Costa Rica takes conservation seriously -- over 25 percent of Costa Rica's land mass is protected in national parks and preserves, more than any other country on earth.
Costa Rica national parks span jungles, marshes, mountains, lowland forests, savanna and two oceans. The wildlife in Costa Rica's national parks represents the world's most diverse cast of characters, from the caiman to the capuchin, the toucan to the tapir.
Explore the parks of Costa Rica!
1. Manuel Antonio National Park
Kirsten Noelle Hubbard
Though small, Manuel Antonio National Park is the most visited national park in Costa Rica — and one of the most beautiful. Every color is cranked up to full saturation, from the stingingly aqua water to the lime-green forest, with perfect strips of pale sand stretching between....
2. Corcovado National Park
Wild Planet Adventures, www.wildplanetadventures.com
Though Corcovado is farther off the well-trod tourist path than say, Manuel Antonio, the Costa Rica park’s copious biodiversity rewards its visitors exponentially. In fact, National Geographic called Corcovado National Park "the most biologically intense place on Earth"...
3. Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve
The Costa Rica Board of Tourism
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is one of the most visited Costa Rica parks. Brilliant green forest sopping with moss, bromeliads, and more than 400 types of orchid form the backdrop of the Monteverde Cloud Forest landscape, softened by the ethereal clouds that drift through the trees...
Read more about the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica
4. Tortuguero National Park
Costa Rica Board of Tourism
Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica, 52 miles northwest of Limon on the Caribbean coast, is the perfect blend of ecotourism adventure and coastal paradise -- as well as one of the world's best places to glimpse nesting sea turtles and their tiny, scampering babies...
5. Rincón de la Vieja National Park
Kirsten Noelle Hubbard
Rincón de la Vieja National Park is named for the volcano, Rincón de la Vieja, which last erupted in 1998. The numerous hiking trails in the Costa Rica National Park range from simple to strenuous, and include sights like bubbling mud pots, smoking “volcanitos”, trails skittering with baby iguanas, and a mineral-blue waterfall and swimming hole...
Read more about Rincón de la Vieja National Park in Costa Rica
