CR · Curated travel guide
Arenal Volcano, Irazú Volcano, La Amistad International Park and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
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Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Costa Rica and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Volcano in Costa Rica
An andesitic stratovolcano, active in recent times, in Costa Rica's north-west, standing 1,633 metres (5,358 ft) high. It lies roughly 90 km (56 mi) northwest of San José, in the district of La Fortuna, San Carlos canton, Alajuela province.
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
Active volcano in Costa Rica
One of Costa Rica's active volcanoes, part of the Cordillera Central, close to the city of Cartago.
Photo: Rafael Golan, CC BY-SA 3.0
Park in Panama
In Spanish Parque Internacional La Amistad, and once La Amistad National Park, a protected area spanning the border of Panama and Costa Rica, run jointly on UNESCO's advice after it joined the World Heritage list in 1983. With the biosphere reserve around it, it is one of Central America's most remarkable conservation areas, protecting a large stretch of wild tropical forest.
Photo: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0
Tallest mountain in Costa Rica
Costa Rica's highest mountain, 3,821 meters high, and the top of the Cordillera de Talamanca.
Photo: Peter Andersen, CC BY-SA 3.0
World Heritage
Protected area and World Heritage Site in Costa Rica
A World Heritage Site and network of protected areas in Guanacaste Province, in Costa Rica's northwest. The site holds an unbroken stretch of tropical dry forest and key habitat for several vulnerable species, among them the great green macaw, the mangrove hummingbird and the Central American tapir.
Photo: cyph3r [2], CC BY-SA 2.0
Volcano in Costa Rica
An active stratovolcano, 2,697-metre (8,848 ft) high, in central Costa Rica, inside Poas Volcano National Park. Since 1828 it has erupted 40 times; a strong eruption in April 2017 forced visitors and residents to evacuate.
Photo: Peter Andersen, CC BY 2.5
Volcano in central Costa Rica
An active volcano in central Costa Rica that has erupted in recent years, including in 2016 and in January, March and April 2017. Visitors could once hike down into its main crater, but stronger activity in 2014–17, throwing up large clouds of ash, led to the surrounding Turrialba Volcano National Park being closed.
Photo: Fbolanos, CC BY-SA 4.0
Volcano in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Found in Guanacaste province, roughly 23 km (14 mi) from the town of Liberia: an andesitic complex volcano, still active, in Costa Rica's north-west.
Photo: cyph3r [2], CC BY-SA 2.0
Mountain in Costa Rica
In Spanish Volcán Orosí, an inactive volcano in Costa Rica's Cordillera de Guanacaste, close to the Nicaraguan border, inside Guanacaste National Park.
Photo: Cindy Stine (U.S. Geological Survey), Public domain
Forest reserve in Costa Rica
A Costa Rican reserve running along the Cordillera de Tilarán across Alajuela and Puntarenas provinces. Founded in 1972 and named after Monteverde, a town close by, it takes in over 10,500 hectares of cloud forest.
Photo: Haakon S. Krohn, CC BY-SA 3.0
Officially the Republic of Costa Rica, a Central American country. Nicaragua lies to its north and Panama to its southeast, with the Caribbean Sea on its northeast and the Pacific on its southwest; south of Cocos Island it shares a sea border with Ecuador. Around five million people live on nearly 51,180 km² (19,760 sq mi) of land. San José, the capital and biggest city, has around 350,000 residents, and two million people live in its wider metropolitan area.
Officially The Republic of Costa Rica.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Arenal Volcano, Irazú Volcano, La Amistad International Park and Cerro Chirripó and others. Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Costa Rica that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site. That is not the full count for Costa Rica, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Spanish. The currency is CRC.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $3.44 for 1GB for 7 days. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Claro. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Claro once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB for 7 days Cheapest | 1 GB | 7 days | $3.44 | Get it → |
| 1GB per day | 1 GB | 1 day | $4.30 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $7.52 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $9.70 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $9.85 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $15.61 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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![cyph3r [2]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guanacaste_National_Park.jpg){kind=link}
