Sports and leisure activities Costa Rica

Thanks to its many parks, reserves, refuges, volcanoes and private sites, Costa Rica offers hikers countless discovery itineraries, for the sporty and the less sporty alike, and all without breaking the bank! For short hikes (1 to 3 days): the craters of the Central Valley volcanoes can be reached by short hikes from the parking lot. Climbing the Rincón de la Vieja is now forbidden, but you can discover its large park on foot, as well as the Río Celeste. Discovering Cahuita, Manuel Antonio and/or La Amistad national parks is an ideal way to start your adventure on foot. For the more adventurous, it's also possible to spend two or three days (with overnight stays in La Sirena) in Corcovado National Park. For longer hikes (3 days or more), it's essential to be in excellent physical condition, especially in a tropical environment. Corcovado National Park offers adventure trails in one of the world's most beautiful tropical rainforests. What's more, you can stay on site at the Sirena base camp. Similarly, Santa Rosa National Park, with its dry tropical forest, leads to the beautiful surf beaches of Naranjo and Bahia Salinas. For more intense trekking, La Amistad Park offers hikes to suit your more adventurous requirements, including the ascent of Cerro Chirripó with its "Andean" summit. The Los Quetzales National Park also offers challenging but simply sublime hikes.

Because of its high mountains, some of which are over 3,000 m high, humid tropical climate and nearby sea, the rivers are not long and have a steep gradient. Costa Rica has many torrents and rivers of great interest for rafting. On the coast, the powerful rollers (olas) of the Pacific Ocean provide numerous surfing spots that are attracting more and more locals... and tourists! A two-week stay is not too much for surfers to appreciate the Costa Rican spots. In fact, it's a bit short, especially if the evenings in the bars and nights out are as hectic as those on the surfboards... Among the most famous: the South Caribbean coast, the South Pacific and the Tamarindo area. While the vast majority of Costa Rica's roads are now paved, some remain formidable playgrounds for off-road and enduro motorcycling. In both rainy and dry seasons, Costa Rican trails allowenduro and nature lovers to discover the country in a whole new way. Last but not least, a real Costa Rican success story in recent years, the canopy( the term most often used here) allows visitors to observe the upper canopy of the forest. Amongst toucans, monkeys and other reptiles, you can climb to the top of the canopy using cables or suspended walkways.