Costa Rica's North Pacific Region

Guanacaste, North Pacific

Guanacaste is widely regarded as one of the most popular tourist spots in the whole of Costa Rica, and it is not difficult to understand why this should be the case. The reasons are tenfold, because from its beautiful beaches to its extraordinary array of flora and fauna, to some of Costa Rica's most breathtaking volcanoes, Guanacaste is truly a region to see not just once, but explore many times over.

On the northern coast of Guanacaste in particular, the beaches are simply majestic, with numerous quiet fishing villages dotted along the length and breadth of the coast. Moving further inland, expansive farmland and rolling savannas make up a unique landscape further emphasized by a variety of animal and plant life that can be seen almost nowhere else on the planet. Moving even further away from the coast, is where you can find those awe inspiring volcanoes that are among the many attractions that make Costa Rica so famous, with forests, lakes and rivers all descending down from their magnificence. The climate in Guanacaste is dry, which helps keep mosquitoes down to a low and tolerable level, while graceful, spreading shade trees from which the region draws its name are still very much in evidence.

What was once Costa Rica's secret beauty has now become a phenomenon, with thousands of tourists coming to visit this one of a kind area from all over the world. This expansion, spearheaded largely by the convenience of the Daniel Oduber International Airport, which is located just outside of Liberia (the capital city of Guanacaste), has obviously good for Costa Rica's local economy, though inevitably, it does have its downside, with large swathes of the natural environment, such as beach fronts and hill sides, inevitably being converted into hotels and condominiums by real estate brokers and developers all keen to get their slice of the highly profitable international tourism pie. The benefits of providing all the comforts of home for the sake of tourism are undeniable, however, and all such facilities now have private baths and hot water unless specifically stated otherwise. Room rates (for double rooms in particular) include thirteen percent sales tax and three percent room tax during the high season, which runs from November through to April. In the rainy season, which runs from May to October, rooms can be expected to be rented for somewhat lower rates.

Despite the expansion, there are still numerous breathtakingly beautiful and utterly unspoiled beaches on the coast of Guanacaste, among the most well known being Conchal, El Coco, Flamingo, Hermosa, Panama, Samara and Tamarindo. Although their fame can provide some drawbacks - the beaches are often understandably crowded - these are areas now have fully functioning infrastructures ideally designed to cope with the massive tourist influx the region is now enjoying.

Liberia, as Guanacaste's capital (also known as "the White City"), is strategically positioned in the region and has made certain to exploit that position, building an impressive infrastructure and quality services to ensure it is well placed to be in the centre of many tourist routes. Nicoya is another city that has used its ideal position to place itself at the centre of numerous tourist routes, and has its own tourist attractions such as the Chuch of San Bias, which now also serves as a museum, and there are several other key towns in the region, such as Canas, Santa Cruz, Bagaces and Abangares.

Those much discussed volcanoes which are among the prime reasons for Costa Rica's fame and popularity are centered inside National Parks, of which there are several in the Guanacaste region, including the official Guanacaste National Park, the Santa Rosa National Park, the L Rincon de la Vieja National Park, the Palo Verde National Park and the Barra Honda National Park. The National Parks of Guanacaste and Santa Rosa cover between them over seventy nine thousand hectares of land and seventy eight thousand hectares of marine area, and are one of the last great strongholds of dry tropical forest in the whole of Central America, containing such wildlife as Olive Ridley and leatherback turtles; indeed, the largest gatherings of olive turtles in Central America occurs each year on Santa Rosa National Park's very own Nancite Beach.

La Casona History Museum also resides within the Santa Rose National Park, which has been granted national sovereignty thanks to its stone corrals, which provided a suitably evocative setting for the historic battle against the filibusters which occurred in 1865. L Rincon de la Vieja National Park houses a volcano which stands one thousand, nine hundred and sixteen meters high and is one of the last few actually active volcanoes in the Guanacaste region. At it's rear on the south side, an area known as Las Pail allows visitors to witness the wonders of thermal springs, mini volcanoes composed of bubbling hot mud, sol Eatara lagoons and the phenomena referred to as "soffioni", which are essentially holes that emit clouds of steam from the earth. Palo Verde National Park is situated at the end of the Gulf of Nicoya, at the mouth of the River Tempisgue, and covers around twenty thousand hectares of flood plain, a protected area which brings in what is one of, if not the, largest congregations of aquatic birds and waders in the whole of the Central American region, with up to two hundred and eighty different varieties of bird species having been recorded as using the area's various habitats. Finally there is the Barra Honda National Park, situated just twenty two kilometers from the town of Nicoya, which features the largest known cave system in all of Costa Rica, which about forty individual caves in all. Some - such as the Santa Ana Cave - are believed to descend into the bowels of the earth as far as two hundred and forty meters deep.

There are many activities to engage in all over the Guanacaste region, with sports fishing a particular popular and prominent pastime. Sports fishing takes place all along the Guanacaste coastline, with some areas even having received international attention, such as the Golfo de Papagayo (Parrot Gulf), in which fish as varied as Marling, Sail Fish, Dorado, Rooster, Sea Bass, Wahoo and almost all of the large varieties of Tuna can be caught. Other activities in the area include numerous festivals, many of which involve bulls (a tradition passed on by the Spanish), with improvised corrals in which 'saberenos' demonstrate the strength and fortitude of Guanacaste men by taking wild rides on the dangerous creatures. Surfing is another popular pastime, with strong winds and reliable wave action making beaches such as Avellenas, Grande, Langosta, Naranjo, Negra and Potrero Grande ideal tourist spots for keen surfers.

Guanacaste voted to become a region of Costa Rica in the year 1824, declining annexation by Nicaragua, but has maintained its own proudly independent culture in all the years since, with age old traditions being maintained to this day by cowboys, farmers and traditional fishermen. The region lies in the northwest corner of Costa Rica, on the Pacific Coast, and is easily accessible via road from the capital city of San Jose, by following the Inter-American Highway west to Esparza, and then north to Canas, the trip being around a hundred and eighty kilometers from San Jose in total.

Anyone heading to Costa Rica on vacation cannot pass up an opportunity to travel to the region of Guanacaste - truly, one of the most fascinating and beautiful places on planet Earth.