Costa Rica is a wonderland for those who love nature, adventure and the outdoors. The Vista Marina Residential Development is centrally located to all the important tourist developments, parks and reserves in and around Guanacaste, giving you unencumbered access to a full range of outdoor leisure fun. From the area, you can easily hike through a misty cloud forest, zip along the treetop on a canopy tour or mountain bike through dense, lowland forest. You can encounter the underwater majesty of a manta ray, fish for record-breaking marlin or glide through the Pacific on a catamaran. You can even take in a few rounds of golf or just soak in the sunshine on a deserted beach. This is what you can do and see in the area:
| Parks and Reserves:
The natural diversity that Costa Rica is famous for can be seen in the range of
national parks and private reserves in the Guanacaste region. There's the
mist-covered, dense rainforests of the Monteverde and Santa Elena National Cloud
Forest Reserves; the lowland wet and dry forestland of Palo Verde; and the
network of caverns that mark Barra Honda, Costa Rica's only subterranean park.
The Rincón de la Vieja, Santa Rosa and Guanacaste national parks along with the
Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve are also Guanacaste examples of Costa Rica's
immense biological diversity.
|
|
 |
Volcanoes:
Costa Rica is a land of active volcanoes. Its most famous, Arenal, borders
Guanacaste and tourist year round come to watch the volcano smolder and spew
lava boulders at regular intervals. Rincón de la Vieja, a compound volcano of
nine craters, is known for its percolating mud pots and steaming fumaroles. Also
in Guanacaste is the Miravalles volcano, which displays its active state in the
form of thermal waters and hot mud pits. |
Canopy:
A canopy tour gives you a unique treetop glimpse of rain forest life in Costa
Rica. You zip along on cables suspended 60 to 100 feet or more above ground, for
an unbeatable adventure and spectacular view of the forest and its wildlife.
Monteverde, Arenal, and Rincón de la Vieja offer some of the better known
canopy adventures. But numerous others exist through Guancaste, including one a
few miles outside of Playas del Coco. |
|
 |
Beaching:
The Gulf of Papagayo is dotted with scores of beaches, from developed
stretches of white or black sand to secluded hideaways tucked into rocky
coves. Those better-known offer plenty of leisure activities, including
surfing, sailing, scuba diving and kayaking. Many more are remote and
undeveloped, offering the chance to laze about in the sun, picnic or
snorkel in total isolation.
|
Bird Watching:
Costa Rica is a bird lover's paradise and Guanacaste has over half of the
850-plus species known to reside in the country. Within the parks and
reserves--or even within the tropical greenery surrounding your own home--you
can spot numerous varieties of hummingbirds, toucans, macaws, parrots, motmots
and more. The multi-colored Elegant Trogan lives only in Guanacaste. And in
nearby Monteverde, it's possible to spot the region's prize attraction--the
Resplendent Quetzel. |
|
 |
Sport Fishing:
Costa Rica and the Papagayo Gulf are world-renowned for game fishing. From
Playas del Coco, a hub for the sport, and other nearby beaches, a wide variety
of charter boat operators are available to take sport fishermen out in search
for that reaches of record-breaking marlin, sailfish or rooster fish. The gulf
also offers excellent opportunities for catching dorado, wahoo, cubera, snapper,
grouper, tuna and more.
|
Scuba Diving:
The Papagayo Gulf offers premium diving. Its plankton-rich waters draw in an
immense diversity of aquatic life in all shapes, colors and sizes. At local dive
sites, huge schools of grunts, damsels, scorpionfish, triggerfish and more make
their home within local dive sites as do frogfish, octopus, white tip sharks and
several varieties of moray eels and rays. Further afield at the Catalinas or Bat
Islands, mantas, huge schools of cow-nose or devil rays and bull sharks are the
things to see. |
|
 |
Golf:
The Papagayo Gulf is home to three challenging 18-hole golf courses--all within
an hour or so's drive south from the Vista Marina Residential Development. The Melia Playa Conchal
Beach & Gold Resort, a Robert Trentjones II course, is one of the best known
in the area. But local golfers also frequent the Pacific Royal and the Hacienda
Pinilla courses near Playas Grande and Tamarindo. Several other courses are in
the planning stages here, making the area increasing a center for those who love
golf. |
|
