river rafting adventures. The Pacuare flows down a...

Nosara returned to the news with its selection, made by the American television network CNN and the magazine National Geographic, as a world-class tourist destination to visit in 2014. On December 14, CNN published the article “11 places to go in 2014,” where they included Nosara as one of the recommended places to visit during international travelers’ next vacation. According to the publica...

Poas Volcano crater in Costa RicaRecent volcanic activity along with sulphuric emissions and the heavy presence of noxious gases are prompting national park rangers in Costa Rica to take precautions with regard to visitors. Volcano tourism is very popular in Costa Rica during this season, and some of the most-visited volcanoes are certainly showing off their natural beauty, but officials are cont...

Data provided by Bing search for Mashable.comAccording to Mashable, a leading British-American website covering Internet technology and social media, Costa Rica is among the top 10 most-searched travel destinations in the world. The data was provided by Bing, Microsoft's flagship search engine property, and it shines a light on how tourism and hospitality operators are taking advantage of these t...

Just in time for the holidays, popular tourist destinations such as Playas del Coco in Guanacaste are about to see a major influx of visitors. Although tourism and hospitality operators in Guanacaste and across Costa Rica have been working diligently over the years in making sure that their staff is fluent in English, from December 13th to January 5th they will mostly be catering to the needs of S...

As tourism continues to grow in Costa Rica, more than ever, travelers are seeking to combine elements of adventure, culture, and active engagement for a meaningful adventure that goes beyond a typical vacation. Chill Expeditions, an Eco-tour company with nearly 20 years of experience operating in Costa Rica, seeks to connect visitors with engaging, meaningful experiences that leave them with an-in...

Source: Fuerza Publica Residents and visitors in the Caribbean communities of Costa Rica have gotten used to seeing the bilingual and courteous Tourism Police officers riding past on their high-performance bicycles and wearing their stylish white polo shirts, but in the past few weeks they have seen them dismount, spring to action and take down suspects. Marijuana Smuggling in Pococi On ...

For businesspeople and entrepreneurs who operate in the potentially lucrative tourism industry of Costa Rica, getting the coveted Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) from the National Board of Tourism (Spanish initials: ICT) is like finding the Holy Grail in the midst of a forest property that the government has not yet turned into a national park. More than 20 years into the CST program, ...

People love things that make them feel young (or remember their youth), feel free and be happy. Traveling is usually in the top 10. Why? 1. Traveling opens up your world. In today's world where emails and smart phones often replace face-to-face interaction, traveling makes you get out and interact with humanity. Traveling changes your scenery. When you travel, you are away from the daily routi...

You don’t have to be a sportfishing fanatic to get genuine pleasure from a day or two of fishing. Many of the men and women who contact Americana Sportfishing to enjoy Costa Rica’s world-class saltwater sportfishing are first- and second-time anglers who want to combine a long-awaited vacation in a tropical paradise with a day or two out on the ocean, seeking more excitement and involvement than s...

Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo in GuanacasteGuanacaste, Costa Rica. November 25, 2013 – At the International Association of Golf Tourism Operators (IAGTO) Awards ceremony for 2014, Costa Rica was distinguished as Golf Destination of the Year – Latin America & the Caribbean. Daniel Kung, president of ARA Tours, a special tourism operator in Costa Rica that focuses on g...

NAMU Travel Group San Jose, Costa Rica. November 25, 2013 – The top two online tourism and travel operators in Costa Rica are welcoming the high tourist season and expanding their operations accordingly. These two enterprises, The NAMU Travel Group and AnywhereCostaRica.com, have grown tremendously over the last few years and are ready to embrace the burgeoning recovery of the global tourism i...

Zip line and aerial jungle canopy tours are among the most popular tourist attractions in Costa Rica, and those who overcome their fear of heights and surrender to their sense of adventure will have only fond memories of their time spent gliding from one section of the forest to another. Such are the memories a 90-year old woman from Texas now has to enjoy from her recent visit to Costa Rica. D...

Captain Daniel Espinoza on the 42ft Spanish Fly knows how to catch Dorado in volume! The Dorado are here! Not only is the Dorado – which most non-anglers will know as Mahi-Mahi – a tasty and popular item on the seafood menu; it is also a fierce and prized saltwater offshore gamefish, pound for pound one of the toughest to be found. Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is considered one of the world’s ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Despite a significant downturn for the tourism industry in Costa Rica from 2009 to 2012, the theme parks in the province of Guanacaste have proven very resilient. According to a recent analysis by business reporter Leticia Vindas Quiros of financial weekly El Financiero, the theme parks of Costa Rica's gold coast have managed to weather the economic storm and also pre...

Recently, two women, both in their early 20s, have been attacked during the day by men on two separate occasions in the Nosara area. Both managed to escape, but the incidents have given rise to concern in the community and arrangements are being made to offer a free self-defense class for women. First, a woman, who wished her name to be kept anonymous, was attacked in an attempted rape on Octob...

Source: Fuerza Publica Talamanca Region, Costa Rica – They are courteous, bilingual and usually wear stylish white polo shirts. You usually see them on foot or riding mountain bikes in tourist hotspots such as Playas del Coco in Guanacaste. They also carry regulation weapons and are trained in special tactics to combat crime. These are the members of the Tourism Police of Costa Rica, a special...

I met a woman and her husband in the airport recently, while we were waiting to board our flight out of Costa Rica. They were tanned and relaxed, and had been enjoying the country’s beaches and rainforest … all for free! They had won a work contest to sell the most furniture for their company and earned the free incentive trip. This was actually the couple’s second year in a row to win – last year...

Although it is one of Costa Rica’s most spectacular destinations – for its gold and white sand beaches, world-class surfing, warm blue Pacific Ocean, and lush rainforest – the southern Nicoya Peninsula stays off the beaten tourist path. The reason is the region’s remote location. Going by ferry is the traditional way to get to the towns and beaches of the southern Nicoya Peninsula – Tambor, Mon...