In Costa Rica you can visit the Instituto Geográfico
Nacional in San José (see
below for details)
The best place to order topographic maps of Costa Rica online
is Omni
Maps $14.95 + SH
There is an out of print book of Costa Rican topographic
maps that might be worth searching out (see
below for details)
Topographic
Maps of Costa Rica
The official government topographic maps of Costa Rica (Instituto
Geográfico Nacional) come in two scales covering
the entire country with either 133 sheets or 9 sheets.
The 9 map series is useful for 4WD and jeep roads, mountain
biking and some hiking. Serious backcountry orienteering
would require several sheets from the 133 map series. The
elevation contours are 100 M (~330 ft.) on the large maps,
and more detailed but vary by region on the smaller maps.
The maps are somewhat out of date (based on a survey of
Costa Rica completed in the early 1980's), but the geography
has remained constant.
Buy the maps at the Instituto
Geográfico Nacional in San José
The same topographic maps are available from the Costa Rican
government for about half the online price and no shipping
charges (because you have to pick them up). Unless your Spanish
is excellent (phone 257-7798, extensions 26 through 30) you
will have visit the Instituto Geográfico Nacional in
San José (Avenida 20, Calles 9/11 inside the gates
of the Ministerio de Obras Publicas) Monday through Friday
8:30-11:30 am, to see what is currently available.
Costa Rica, Nature Atlas and
Guidebook
There is an excellent book that includes topographical maps
of Costa Rica (the whole 9 map series described
above, broken into 55, 9" x 11" full color
pages) plus photos and descriptions of the national parks
in Spanish and English. It is called Costa Rica, Nature
Atlas and Guidebook. ISBN: 84-85389-92-1. Unfortunately
it was never widely available outside of Costa Rica and it
is now out of print. We saw copies of it in some tourist
shops in the summer of 1999 with prices as high as $110 (originally
$30). It might be worth it if you are planning a lot of hiking
and biking or sometimes you can find
it used at Amazon.com.
