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🇨🇷Things to Do in Costa Rica
From the Arenal Volcano to Monteverde's cloud forest canopy - the essential sights, and how to keep your own record of them.
Travel guide - last updated September 2026
Costa Rica built its tourism industry around conservation rather than despite it - roughly a quarter of the country is protected land, and 'pura vida' (pure life) is as much a description of the pace as a greeting. Most trips connect a Pacific or Caribbean beach with at least one rainforest or volcano region, since no two ecosystems in the country are more than a few hours apart. Here are 8 places worth building a trip around.
Top attractions
The sights most first-time visitors build an itinerary around.
Arenal Volcano
A near-perfect conical volcano near La Fortuna, dormant since 2010 but still surrounded by hot springs heated by residual geothermal activity - several resorts built directly around natural thermal pools.
📍 La Fortuna
🚉 Public buses run from San Jose to La Fortuna in four to five hours, and the popular jeep-boat-jeep shuttle crosses Lake Arenal to Monteverde in three - the volcano is viewed from the town and the national park gate 15km west.
Monteverde Cloud Forest
A permanently misty, high-altitude forest reserve known for hanging bridges through the canopy and some of the best birdwatching in the country, including the resplendent quetzal.
📍 Monteverde
🚉 Buses from San Jose take four and a half hours to Santa Elena, the village beside the reserves; the road up is steep and partly unpaved, which is deliberate - locals voted to keep it that way.
Manuel Antonio National Park
Costa Rica's smallest but most visited national park, combining rainforest trails with beaches where sloths, monkeys and iguanas are commonly spotted right along the path.
📍 Quepos
🚉 Buses from San Jose reach Quepos in three and a half hours, then a local bus every 20 minutes covers the last 7km to the park entrance, where numbers are capped daily.
Tortuguero National Park
Accessible only by boat or small plane, on the Caribbean coast, known for sea turtle nesting (roughly July-October for green turtles) and a network of jungle canals often compared to a smaller Amazon.
📍 Tortuguero, Caribbean Coast
🚉 There are no roads: buses run to La Pavona or Cano Blanco, then boats take an hour through the canals to Tortuguero village, or you fly in from San Jose.
Nosara & Santa Teresa
Two of the Nicoya Peninsula's best-known surf towns, with a laid-back, yoga-and-wellness-oriented expat culture alongside genuinely good beginner-to-intermediate surf breaks.
📍 Nicoya Peninsula
🚉 Both are on the Nicoya peninsula's rough coastal track - buses reach Nicoya and Cobano, then local services or 4x4 taxis finish the trip, and river crossings can flood in the wet season.
Corcovado National Park
Described by National Geographic as 'the most biologically intense place on Earth,' on the remote Osa Peninsula - reaching it takes more effort than most Costa Rica stops, which keeps it far less crowded.
📍 Osa Peninsula
🚉 Entry requires a certified guide and a permit: boats run from Sierpe and Drake Bay, or you fly to Puerto Jimenez and take a 4x4 collectivo to the Carate trailhead.
Rincón de la Vieja
An active volcano in Guanacaste with bubbling mud pots, hot springs and waterfalls on its slopes, along with some of the best zip-lining in the region.
📍 Guanacaste
🚉 Buses from Liberia reach the park turnoffs, but the last stretch is unpaved - most visitors drive or take a tour from Liberia, about an hour to the Las Pailas sector.
Diving in the Caribbean & Pacific
Costa Rica's two coasts offer distinctly different diving - the Pacific side (including Isla del Caño) for larger pelagic species, the Caribbean for reef diving around Cahuita.
📍 Isla del Caño & Cahuita
🚉 Dive centres operate from Playas del Coco and Drake Bay on the Pacific and Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean, each reached by public bus from San Jose in four to six hours.
Mark Costa Rica, get the stamp
In MyPassportStory, every country you mark - visited, lived in, or still on the list - becomes a stamp like these in your own travel passport. Add the cities you stopped in, draw the route between them, and turn the whole trip into a shareable passport-style image.
Open MyPassportStoryPlanning questions
How many days do you need in Costa Rica?
10 days lets you combine Arenal or Monteverde with a Pacific beach stop like Manuel Antonio. Two weeks allows a fuller loop including Tortuguero or the Osa Peninsula.
What's the best time to visit Costa Rica?
December-April is the dry season and the most popular time to visit. The green (rainy) season, May-November, brings afternoon showers but thinner crowds, lower prices and lush scenery.
Is Costa Rica good for a first-time visit?
Yes - it's one of the more tourist-friendly countries in Central America, with a well-developed eco-tourism industry, though a rental car (or organized shuttle transfers) makes covering multiple regions considerably easier.
Do I need a visa to visit Costa Rica?
Many nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU, can visit visa-free for short tourist stays (typically up to 90 days); other nationalities need a visa arranged in advance. Check the official visa information for your nationality: rree.go.cr.
What are some things to do in Costa Rica on a tight budget?
Many beaches and hiking trails, including parts of Manuel Antonio and most of the coastline, are free or low-cost to access, sodas (small local restaurants) serve casado meals cheaply, and public buses between towns cost a fraction of private shuttles.
Can I rent a car in Costa Rica, and what licence do I need?
Yes, and a 4x4 opens up the coasts and cloud forests that buses reach slowly. A foreign licence is valid for the duration of your legal stay, up to 90 days, and no International Driving Permit is required. Minimum age is usually 21 to 25. The thing to know before booking is insurance: mandatory state liability cover is added at the counter and is never included in the headline online price, so quotes routinely double. Unpaved roads, river crossings and steep gravel tracks are normal outside the highways, and standard cars are not insured on many of them. Official visitor information is published by the Costa Rican Tourism Board at visitcostarica.com.