After Guanacaste, the beaches of Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast are the country’s most popular. Options here range from the surfer and snowbird hangout of Jacó, to the ecotourist mecca of Manuel Antonio, to remote and the just starting to be developed regions of Dominical and Uvita, with their jungle-clad hillsides and rainforest waterfalls. With a dependable highway connecting San José to the coast, and improvements along the Costanera Sur highway heading south, this region has gotten even easier to visit.

Jacó and Playa Herradura are the closest major beach destinations to San José. They have historically been the first choice for young surfers and city-dwelling Costa Ricans. Just north of Playa Herradura sits Carara National Park ★★, one of the few places in Costa Rica where you can see the disappearing dry forest join the damp, humid forests that extend south down the coast. It’s also a place to see scarlet macaws in the wild.

Just a little farther south, Manuel Antonio is one of the country’s foremost ecotourist destinations, with a host of hotel and lodging options and an easily accessible national park that combines the exuberant lushness of a lowland tropical rainforest with several gorgeous beaches. Manuel Antonio National Park ★★ is home to all four of Costa Rica’s monkey species, as well as a wealth of other easily viewed flora and fauna. This is one of the country’s most visited destinations, and for good reason. The wildlife is fabulous and surprisingly easy to spot, plus there is a wide range of tour and activity options open to all styles and ages of travelers.

If you’re looking to get away from it all, Dominical and the beaches south of Dominical ★ should be your top destination on this coast. Still a small village, the beach town of Dominical is flanked by even more remote and undeveloped beaches, including those found inside Ballena Marine National Park ★★.

Finally, if you can tear yourself away from the beaches and coastline here, and head slightly inland, you’ll find Chirripó National Park ★★, a misty cloud forest that becomes a barren páramo (a region above 3,000m/9,840 ft.) at the peak of its namesake, Mount Chirripó—the tallest peak in Costa Rica.

The climate here is considerably more humid than that farther north in Guanacaste, but it’s not nearly as hot and steamy as along the southern Pacific or Caribbean coasts.

The Best Central Pacific Travel Experiences

* Having Miles of Pacific Beach Practically to Yourself: While Jacó, Manuel Antonio, and Dominical are all bustling tourist beaches, the rest of the long, Central Pacific coastline is almost entirely deserted. Rent a car or hire a taxi to visit any number of isolated and virtually undiscovered beaches.

* Visiting Carara National Park: The Tárcoles River crocodiles are best viewed from a boat, or by simply standing on the bridge just outside the park entrance. And the resident scarlet macaws can often be seen outside the park, but hiking the lush and varied trails inside Carara National Park is highly recommended. You’ll be rewarded with rich foliage and some of the best bird-watching in the country. 

* Hiking the Trails in Manuel Antonio National Park: The trails here wind through thick tropical rainforest and periodically offer beautiful ocean views and opportunities to spot wildlife. You may not see all four species of monkeys that live here, but you are almost guaranteed to see some of these primates darting around the treetops. 

* Visiting the Nauyaca Waterfalls Outside of Dominical: Nestled in a patch of thick tropical rainforest, the Nauyaca Waterfalls are gorgeous, with an inviting pool at the base and cliff-jumping opportunities. If you want to skip the long hike, book a horseback tour and arrive in style. 

* Climbing Mount Chirripó: The highest mountain in Costa Rica, Mount Chirripó is a challenging but accessible peak whose summit occasionally offers simultaneous views of the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Most visitors come to Costa Rica for the tropical climate, but the summit here is above the treeline and sometimes gets frost and even a dusting of snow.