Traveling with kids. For the seasoned traveler, it’s no big deal, they say. A bit more luggage and stuff to carry. For first-timers they tend to fall in two camps – optimistic or terrified. Did you know that children can be the ideal travel companions? Their excitement at nearly everything, interest in the smallest of details, energy, adaptability and rapid ability to pick up other languages ma...

The Cerro de la Muerte, or Mountain of Death, doesn’t exactly sound like a place for fun and relaxation, unless we’re talking about eternal sleep. Maybe that’s why places like San Gerardo de Dota and Santa Maria de Dota (the Los Santos region of Costa Rica), the Tapantí National Park and the newly formed Los Quetzales National Park are some of the least visited destinations in Costa Rica. These...

Escape this winter to the land of perpetual summer on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Blue skies, golden sun, tropical breezes, warm surf and soft sand await you. Sounds pretty good if you’re looking out the window at freezing rain, ice, snow and a heavy gray sky, doesn’t it? Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast stretches from the port town of Puntarenas to just before the surf town o...

Some of the best whitewater rafting in Costa Rica is found in the country’s Caribbean mountains. Rainforest-fed rivers thunder down canyons and valleys, eventually ending in flat plains and marshes before reaching the sea. For its sheer beauty and monumental whitewater rapids, the Pacuare River of Costa Rica is one of the world’s top whitewater river rafting adventures. The Pacuare flows down a...

The end of the year in southern Costa Rica turns a little devilish. This is when the indigenous Boruca community celebrates their ancestral “Fiesta de los Diablitos", or the Festival of Little Devils, a four-day annual event happening from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2. The end-of-the-year festival takes place in the village of Boruca on the tribe’s indigenous reservation in the Talamanca Mountains, 25 km ...

Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula is renowned by scientists, explorers and nature lovers as an astounding paradise of biological diversity. The southern Pacific Ocean off the Osa Peninsula is natural wonder of marine life, home to more than 25 species of dolphins and whales, four of the world’s eight different sea turtles, along with manta rays, sailfish, marlin, tuna and sharks. The southern Pacific, an...

Walk down the beaches of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica and you’re likely to see multicolored crushed seashells, sea glass, and interesting rocks and pebbles along the white sand. What you won’t see as readily is trash. The Pacific beaches of Santa Teresa – Mal Pais, Playa Carmen, Playa Santa Teresa and Playa Hermosa – on Costa Rica’s southern Nicoya Peninsula hold Ecological Blue Flag status. Costa...

Just in time to beat the winter blues, Costa Rica’s summer season is beginning, offering affordable winter vacation destinations for northern travelers. Costa Rica is a fun and easy tropical adventure for winter sun-seekers. Miles of beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts make for great beach vacations. Rainforests, cloud forests and active volcanoes give you thrilling jungle adventur...

Christmas is a special time of year for birders. Equipped with binoculars, bird guides and checklists, avid birders throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, rain, or maybe even tropical sun, to take part in the 2013 Christmas Bird Count. The longest running “Citizen Science survey” in the world, the annual Christmas Bird Count provides critical data on bird population trends. The National Audubon...

Have you heard the one about the visiting tourist enjoying Costa Rican tamales? He says, “They’re really delicious, but the lettuce is little tough!” (Costa Rican tamales are wrapped in green banana tree leaves.) Ho, ho, ho! Tamales are one of the most time-honored Christmas traditions in Costa Rica. Like the rest of Latin America, tamales are a principal part of Christmas dinner. In Costa Rica...

Spending your Christmas holidays in Costa Rica and wondering what to do? The capital city of San José has a lot going on. So get your Santa hat and festive cheer ready, and let the rhythm of Christmas in Latin America dash you away! Christmas in San José, Costa Rica, is a lively, fun time. The city is ablaze with huge lighted Christmas trees adorning the front of the Children’s Hospital on Pase...

Most people visiting Nosara head straight for Playa Guiones, which with its beautiful white sand and consistent surf break, is one of Costa Rica’s most favored surfing beaches. This breezy Blue-Flag beach is reputed to have the most consistent surf on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast with “surf-able waves here over 300 days a year,” reports the Visit Nosara tourism website. Guiones Point at the south...

In the case of butterflies, it pays to look like your neighbor. New information about long-winged butterflies in Costa Rica is showing how the importance of “mimicry” and the butterflies’ natural promiscuity has led to interbreeding and the creation of new species that look very much alike, according to a study led by University of Chicago evolutionary biologist, Marcus R. Kronforst. “In evo...

People love things that make them feel young (or remember their youth), feel free and be happy. Traveling is usually in the top 10. Why? 1. Traveling opens up your world. In today's world where emails and smart phones often replace face-to-face interaction, traveling makes you get out and interact with humanity. Traveling changes your scenery. When you travel, you are away from the daily routi...

The south Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica somehow seems almost greener, more lush and a more “tropical rainforest experience” than its highly-popular sunny cousin, the Pacific Coast. Maybe it is the abundant rain, brought in by the trade winds, which keeps the jungle thick and vibrant right to the shoreline. Maybe it is the bright aqua, crystal-clear Caribbean Sea that sparkles like a precious je...

There is no better way to relax – especially recently arrived on vacation – than with a massage. It really is amazing what 60 or 90 minutes of a professional therapist making your muscles and body unwind will do to produce feelings of bliss and well-being. Massage therapy benefits you by relaxing tight muscles, increasing circulation, releasing toxins, easing stress, and benefiting your whole b...

It has been said in Costa Rica that the best “all-terrain vehicle” for navigating the country is a horse. Costa Ricans love horses and their riding traditions – their equestrian roots coming from the Spanish who brought horses with them to Central America in the 16th century. The heart and soul of Costa Rica’s equestrian life is the northwestern province of Guanacaste. Here, vast rolling plains...

Like the lion or the tiger, the jaguar is the “king of the jungle” in the Americas. It is the largest feline in the Americas and the third largest in the world, notes Wikipedia. With a range extending from Southwestern United States and Mexico across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina, there are only an estimated 15,000 jaguars left in the wild, according to the W...

Meet sloths, kinkajous, tayras, ocelots, peccaries and anteaters. Stand next to Scarlet Macaws feeding on almond trees. Watch white-faced monkeys swing and play next to you, and have your heart melt when a spider monkey comes to hold your hand. This isn’t some exotic zoo, but rather the Osa Wildlife Sanctuary on Golfo Dulce in the South Pacific of Costa Rica. The Costa Rica wildlife refuge help...

The Tortuguero coast in Costa Rica is a 22-mile-long, desolate, volcanic black sand beach littered with driftwood and tree logs tossed up on shore from the untamed ocean. It is a wild place – like the imaginary jungle coast in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” There is nothing but beach and low, swampy jungle for miles and miles. You can’t swim here because of rough surf, strong curren...

Thatched-roof pavilions in jungle gardens, hidden courtyards reflecting pools and temple carvings, covered open-air walkways, wide verandas and smooth wooden decks, living spaces that invite the landscape inside … these are all elements of the world-wide architectural phenomenon known as “Bali Style.” The mere mention of Bali evokes thoughts of tropical paradise. Bali is more than a small Indon...

It is nearly the end of 2013. Are you looking for a quick week-long vacation to get away from it all? Before the holiday season really gets going, escape for a week to sunny Costa Rica on a 7-day Tropical Paradise Vacation. This 7-day Costa Rica vacation package from Costa Rica Special Deals really is a good travel deal. For only $365 USD per person (based on double occupancy), you get thre...

From the concrete jungle of Johannesburg, South Africa, to the wilds of the Costa Rican rainforest is quite a change. Two months ago, South African couple Gary Kritzinger and Shayne Mrazek left behind electric fences and heavy security, hour-long 6 km commutes, and a metropolitan beehive of 12 million people, for a different kind of jungle where their closest neighbors are tree frogs and toucans. ...

Sick leave and vacation have become synonymous for many people around the globe, as healthcare costs skyrocket in top nations. The world medical tourism industry has become a $10.5 billion business based on the availability of high-quality medical services at reasonable rates in many developing countries. Patients are travelling abroad not only for quick-recovery cosmetic surgeries or dental pr...

What if keeping a doctor’s visit at bay is solved simply by what we eat? Even more, what if herbs grown right in our backyard and foods we can pick up at any corner store can heal what ails us, including the pesky common cold? For thousands of years humans relied on foods and herbs for medicine. In Costa Rica, it turns out that plenty of easy-to-find familiar foods are actually just what the do...

Talk about Nosara, Costa Rica, and you actually mean a stretch of several beaches on the Nicoya Peninsula – from Playa Ostional to Playa Nosara, Playa Pelada and Playa Guiones. This remote area of Guanacaste, just north of Samara in the country’s north Pacific, is known for long wide beaches, fantastic surfing, peace and quiet, and of course, it’s impressive wildlife. Three top nature activitie...

I met a woman and her husband in the airport recently, while we were waiting to board our flight out of Costa Rica. They were tanned and relaxed, and had been enjoying the country’s beaches and rainforest … all for free! They had won a work contest to sell the most furniture for their company and earned the free incentive trip. This was actually the couple’s second year in a row to win – last year...

Imagine this Costa Rica vacation: Traverse the entire country from coast to coast and north to south, but only using mountain bikes, kayaks, rafts, zipline cables, and your feet. Sleep under the stars wherever you may be – mud, sand, grass field, rocky stream bed – but only for a few hours at a time. Brave the thrills of mosquitoes, venomous snakes, crocodiles, rain, boiling sun, and sweltering ra...

Yoga and meditation are all about breathing deeply, relaxing, and reconnecting with your inner nature. What better setting for this practice than the pure oxygen-rich rainforest of Costa Rica. Be in harmony with nature around you at a yoga and meditation retreat at Portasol Rainforest and Oceanview Living. The sustainable community on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast will hold seven Rain/Sun ...

Despite pineapple cultivation tripling in the northern Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica over the past decade, it appears that Costa Rica’s 17-year-old ban on clearing “mature” forests is working, finds a study published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The study, which was led by Matthew Fagan of Columbia University in the USA, found that since Costa Rica implemented its ...

Although it is one of Costa Rica’s most spectacular destinations – for its gold and white sand beaches, world-class surfing, warm blue Pacific Ocean, and lush rainforest – the southern Nicoya Peninsula stays off the beaten tourist path. The reason is the region’s remote location. Going by ferry is the traditional way to get to the towns and beaches of the southern Nicoya Peninsula – Tambor, Mon...

Knowing a little something about a country’s cultural and social nuances before you travel there could mean the difference between having a fun or a frustrating vacation. You’d want the same for a visitor in your own country, so why not make cultural awareness just as important as what you pack when planning an international trip. The more information you gather before traveling to a foreign...

Costa Rica – home of ecotourism and thrilling adventure tours – is not usually the first vacation destination people think of for travelers with disabilities. However, the country’s tourism industry is working to change that image and make Costa Rica’s famous attractions more accessible. So far, reports are positive from tourists who have enjoyed accessible vacations in Costa Rica. Several of C...

All-inclusive resorts make vacation planning easy. Everything you need – place to stay, meals, activities, entertainment – is included in one price. You don’t have to worry about the details, hidden extras or going over budget. Going to an all-inclusive resort is truly a no-worry vacation. All-inclusive resorts in Costa Rica have been around for years, but the concept is booming. Major internat...

What makes a sustainable business “sustainable” and why should we care? Here’s a news flash for you – we all live on the same planet Earth. In many ways we humans, and all of the living and non-living things and elements that exist on our planet, are connected. The dust storms in Africa that cause cloudy, windy, dry weather in Central America; the earthquake in Asia that causes a nuclear reacto...

New Zealand is about as far from Costa Rica as you can get. That’s where 21 Costa Rican men and women are headed at the beginning of November to compete in the World Rafting Championships. Set for November 13-24 in Rotorua, New Zealand, the biennial World Rafting Championships (WRC) will draw 69 teams from 27 countries to compete in four divisions with men’s and women’s categories – Open, Maste...

I love traveling in off-season. High season travelers and summer vacationers are gone. Back to school and back to work, which means better travel opportunities for me and you. Off-season is when crowds disappear and prices drop, as hotels, tour operators and airlines look to attract travelers with deep discounts. Granted, it’s not the low season for nothing. In Costa Rica, it is rainy season...

What are the best places to visit in Costa Rica? What are the best things to do in Costa Rica? I get these questions a lot. Having lived in Costa Rica for 12 years, working in the tourism industry, I field questions from extended family, friends, friends of friends, and even complete strangers if I happen to mention that’s where I live. They all ask the same thing, “If I were to visit Costa Ric...

Santa Teresa is one of those iconic Costa Rica tourism spots. Paradise found for so many international and Costa Rican tourists who “discovered” Santa Teresa’s pristine beaches, world-class surf breaks and lushly forested coastline. Yet as more and more travelers flock to experience these beautiful treasures, the isolation bubble stretches to the max, bringing with it the growing pains of any popu...

You don’t need a well-manicured grass pitch. You don’t even need all 22 players, or fancy uniforms … or even shoes, for that matter. All you need is a ball and people willing to play. The most popular sport in the world – football (known as soccer in the USA) – can be played anywhere by anyone. That’s the simple beauty of a sport that traverses borders, has brought bitter enemies together, even...