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Top Ten

Costa Rica Top Ten Must See Destinations

Everyone Has a Different “Must See” List

Ours takes the opinions, recommendations & feedback from thousands of travelers, combines them with our personal favorites & adds a couple off the beaten track secrets to give you the top ten.

Costa Rica has so much diversity

and so many great destinations you could have a spectacular vacation without visiting any of the top ten list, but it’s a good place to start if you’re looking for ideas.

Of course there are also more than ten great places to visit in Costa Rica and when we were making the must see list there were half a dozen others that kept popping onto it then getting bumped off by something that added more diversity or seemed a little more appropriate.

We made the first version of this list about twenty years ago and some of the best destinations have remained the same although the places have gone through a lot of changes.  Another place to look for ideas is the page of the most popular destinations in Costa Rica.

Once you’ve decided where you want to go and what you want to see it’s worth a visit to our page on the best things to do in Costa Rica and you can answer the question “when?” by looking into the best time to visit Costa Rica.

If “must see” sounds too “been there done that” for your tastes check out the list of Costa Rica’s best kept secrets.

Think anyone will mind that we snuck in 11 and added some honorable mentions too…?

Tenorio Volcano and Celeste Waterfall Beaches and Resorts of Guanacaste Arenal Volcano Adventures Beaches, Wildlife and Luxury at Manuel Antonio Tortuguero Water Trails and Turtle Nesting Monteverde is Cloudforest Canopy and Ziplines Corcovado has the Wildest Rainforest in Costa Rica Surf, Sand and Sun on Nicoyas Endless Beaches Caribbean Reggae and the Best Food The High Peaks, Forests and Waterfalls of San Gerardo and Chirripo

Ray & Sue

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Top 10
  • Top Ten
  • Best Kept Secrets
  • Beaches of Guanacaste
  • Arenal Volcano
  • Monteverde
  • Osa & Corcovado
  • Manuel Antonio
  • Tortuguero
  • Tenorio, Celeste & Miravalles
  • The San Gerardos
  • Nicoya Peninsula
  • Southern Caribbean
  • Rincon de la Vieja
  • Turrialba & Orosi Honorable Mention
  • San José Honorable Mention
  • Jacó & Hermosa Honorable Mentions
  • Dominical, Uvita Honorable Mention
  • Not at the San Gerardos
  • Not in Tortuguero
  • Not at Tenorio & Miravalles



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