Valle Central and the highlands Travel Video Guide

Valle Central and the highlands Travel Itinerary

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Costa Rica's Valle Central - literally "Central Valley", though it's actually an inter-mountain plateau poised at an elevation of between 3000 and 4000m - is a predominantly agricultural region, with staggered green coffee terraces set amidst patchwork-quilt fields and loomed over by the blue-black summits of the surrounding mountains. Many of these are volcanoes , from smoking Poas in the north to precipitous Irazu in the east, and though there have been no real eruptions since Irazu blew its top in 1963, Poas and Irazu periodically spew light rains of fertile volcanic ash onto the surrounding farmland.

Although it occupies just six percent of the country's total landmass, the Valle Central supports roughly two-thirds of Costa Rica's population, containing the country's most fertile land as well as its four most important cities - San Jose and the provincial capitals of Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago . The chief attractions for visitors, of course, are the volcanoes, especially Parque Nacional Irazu, Parque Nacional Poas and

Volcan Barva , and there's also good whitewater rafting on the Rio Reventazon near Turrialba.

Most people use San Jose as a base for forays into the Valle Central; while the provincial capitals each have their own strong identity, with the exception of Alajuela they have little to entice you to linger. If you do want to get out of the city and stay in the Valle Central, the nicest places are the lodges and inns scattered throughout the countryside.

Your Tips For Valle Central and the highlands

• San Jose Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Sprawling smack in the middle of the fertile Valle Central, SAN JOSE has a spectacular setting, ringed by the jagged silhouettes of soaring mountains - some of them volcanoes - on all sides. - Costa Rica
  

• Zona Sur Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Costa Rica's Zona Sur (southern zone) is the country's least-known region, both for Ticos and for travellers. - Costa Rica
  

• Limon Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Sparsely populated Limon province sweeps south in an arc from Nicaragua down to Panama. - Costa Rica
  

• Central Pacific and Southern Nicoya Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  While Costa Rica's Central Pacific area is less of a geographical or cultural entity than other regions of the country, it does contain several of its most popular tourist spots, among them the number-one attraction, the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde (Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve), draped over the ridge of the Cordillera de Tilaran. - Costa Rica
  

• Zona Norte Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Costa Rica's Zona Norte ("northern zone") spans the hundred-odd kilometres from the base of the Cordillera Central to just short of the mauve-blue mountains of southern Nicaragua. - Costa Rica
  

• Valle Central and the highlands Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Costa Rica's Valle Central - literally "Central Valley", though it's actually an inter-mountain plateau poised at an elevation of between 3000 and 4000m - is a predominantly agricultural region, with staggered green coffee terraces set amidst patchwork-quilt fields and loomed over by the blue-black summits of the surrounding mountains. - Costa Rica
  

• Guanacaste Costa Rica Travel Videos
  Costa Rica Travel Itinerary
  Guanacaste province , hemmed in by mountains to the east and the Pacific to the west, and bordered to the north by Nicaragua, is distinctly different from the rest of Costa Rica. - Costa Rica