Costa Rica has 27 national parks, 58 wildlife refuges, 30 protected zones and many private reserves. Because of this, nearly 25% of the land in Costa Rica is protected. So naturally, all visitors want to include at least 1 national park in their itinerary for hiking, nature and wildlife watching.
Below you will find our national park, reserves and wildlife refuges guides we have been to.
What You Will Find in These Costa Rica National Parks Guides
Our personal experiences
These articles aren’t just guides, you’ll read about our personal experience at each one including what we thought, when we visited and our recommendations for things to know before you go, what to wear and more. All the guides have lots of photos and some of them have a video of our day there so you can see what it’s like.
Location and how to get there
All the articles include the Google Maps of the park and directions how to get there by driving and by bus (if applicable).
Entrance fees and hours
Find out when the parks are open and how much the entrance fee is for Costa Rican residents and foreigner adults and children.
What you can do in the park
Each park has their own special attraction. Find out what each one is famous for and what you can do in the park.
Hiking trails, beaches, view points, wildlife, etc.
If the national park has hiking trails, you will find maps and pictures of hiking trails. If there are beaches, you’ll see photos of the beaches. And for wildlife, you will see the different animals you can see in the park.
Tours to the national parks
How you can visit the national park on a tour, recommended companies and prices.
I’ll be updating this post Costa Rica national parks so check back often!
John Davis says
Hi: Any info on Guanacaste National Park? The info from Sinac and ACG is pretty sketchy.
Thanks,
John Davis
Sammi says
Unfortunately no, from what I understand and have read, this park is not open to tourists, it was created for biologists, scientists and researchers. You can visit Rincon de la Vieja National Park though which is right next to it.
Sammi says
Hi Luz, you can do mud baths in Rincon. The adventure parks have mud baths such as Guachipelin and Buena vista. You can read our posts on Rincon de la vieja. Our favorite is Guachipelin.
Luz Noel says
Hi is there a mud bath in one of the trails