🇨🇷 Natural wonders of Costa Rica

A small Central American country with an outsized share of the planet's biodiversity — volcanoes and cloud forests packed between two oceans, and a world-leading model for conservation.

🗓️ Best time for nature: The drier season (roughly December–April) for the clearest volcano views and easier trails; the rainforest is green and alive year-round.

North America 3 wonders in the atlas

The lay of the land

Costa Rica sits on a volcanic spine between the Caribbean and the Pacific, and though it covers a tiny fraction of the Earth's land, it holds an estimated 5% of the world's species. Young volcanoes like the classically conical Arenal rise above rainforest and hot springs, while high on the Continental Divide, mist feeds the extraordinary Monteverde cloud forest, its canopy draped in orchids and alive with quetzals and hummingbirds. Costa Rica has become a global byword for ecotourism and reforestation.

Where to begin

  1. Arenal Volcano

    A near-perfect volcanic cone above rainforest and hot springs.

    Volcano · Alajuela, northern Costa Rica

  2. Monteverde Cloud Forest

    A misty, biodiversity-rich cloud forest on the Continental Divide.

    Forest · Puntarenas / Alajuela, Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica

A taste of the place

Costa Rican food is simple and fresh: gallo pinto (rice and beans) for breakfast, the casado set plate for lunch, abundant tropical fruit, and celebrated highland coffee — the ethos of 'pura vida' on the plate.

Traveling responsibly

  • Mornings give the clearest views of often cloud-capped Arenal.
  • Bring rain gear and a naturalist guide for cloud-forest wildlife.
  • Support the eco-lodges and reserves that fund conservation.

Costa Rica proves that small can be mighty. On a sliver of land between two oceans, along a volcanic spine, it holds an estimated 5% of all the species on Earth. Young volcanoes like Arenal rise in near-perfect cones above rainforest and geothermal hot springs, while high on the Continental Divide the Monteverde cloud forest hangs perpetually in mist, its canopy a garden of orchids alive with quetzals and hummingbirds. A world leader in conservation and ecotourism, Costa Rica opens its chapter here with a volcano and a cloud forest — fire and mist.

Added

All wonders in Costa Rica

3 places

Arenal Volcano, Alajuela, northern Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano

Alajuela, northern Costa Rica

A near-perfectly conical volcano rising above the rainforests of northern Costa Rica — for decades one of the world's most active, now resting, surrounded by hot springs, waterfalls, and abundant wildlife.

Volcano North America
Cocos Island, Pacific Ocean, 550 km off Costa Rica

Cocos Island

Pacific Ocean, 550 km off Costa Rica

A rainforest island alone in the Pacific, ringed by waters where hammerhead sharks school in their hundreds — often called the finest big-animal dive site on Earth.

Marine sanctuary Latin America
Monteverde Cloud Forest, Puntarenas / Alajuela, Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica

Monteverde Cloud Forest

Puntarenas / Alajuela, Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica

A misty mountaintop cloud forest dripping with life — where clouds snag on the ridge and feed a green world of orchids, epiphytes, and rare wildlife, from the resplendent quetzal to hundreds of bird species.

Forest North America