WHY COSTA RICA
We often hear from parents asking if Costa Rica is a good destination for families, including young kids and Elders, we know a family vacation is always a big deal. The concerns about safety, what to expect, what to do, where to go in Costa Rica because we all want a pleasant surprises and life experiences for our family. Our answer is always that Costa Rica is the perfect destination for a first international trip with kids, that’s why we create this family travel guide to find all the important information to be more prepare in your future family vacation in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is rapidly becoming a top global destination for family travel and adventure, rainforest safaris, bird watching, jungle adventures, waterfall, and the cultural immersion to the local culture are always things you want to live with your family. Costa Rica is a beautiful, naturally diverse playground that families of all ages can explore with childlike wonder. This lovely, welcoming, small country features activities to delight the whole family.
What to do in Costa Rica
Not only there are plenty of options for in-country transportation, accommodations, hotels, national parks and things to do in Costa Rica with kids, but if you’re a parent, you’ll find so much for your children to learn about here, from ecosystems and volcanoes to wildlife and cultural norms.
Let your kids pick some coffee berries by hand as farmers do, drink fresh sugar cane juice right after you squeeze it with a farmer’s mill, milk a cow and be part of the cowboy’s chores at the farm, use your senses and taste many tropical fruits when visit the country side.
Nature and Ecotourism
Did you know that Costa Rica takes up just 0.1% of the world’s land mass? What is more unbelievable is that such tiny piece of land houses 4% of the world’s biodiversity, found among exotic tropical jungles, volcanos, and heavenly beaches, all of them are protected areas as national parks or private owned.
We recommend your family to visit the national parks to be able to see a big number of animals and enjoy the wildlife present at these locations, depends where you are there are different options of parks and protected areas that you would love to visit.
Your family will see that a large part of the country's territory is under national park and biological reserve protection, around %27 of the country is protected by the government.
A wide variety of animals such as monkeys, sloths, jaguars, toucans, macaws, frogs and more, Costa Rica offers a wonderful richness of fauna for you to enjoy.
Is Costa Rica Friendly?
One of the main reasons that Costa Rica is such a family-friendly destination is the culture,
Costa Ricans absolutely love kids, and family life, the people here are very friendly and genuinely kind.
Sundays are typically devoted to spending time with family. If you head to the beach on a Sunday, you are guaranteed to see families there for the day, barbequing or playing soccer on the beach. Family is priority in the culture so it only makes sense that it is a great place to bring kids.
Costa Rica is also quite safe from a crime perspective. The country has a peaceful democracy and no army. That means you won’t see military personnel holding scary guns or anything like that.
This is a country with no army, and public education is free and mandatory for all school-age children. Your family will be interested to hear that the “pura vida” country has been named one of the happiest in Latina America and one of the safest in the Americas, based on World Happiness Report data.
National museum
The national museum is a unique place to visit and learn from the costarican history when the army was abolished in 1948, also this museum has the largest indigenous collection of artefacts from many different tribes who lived in the country long ago.
Costa Rica is the postcard for ecotourism and adventure travel, making it a playground for kids too. There are kid-friendly activities for all ages. You will find wildlife rehabilitation centers that will let them get up close to animals, hanging bridges through the forest canopy, and fun night tours to see the creepy crawlies that come out after dark.
Hot Springs
Costa Rica has different regions with several active volcanoes and geothermal activity, there are a number of natural hot springs throughout the country. Warm and soothing, these springs offer you an ideal way to relax after a day of adventures and exploring. There are all kinds of hot springs in Costa Rica, and each offers a different experience for every type of traveler, including the family friendly, honey moon type and waterparks style with water slides for all ages.
Some of the best hot springs in Costa Rica are unique places very well design for relaxing, Tabacon hot springs and spa, Baldi hot springs, Ecotermales, Rio celeste, are some of the best hot springs resorts in costa Rica.
Most visited Volcanoes in Costa Rica
The volcanoes of Costa Rica run along a chain in the middle of the country as the result of the north east subduction of the Cocos Pacific tectonic plate underneath the Caribbean tectonic plate, Costa Rica is home of more than 300 different volcanic structures where most of them are dormant or they are already extincted, some of the active volcanoes nowadays in Costa Rica are turrialba, poas, irazu, arenal, tenorio and Rincon de la vieja.