Costa Rica Favorite Adventures
OUR FAVORITE ADVENTURES
Costa Rica
Our Costa Rica Favorite Adventures
Our Costa Rica Favorite Adventures
Costa Rica is full of amazing adventures including hiking, surfing, wildlife watching and even birding. Here are a few of our favorites.
# 1. Birding in Los Quetzales National Park
In our opinion, Los Quetzales National Park is an even better area than the Tilarán Mountains to explore the cloud forest. Los Quetzales National Park also includes 14 other ecosystems, including 3 different types of rainforests. We’d recommend using San Gerardo de Dota as a base to explore the park (it’s really the only option).
# 2. Dolphin Watching in Gulfo Dulce
Golfo Dulce was one of only two tropical fjords in the world as well as one of only two places in the world with resident dolphin superpods. Despite this fact, few people spend much time in the Golfo Dulce, choosing instead to speed past it on their way to Corcovado National Park. But we spent days there and loved it. In addition to going out on the water to see dolphins (year round) or calving whales (best in September), don’t miss the opportunity to kayak through the mangroves.
# 3. Exploring the Cloud Forests in the Tilarán Mountains
This is the first cloud forest we went to and we loved it although it can get a bit busy during the peak season. It’s a great place to go if you want to hike through the forest and pursue a range of adventures in private reserves, including canopy tours, canyoneering and hikes over hanging bridges. It’s also a great place to dip your toe into Costa Rica’s biodiversity, especially at night.
# 4. Hiking in the Corcovado National Park
Corcovado National Park is a huge park on the Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica. The park has the largest primary forest on the American Pacific coastline and is also one of the largest remaining areas of lowland tropical forests in the world. The multi day hike through the park which Karl first completed in 1992 is well worth it. It’s hard to get reservations to do the hike so book ahead.
# 5. Kayaking Through Primary Old Growth Mangrove Forest
Mangrove forests are amazing habitats for all sorts of birds and animals. If possible, try to find a primary mangrove forest or, even better, a primary old growth mangrove forest to explore.
# 6. Overlanding to Drake Bay
Drake Bay is on the northern Pacific side of the Osa Peninsula. It’s a relatively rough road to get there. But it’s set on a beautiful, relatively deserted coastline with and is a good launch pad for scuba diving trips to the Coco Islands.
# 7. Soaking up the Afro-Caribbean Culture of the Caribbean Coast
We didn’t make it to the Caribbean coast during our trip but Karl visited it 30 years ago. Apparently, its black sand beaches lined with primary and secondary rain forest are still beautiful and Cahuita and Puerto Viejo are still authentic Afro-Caribbean towns.
# 8. Surfing on the Pacific Coast
There are lots of amazing breaks on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. For us the challenge was finding relatively safe and uncrowded intermediate breaks. With a bit of luck and persistence we found several including Playa Esterillos. There are also great surfing on the Nicoya and Osa Peninsulas.
# 9. Visiting Coffee Fincas in Santa Maria De Dota
Santa Maria De Dota is a beautiful region and home to Costa Rica’s best coffee where you can complete tours of coffee plantations and even take a basic barista training course. Santa Maria de Dota is an authentic, off the beaten path Tico town. If you have the time, visiting San Jose de Dota and Santa Maria de Dota is a great combo.
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