Costa Rica Holidays 2012

While exploring Costa Rica be sure to visit San Jose and Cartago for the museums, especially Gold Museum and National Theater.

The butterfly gardens, serpentariums and ranariums allow you to observe the wildlife of Costa Rica without any danger, and they are a great way to spend the day when it is raining outside.

Places of Interest

Since Costa Rica sits on top of the Ring of Fire Costa Rica is home to five active volcanoes, but has over 200 volcanic formations. The most popular volcanoes among the tourists are Arenal because it is the most active, but also Poas due to how easy it is to reach and Irazu because it is the tallest one in Costa Rica.

These three volcanoes are easily reached by a paved road, while Rincon de la Vieja and Turrialba require you to arrive by hiking or on horseback, but the trails up there are breathtaking.

La Paz Waterfall Garden and Butterfly Observatory is the largest butterfly garden in the country. Costa Rica is home to 10% of the world’s butterfly species and the La Paz Butterfly Observatory houses over 4,000 butterflies, with 60% of them being neo-tropical species. Here you can also hike up to several waterfalls or view a hummingbird garden that is home to 24 species of hummingbirds.

Local Cuisine

While Costa Rican cuisine is known for being tasty, it is also very mild. The main part of any meal is rice and beans, referred to as gallo pinto.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are incorporated into every dish along with the rice and beans. For lunch be sure to sample casado, which includes rice and beans but not mixed, a type of meat, and a salad. While in the taverns be sure to sample of the smaller side dishes, such as patacones with black bean dip, chimichurri, and ceviche.

Climate

Although Costa Rica has a tropical climate year round the geography of Costa Rica greatly influences the temperatures.

The Caribbean side of the island has higher humidity than the Pacific side, but the average annual temperature is about 81 degrees Fahrenheit in the lowlands and 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the populated areas of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s seasons are determined by the rainfall, with summer having the lowest amount of rainfall and winter usually having constant rainfall. The Central Cordillera Mountains receives the most amount of rain with up to 196.9 inches each year.

When to visit

When to visit Costa Rica isn’t going to depend on the weather so much as it is going to depend on whether or not you like crowds.

Most people visit Costa Rica from November all the way until April, which coincides with the busiest times of year Christmas and Spring Break. Most people visit during this time of the year because they are looking to get away from the cold winter weather and Costa Rica offers you those warmer temperatures.

November through April also happens to be the driest time of year for Costa Rica, which means that there might be a little less rain than other times of the year in the rainforest.