Farmers do wonders with the cocoa fruit
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If you like your flavours strong and your aromas intense, Costa Rica produces some of the world’s richest, velvety-smooth chocolate, harvested from fair trade-supported plantations in the Alajuela, Cartago, Limón, Guanacaste and Puntarenas regions.
The Upala and La Fortuna districts are famed for premium Criollo beans raised on Alajuela’s nutritious volcanic soils. Take a plantation tour with Rainforest Chocolate, Tree Chocolate, La Fortuna Eden or Don Olivio and track the process from bean to bar.
Fill your senses with full-flavoured coffee
A nose for it: a professional coffee taster at work
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Follow up a chocolate tour with some of the most delicious coffee in the Americas. Costa Rica’s legendary Arabica beans are raised on the warm, humid slopes of highland zones such as San Jose’s Central Valley, Tarazzú and Tres Rios.
Plantation visits will whisk on an aromatic journey, with the guarantee of a satisfying cup of yodo – the local slang for coffee – at the end of the tour. Try Café Britt in the Central Valley or North Fields Café on the slopes of Volcán Arenal, or stay in style at the Finca Rosa Blanca estate.
See more of sustainable Costa Rica
Three-toed sloths are among the wildlife you may encounter
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Costa Rica is home to 6.5 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, and locals are committed to preserving it. Thirty national parks call out to ecotourism enthusiasts, and sightings of sloths and sea turtles, toucans and tapirs, monkeys and more are all but guaranteed.
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is the top spot for sloths and monkeys, while Tapir Valley Nature Reserve hides Baird’s tapirs, and Monteverde is a favoured haunt of resplendent quetzals and jewel-like hummingbirds. The Caribbean beaches of Parque Nacional Tortuguero are thronged by nesting green turtles from July to October.
Hiking, biking and ziplining in the forest and beyond
Prepare to get closer to nature on a hiking trail
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The rainforest is not just for wildlife-watching. Rugged hiking trails snake through the misty jungles of Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and weave past fumaroles, mud pots and volcanic springs in Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja.
For a world of adventure in one spot, Parque Nacional Volcán Arena near La Fortuna offers everything from hikes and mountain biking to horseback treks, while you can also zipline around the perfectly conical Arenal Volcano.
The pura vida on Costa Rica’s beaches
Check out the enticing sands at beaches such asMal Pais
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Costa Ricans place great stock in the Pura Vida – literally, the pure life – a lifestyle that prioritises positivity, healthy living and wellbeing. Sample it on the beach-ringed Nicoya Peninsula.
At laid-back surfing hubs such as Santa Theresa and Mal Pais, you can ride the breaks at dawn, then practice yoga on the sand before a lavish seafood supper at sunset. Continue the aquatic journey further north on a scuba diving safari to the Catalina Islands and Bat Islands, where bull sharks and mantas cruise the depths.
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Publish date : 2024-12-12 20:57:00
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