Aside from the Tamarindo nightlife, the great restaurants, and the amazing resident communities rising everywhere in the Guanacaste coastal region, there is plenty of eco-friendly and informative tourism/traveling to be done in this area. Upon your stay in this area take advantage of the fact that Guanacaste contains some of Costa Rica’s most amazing national parks and wildlife refuges. As a country that prides in its biodiversity and whose economy depends much on its wildlife, these are well kept, informative parks, with park rangers at your disposable to explain and show every kind of species found, the importance of the protected areas and their effect on the environment.
Here is a brief guideline of places you ought not to miss during your stay in the area. Take advantage of your time here; take a break from surfing or sun-bathing and travel around for a day or two visiting whichever of the following you find interesting. This region holds plenty of them, so you might just have to come back or temporarily live here in order to explore them all!
- Area Conservación Guanacaste / Guanacaste Conservation Area: Created in 1989, this extensive conservation was created to connect Santa Rosa National Park with the high elevation cloud forest of Orosi and Cacao volcanoes and across the continental divide to the Caribbean rainforest of Northern Costa Rica.
- Barra Honda National Park: located 22 km north-east of Liberia, the parks covers 2,295 acres of land, designed to protect an intricate and extensive cave system located underground. In order to visit the caves you must contact the Park Service office in San Jose, get permission, and arrange a visit date with a guide.
-Las Baulas Marine National Park (Parque Marino Las Baulas): located in Playa Grande, about 15-20 km from Tamarindo, this beach was declared a national park given its popularity as a nesting spot for the giant Leatherback Sea Turtle. All visitors on the beach at night must be accompanied by a certified local guide (available at the entrance to the beach during the nesting season).
- Palo Verde National Park and Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve: located in Guanacaste, it is approximately 30 kms west from the town of Cañas, between the Bebedero and Tempisque rivers. Overall this park extends over 16,804 acres of land subjected to seasonal floods that on occasion make transform the area into an immense lake. The Palo Verde sector comprises 13,058 acres of varied habitats in the lower Tempisque River basin. Along with Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, it is considered one of the sites with the greatest ecological diversity in Costa Rica, encompassing more than 15 different kinds of habitats.
- Parque Nacional y Volcán Rincón de la Vieja (National Park and Volcano Rincón de la Vieja): located 27 kilometers north-east from Liberia, it extends over 14,083 acres situated on the Guanacaste Mountain Range. Highlights of this park include six different life zones, abundant wildlife, gorgeous waterfalls, fascinating geothermal features, and an active volcano with nine eruptive points, though only once remains active today.
- Santa Rosa National Park: one of the first national parks to be declared, Santa Rosa is important for its history, geology, and ecology. The old hacienda building has been preserved as a cultural and historical museum, commemorating the Battle of Santa Rosa in 1856. The forested portions of the park comprise a large percentage of what remains of the tropical dry forest habitat throughout all of Central America.
- Ex-Hacienda Murciélago National Park: located in the northern sector of the Santa Rosa National Park, this area is open 24 hours a day, with park-guards on site from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Categorized as a dry forest, the park counts with a series hikes that allow you reach a series of bays and beaches that you may explore: El Hachal, Coquito, Danta, Santa Elena and Playa Blanca.
- Ostional Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de Fauna Silvestre Ostional): This refuge is a 200 meter sector of the beach between Punta India (India Point) and the estuary of the Nosara River, including the Ostional populace. This fraction of the beach was converted into a private refure in order to protect a major nesting are for Pacific Ridley Sea Turtles, as well as offshore waters.
- Bahía Junquillal Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de vida silvestre Bahia Junquillal): open 24 hours a day, with park-guards on site from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, it was donated in 1988 and is located 46 kilometers north of Liberia. The park occupies 2km of beach and covers 505 acres that include an original dry forest and numerous tree species and a mangrove. There is a camping area and series of trails.
- Bosque Diria Wildlife Refuge (Refugio de vida silvestre Bosque Diria): created in 1991, this refuge extends over 13,402 acres, south of Liberia 9 km from Santa Cruz. It protects tropical forest in the central highlands of the Nicoya Peninsula, including the watersheds and river basins of Rio Diriá, Rio Enmedio, and Rio Tigre.
-Bahía Camaronal Wildlife Refuge
- La Pacifica Private Biological Reserve (Reserva Biológica Privada La Pacífica)
- Isla Pájaros Biological Reserve (Reserva Biológica Isla de Pájaros)