Make a search online about Costa Rican vacation itineraries, and chances are you will get something that is similar to a trip from San Jose, that proceeds to Arenal, Jaco, Manuel Antonio, and back. Well first of all, you gotta hand it to these destinations. They won't be popular if the managers of these areas were not able to capitalize on whatever they have and promote their respective places.
But if you want variety in your Costa Rican vacation, you got to move away from these traditional Costa Rican vacation hideouts and look for something new, something that can impact his/her life deeply. There are a number of those locations in Costa Rica, not as promoted as the more popular ones, but still very good places to visit, nonetheless.
And what are these places? CostaRicaPages.com did a short ranking of the five most overlooked places in Costa Rica and here's what it listed:
Topping the list is the Nicoya Peninsula, a secluded beach town that features, among others, hidden waters and animals like iguanas and monkeys. Due to the relative unpopularity and seclusion of the place, you can always go here on a budget. But if you're not on a budget, I'm sure that you can also find your place in the handful of expensive villas in the area.
Then there's also Tortuguero, which, like Nicoya Peninsula, is overlooked because of the long distance between it and the national capital, making it difficult to fit in a day trip. Well, a visit to Tortugero is not meant to be a day trip in the first place. The main mode of transportation is via boat, for the main streets of the town are actually rivers and canals. Eating beside a river? You bet!
Then there's also the mountains of Central Valley (definitely different from the warm beaches that everybody has come to love about the country), South Caribbean, and inland South Costa Rica.
These are just some of the most overlooked locations in the country. There are far more places that you can visit, all of them not as promoted as, say, Arenal. Just take that map, start your engines, and set off for an adventure to the Costa Rican unknown!
