Zona Norte Travel Video Guide

Zona Norte Travel Itinerary

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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. Cut off from the rest of the country by a lack of roads, the Zona Norte has developed a distinct character, with independent-minded farmers and Nicaraguan refugees making up large segments of the population. Neither group journeys to the Valle Central very often, and many people of the north hold a special allegiance to and pride in their area.

Geographically, the Zona Norte separates neatly into two broad, river-drained plains ( llanuras ), which stretch all the way to the Rio San Juan on the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border. Less obviously picturesque than many parts of the country, the entire region nonetheless has a distinctive appeal, with lazy rivers snaking across steaming plains scarred by trails of blood-orange soil, and flop-eared cattle languishing beneath the draped limbs of riverside trees.

Most travellers only venture up here to see the perpetually active Volcan Arenal , using the nearby town of Fortuna as their base. To the east is the Sarapiqui area, with its tropical forest eco-lodges and research stations of La Selva and Rara Avis . Further north, the remote flatlands are home to the increasingly accessible Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Cano Negro , which harbours an extraordinary number of migratory and indigenous birds.

The climate in the north is hot and wet, more so in the east than in the west near

Guanacaste, where there is a dry season. There's a serviceable bus network, though if you're travelling outside the La Fortuna or Puerto Viejo areas, you'd probably do better with a car. As for other facilities, the area around Volcan Arenal is best geared up for tourists, even boasting a couple of excellent five-star hotels . Between Boca de Arenal and Los Chiles in the far north, on the other hand, there is a real shortage of accommodation, though fuel and food are in good supply.

Your Tips For Zona Norte

• 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
  

• 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
  

• 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
  

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

• Central Pacific and Southern Nicoya Costa Rica Travel Videos
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  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
  

• Valle Central and the highlands Costa Rica Travel Videos
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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. - Costa Rica
  

• San Jose Costa Rica Travel Videos
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  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