Organic coffee fields, highland orchards, forest canopy, and bird watching in the Los Santos area:

1. Bio-Coffee Adventure: Visitors are guided by coffee experts through the whole process of producing organic coffee on a farm with environmentally sound practices, from growing fields to roasting plant and finally to the tasting room in order to savor the fresh, aromatic brew.

2. Highland orchards: Plums, blackberries, nectarines, apples, and avocados are only some of the delicious produce visitors can enjoy learning about and tasting on this tour through lovely orchards and fields.

3. Forest canopy park: Visitors can release all their energy and feel free as birds by means of gliding along the zip line -- a system of cables suspended in the forest canopy -- as well as climbing up and even inside trees.

4. Bird watching: More than 80 tropical bird species can be viewed, including the magnificent quetzal. The 2-hour tour takes place along a mountain route, and is led by expert guides.

Wilson Botanical Garden at San Vito de Coto Brus:

Internationally renowned, this remarkable botanical garden was originally established by Robert and Catherine Wilson; in 1973 it was transferred to the Organization for Tropical Studies, a consortium of American and Costa Rican universities and institutions.

Located at 1200 meters above sea level, the enormous garden’s perfectly moderate climate makes it possible to cultivate plants from the most exotic and diverse ecosystems on earth. It is the region’s main center for botanical research, education, and environmental conservation.

In 1983, UNESCO declared the garden part of the Talamanca – Amistad Biosphere, Central America’s largest and most pristine nature reserve. Visitors can view a vast array of beautiful subtropical, ornamental, and rare plants -- many of which are in danger of extinction. Unique varieties of ferns, anthuriums, bromeliads, heliconians, and maranthae are all represented, as well as the world’s second largest collection of palms.

In the Las Tablas protected area, between the Amistad International Park and Panamanian border, are the best preserved oak groves in Costa Rica’s Pacific region. With its extensive secondary forests full of birds and insects, the garden is an ideal site for studies carried out in the fields of agro-ecology and conservation biology, and has an international reputation.

Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula:

Created in 1975, the park is recognized the world over for its great diversity of flora and fauna. It contains the last portion of wet tropical forest of the Meso-American Pacific region. The genetic potential that this unique park offers is of invaluable importance for medicine and other fields benefiting mankind. 

Special night tours are conducted through the park to view tropical birds, plants, and insects. Among the experts accompanying groups of visitors is Antonio Azofeifa, one of the region’s foremost entomologists. As a taxonomist, he specializes in the collection and identification of insects in the field in order to classify them as part of the National Natural Inventory. He is an authority in atypical plant formations produced by insects to carry out reproduction, and a number of previously unknown plant species have been accredited to him, such as glypta antonioi, omphale antonioi, and driopteron antonioi.

While in the park, visitors can learn firsthand just how gold gets panned from rivers, and also tour a 225-meter deep gold mine.

Indian Culture

The indigenous Guaymíes originally migrated to Costa Rica from two areas in Panama, Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí, and settled in five territories in the southern Pacific region. The Guaymí Alto Laguna reservation is in the Osa Peninsula bordering the Corcovado National Park. Tours to the Boruca -Térraba Indian Reservation are also available. Visitors undergo a profound cultural experience, learning about a great deal about the customs and languages of native peoples, and admiring the remarkable artisan skill of their unique handicrafts, which may be purchased as souvenirs and keepsakes.

Golfo Dulce:

The “Sweet Gulf,” located in one of the wettest regions of Costa Rica, is approximately 50 kilometers long and up to 15 across, with a maximum depth of more than 200 meters.

There are three dolphin species flourishing in the gulf, and during suitable weather visitors can go sea kayaking at night to see the marvelous gleam of phosphorescent glowworms and other zooplankton.

The gulf’s north coast islands and shallow coral reefs are perfect for snorkeling to view exotic mollusks, goldfish, parrot fish, garfish, porgies, pompanos, angelfish, eels, manta rays, and more.

Bird watchers are thrilled by the large array of both aquatic birds and low-flying tropical species. While exploring the salty mangrove swamps, visitors view more birds, as well as lovely orchids, colorful crabs, and even snails; they learn how plants and animals survive there, and why these mangroves are such important forests for the region’s ecology. 

Whale and Dolphin Watching.

In 2007, after 23 years of membership in the International Whale Commission, Costa Rica joined forces with other nations worldwide to cast its vote for the preservation of whales.

Whales and dolphins, also known as cetaceans, abound along Costa Rica’s Caribbean and Pacific shores all year long; a total of 29 varieties, accounting for 34% of the world’s diversity, live within its waters. 

Major progress has been made in the protection of these remarkable mammals, with a large number of different institutes carrying out research in the country and participating in both national and international congresses.

Our company only carries out responsible marine tourism for whale and dolphin watching. We strictly adhere to the "Regulations for Observation of Cetaceans" code, which has greatly encouraged Costa Rica’s thriving marine mammal population.

Another factor related to the notable number and diversity of whale and dolphins in Costa Rica is the Pacific dome, a deep sea formation with shallow cold waters that foster vast schools of plankton and consequently, many other edible species. There is an abundance of fish and squid along the country’s extensive shores, as well as sheltering gulfs, bays and inlets, especially on the Pacific coast.

Drake’s Bay:

Named after Sir Francis Drake, the famed British pirate who in 1579 anchored the Golden Hind here for provisions and fresh water during his voyage around the world. A plaque placed by the British government at the site commemorates 400 years since Drake’s historic visit. 

The bay’s warm, shallow waters lie on top of low-oxygen currents, creating the perfect ecosystem for a vast variety of marine life. Humpbacks and other species from both North and South America migrate to Drake’s Bay to breed and give birth to their young, thus making Costa Rica’s whale watching season the longest in the world.

Among the whales to be found in these protected waters are Humpbacks, Pilots, Orcas, Sei, Beaked, Fin, and Brydes types.  Dolphins include Bottlenoses, Spinners, Rough Tooth, Spotted, Striped, Risso, and the so-called Common Dolphins.

Caño Island Biological Reserve:

Located some 16 kilometers from Drake Bay, for centuries Caño Island supplied pirates and explorers with fresh water. In pre-Columbian times, the island’s 300 hectares were used an Indian cemetery.  A number of large stone spheres have been found on the island, but how they were made and transferred has remained a mystery.

The island protects diverse marine environments, and its blue waters are widely recognized as among the best sites in the country for diving and snorkeling.

The geographic triangle formed by the Whale Marine National Park, Caño Island, and Drake Bay is the planet’s finest area for watching whales, since cetaceans from all over the America’s gather there to mate, especially from December to March, when the adults whales care for their newborn calves.

Whale Marine National Park in the south Pacific region:

When it was created in 1989, this was the country‘s very first marine life reserve. Among the animal species found here are the marine, green, and Olive Ridley turtles; Bottle-nose, common, and tropical spotted dolphins, as well as humpback and pilot whales. Marine Birds include ospreys, the magnificent frigate bird, brown pelicans, blue herons, and yellow-crowned night herons.

Among the park’s main attractions are:

• Punta Uvita’s Tómbolo, an extraordinary rock formation produced by ocean waves that have deposited sediment, diatoms, and other marine organisms; these formations link a chain of rocks together that form the coral reefs. At low tide, a kilometer-long walkway joins the beach to this rock formation, which is where the living reef begins; from the air, it resembles the tail of a whale.
• Isla Ballena and Tres Hermanas Island are composed of other rocky formations between 6 and 20 meters deep, the home of many species such as lobsters and barracudas. Furthermore, the islands are important for nesting reptiles and marine birds, like the brown booby, the white ibis, and the green iguana.
• Coral reefs composed of 18 different protected coral species, including the famed Núcura reefs; these shelter parrot fish, butterfly fish, yellowfin surgeon fish, freckled porcupine fish, lobsters, starfish, and sea fans.

Archaeological Tourism in the southern Palmar region:

Here visitors can tour the Museum of the Stone Spheres, which are a true enigma of our aborigine culture, and a source for wonder worldwide. They have been categorized as highly impressive examples of pre-Columbian art, as well as one of the greatest mysteries of archaeology, included among the ten most disconcerting ancient objects on earth.

In 1969 National Geographic magazine published the findings of research into the origin of the stone spheres carried out by famed archeologist Matthew Stirling. They were also mentioned by Erick Von Däniken in his books Chariots of the Gods and Unsolved Mysteries of the Past, as well as discussed in The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization, by Wilson and Rand.

Two of these amazing spheres are on display in the United States, one in the Museum of the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, and the other in the courtyard of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, at Harvard.

Rural Tourism: