Costa Rica Highlights

Costa Rica is a small country compared in size to countries in North or South America. And yet, you will visit so many wonderful spots that soon you can add many more Costa Rica highlights to this list. You should plan enough time to enjoy the beautiful beaches, walks through the rainforest while spotting exotic animals, and the incredible views out of your car or hotel window. Costa Rica is so diverse, that several beaches were my highlight and several nature walks. Yet, here is the top of the top.

1 Manuel Antonio National Park

I picked this as my favorite place because it combined spotting amazing native animals with spending time at paradise beaches. If you don’t see a sloth here, you are extremely unlucky, as there are many of them. While the nicest beach is inside the national park, even the public beach outside is very pretty. Therefore, it’s also a nice spot to have a few days of a beach holiday, even if you only visit the national park on one day.

2 Hanging Bridge walk in Monteverde or La Fortuna

If you are in Costa Rica because you want to see exotic animals, a hanging bridge walk is a must for you. I really couldn’t say which hanging bridge walk was better. We saw different animals on both of them and both walks were nice. But what I am saying is: visit a hanging bridges park and go and spot poisonous frogs, paradise birds, bats, butterflies, etc.

3 Tamarindo Beach

This was my favorite town as it was lively, had many restaurant options and you could walk everywhere on foot. Apart from that, everything is set along a beautiful light brown beach, where you can watch an amazing sunset every evening. Also, Tamarindo was my favorite surf spot as there were waves for every level.

Find out how to get to these places by reading my complete “I love Costa Rica” travel guide.

Read the German version here and the English version here.