National Emblem and Flag

About Costa Rica

DISCOVER COSTA RICA

During his fourth and last voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus reached our Caribbean coast in late 1,502 and discovered this beautiful land. Impressed by its natural beauty and motivated by ideas of incredible Indian gold treasures, he named this lovely new land "Costa Rica" (Rich Coast).

Indeed, Columbus was right about this new God-gifted rich land.  However, its richness does not derive from gold, but certainly from its incredible jewels of Nature.  Our natural treasures include green plains and valleys, high mountain ranges, impressive volcanoes, beautiful Pacific Ocean, fabulous Caribbean Sea, pristine sandy beaches, wonderful coral reefs, dense tropical jungles, mystic cloud forests, marvelous rain forests, amazing waterfalls, gorgeous rivers and lakes, peninsulas and bays, islands and islets; all of them featuring abundant, lush vegetation and exotic wildlife.

THE COUNTRY:
Costa Rica is a beautiful tropical country located on the Central American isthmus between 08º2'26" and 11º13'12" North Latitude and 82º33'48" and 85º57'57" West Longitude.   Its territory covers a surface of 51,100 km² (19,739 square miles).  The population is almost five million citizens.  Approximately 30% of the national territory is protected by the government and private organizations.  These Protected Areas include: National Parks, Biological Reserves, Wildlife Refuges, Indian Reserves, Forest Reserves, National Monuments and Private Ecological Preserves.

THE CLIMATE:
Costa Rica presents a wide variety of altitudes and temperatures.  The territory rises from sea level along the coastlines to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the Central Valley, up to 1,500 m (5,000 ft) on the Central Mountain Range and over 3,000 m (9,800 ft) on the high mountain ranges.  The highest point in Costa Rica is Mount Chirripó at 3,820 m (12,534 ft).  Therefore, this country does not have just a simple and defined climate, but a large number of micro-climates.

There are only two well-defined seasons in Costa Rica: the rainy season and the dry season.  Costa Rica's lovely "summer" or dry season is mainly from December to May and the rainy or "green" season is basically from May to November.

POLITICAL DIVISION:

Costa Rica is administratively divided into seven (7) Provincias: San José (Capital of the country), Alajuela, Cartago, Heredia, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limón.  Each Province is divided into several Cantones and each Cantón is comprised by several Distritos.

 

PROVINCES OF COSTA RICA AND THEIR CANTONES

1 SAN JOSE (Capital of the Country)
01 San José
02 Escazú
03 Desamparados
04 Puriscal
05 Tarrazú
06 Aserrí
07 Mora (Ciudad Colón)
08 Goicoechea (Guadalupe)
09 Santa Ana
10 Alajuelita		 11 Coronado
12 Acosta
13 Tibás
14 Moravia
15 Montes de Oca
16 Turrubares
17 Dota
18 Curridabat
19 Pérez Zeledón
20 León Cortés

 

2 ALAJUELA
01 Alajuela
02 San Ramón
03 Grecia
04 San Mateo
05 Atenas
06 Naranjo
07 Palmares
08 Poás 		09 Orotina
10 San Carlos
11 Alfaro Ruiz (Zarcero)
12 Valverde Vega
13 Upala
14 Los Chiles
15 Guatuso

 

3 CARTAGO
01 Cartago
02 Paraíso
03 La Unión
04 Jiménez		 05 Turrialba
06 Alvarado
07 Oreamuno
08 El Guarco

 

4 HEREDIA
01 Heredia
02 Barva
03 Santo Domingo
04 Santa Bárbara
05 San Rafael 		06 San Isidro
07 Belén
08 Flores
09 San Pablo
10 Sarapiquí

 

5 GUANACASTE
01 Liberia
02 Nicoya
03 Santa Cruz
04 Bagaces
05 Carrillo (Filadelfia)
06 Cañas 		07 Abangares
08 Tilarán
09 Nandayure
10 La Cruz
11 Hojancha

 

6 PUNTARENAS
01 Puntarenas
02 Esparza
03 Buenos Aires
04 Montes de Oro (Miramar)
05 Osa
06 Aguirre (Quepos) 		07 Golfito
08 Coto Brus
09 Parrita
10 Corredores
11 Garabito (Jacó)

 

7 LIMON
01 Limón
02 Pococí
03 Siquirres 		04 Talamanca
05 Matina
06 Guácimo

The Provinces of San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia are landlocked.  Guanacaste and Puntarenas are bathed by the Pacific Ocean, and Limón by the Caribbean Sea.  These last three provinces are well-known for their numerous tropical beaches of marvelous beauty.  Costa Rica has a total of 1,228 kms (763 miles) of coastal shore on both coasts; 1,016 kms (631 miles) on the Pacific coast and 212 kms (132 miles) on the Caribbean coast.

Each of the seven provinces of Costa Rica presents a different view of of the country with an incredible choice of unique things to do and see.

Because of its world-wide recognized peace-orientation (Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948 and its current president Oscar Arias won the Peace Nobel Price in 1987), political stability, privileged climates, gifts of tremendous Natural Resources and receptiveness of its warm people towards foreigners, Costa Rica is becoming a preferred destination for thousands of foreigners who want to settle in this peaceful corner of heaven.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT COSTA RICA PLEASE VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE COSTA RICAN INSTITUTE OF TOURISM (ICT) AT:  www.visitcostarica.com