NOTE: In 2017 the park service closed the east entrance and the trail to the hot springs due to overcrowding. Unfortunately there was really never room for more than a dozen people and tour buses with 40 were adding to visitors staying locally. We're working on an update to the map but the current … [Read more...]
Search Results for: bijagua
Best Costa Rica Vacations Ever
Take the Shortcut... If you're feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities click here and we will turn what you want to see and do into a well organized custom travel plan. In twenty five years of researching and updating the travel map these are the best routes we … [Read more...]
Printable Costa Rica Map
Click thumbnails above for the large jpg map image or detailed, printable, zoomable pdf map The handy printable highway map of Costa Rica includes a table of driving distances and an alphabetical index of grid coordinates for most cities and towns and features national parks, reserves and … [Read more...]
Best Restaurants in Costa Rica
Costa Rica boasts an off the grid farm where internationally renowned guest chefs create signature dishes based on the day's organic harvest, luxury resort seafood platters piled with langosta and camarones, and a modern menuless Mediterranean cafe that's truly family style because you'll eat what … [Read more...]
Volcanoes in Costa Rica
It's been a tough decade for volcano tourism in Costa Rica. Arenal, Poás (partially re-opened), Turrialba, Chato, Tenorio (re-opened!), Miravalles (re-opened!), Rincón, Von Seebach, and Santa Maria Volcanoes have all been impacted by increases or decreases in volcanic activity, weather, … [Read more...]
Arenal Volcano & La Fortuna Map
Choose either a larger jpg image or the more detailed and fully zoomable pdf map by clicking on the thumbnails above Free printable pocket map of the Arenal Volcano region, La Fortuna and the national park featuring hotels, resorts and lodges and hot spring spas with approximate price ranges for … [Read more...]
Half Million Dollar Mouse Click
It's that time again. On the 2020 map update research trip we identified 327 changes including 21 road segments that have been paved, 67 name changes, 113 places closed down, 41 new lodgings and many more. There were also 3 errors in the previous edition and we've decided to add a cool new shaded … [Read more...]
Best Kept Secrets
There's a bit of guilt associated with releasing this information to the public because much of what's special about the places on this list will be lost if "The Public" arrives en masse. However, I have faith that Costa Rica will always have something new and amazing to explore so get to these … [Read more...]
Free Things To Do
We get a lot of e-mails especially from budget travelers asking what there is to do for free in Costa Rica. Turns out not much is totally free, but if you stretch your budget to a few bucks per person it opens up more possibilities. Our list of cheap or free things to help keep kids entertained … [Read more...]
National Parks & Reserves Under Siege
Most visitors would never consider intentionally taking a tresspassing tour to areas closed for safety and wildlife conservation but according to officials Costa Rica's National Parks, Reserves and Wildlife Refuges are experiencing a crisis of trespassing and more serious illegal activity. tourists … [Read more...]
Natural Disasters in Costa Rica
hurricane | volcano | earthquake | tsunami | flood | updates Earthquakes Earthquakes are quite common in Costa Rica with small ones occurring daily and tremors strong enough to feel a few times a year. Major quakes strike about once a decade but no tourist has ever been killed or seriously … [Read more...]
Map Making
The process of creating the Waterproof Travel Map of Costa Rica is a lot of work and a lot of fun. At Toucan Maps Inc. & Costa Rica Guide we frequently get questions about what it takes and how we do it so we've put together a photo gallery showing how we research, create and publish the … [Read more...]
Site Map
Costa Rica Guide Site Map of Main Pages and Posts Costa Rica Category Quick Links Activities, Adventures and Tours | Food | Top 10 Destinations | Transportation | Health | Itineraries | About Us | Living and Moving | Lodging | Family | Maps and Navigation | Nature, Parks and Refuges | Photos | … [Read more...]
Thank You
Your request has been sent and you should receive a personal reply, suggested itinerary and the answers to any questions from our travel office guide@pacifictradewinds.com — Pacific Trade Winds S.A., Costa Rica Guide If you need immediate assistance please call us in Costa Rica 7 am - 7 pm daily, … [Read more...]
Fast Food in Costa Rica
“Fast food” has been in Costa Rica for decades in the form of Pollo Frito which as the name implies will fry you part of a chicken and Sodas which offer quick traditional meals. The quality varies a lot. The soda El Río on the southern edge of La Fortuna near Arenal volcano has excellent, hot … [Read more...]
Round Rock Roads
There is a gravel shortage in Costa Rica. At least what you might usually think of as gravel. To make gravel, large rocks are normally crushed into fairly uniform pieces somewhere between the size of a grape and a golf ball then filtered through a screen to eliminate any softball, bowling ball or … [Read more...]
Missed by Miles
Our longest bicycle tour was three months from June through August and had a lot to do with our decision to try to make a good map of Costa Rica. We were lost more often than not and the detour we took the first time we tried to visit Bijagua and the Tenorio, Miravalles, Celeste Region was a … [Read more...]
Guanacaste
Guanacaste Beaches, Rainforests and Cowboys Guanacaste is the northernmost region of Costa Rica encompassing much of the border with Nicaragua and expresses its frontier character in everyday life as well as during celebrations. The hot relatively dry rolling hills that rise up from the … [Read more...]
Tenorio, Celeste & Miravalles
Hikes Luxury Ecolodges Wildlife Easy Walks Rustic Lodges Birdwatching Difficult Hikes Rafting Authentic CR Hiking, bird watching, and natural volcanic springs are only the beginning. There are almost too many reasons to include this area not the least of … [Read more...]
Not at Tenorio & Miravalles
Canopy Ziplines Sometimes you can learn as much about a region by what's not there as you can by what is. One of the most telling observations about the Bijagua region is that there is not a single zipline tour. It's the only little corner of Costa Rica without one (or typically many … [Read more...]