Tropical dry forest
The northern Pacific belt, where the trees drop their leaves in the dry season and the hills turn gold until the rains come back. It's Guanacaste's ecosystem, and one of the most threatened in the tropics.
Also searched as
- tropical dry forest
- dry forest Costa Rica
- Guanacaste nature
- deciduous forest
Where to find it · 6 areas
Bagaces
Guanacaste's middle town: it sits on the Interamericana between Cañas and Liberia, and most people drive straight past without knowing the county holds three big things. To the north, the Llanos de Cortés waterfall and its turquoise pools. Higher up, Miravalles volcano and the geothermal field that heats its waters. And to the south, dropping toward the Tempisque river, Palo Verde National Park: the wetlands where thousands of water birds gather in the dry season. Bagaces is dry heat, flatland and cattle country.
2 days GuanacasteLiberia
Guanacaste's provincial capital and the air gateway to the northern Pacific: Daniel Oduber international airport sits minutes from downtown. Nearly everyone passes through on the way to the beaches or to Rincón de la Vieja volcano, but the old quarter still keeps its white adobe houses and the dry heat of the province.
1 day GuanacasteNosara
A stretch of the Nicoya Peninsula where surfing and yoga overlap. Playa Guiones is long and has waves nearly every day; the town is spread out along dirt roads and trees, and getting there overland in the rainy season takes a while. North of it lies the Ostional refuge, where olive ridley turtles nest.
3 days GuanacastePlayas del Coco
One of the oldest beach towns in Guanacaste: a grey-sand bay and a main street that runs straight down to the water. It's a base for diving and fishing trips, and it works year-round because it doesn't live off tourism alone — people actually live here.
2 days GuanacasteSámara
A bay on the Nicoya Peninsula sheltered by a reef that breaks the swell before it reaches shore — one of the few Pacific beaches where the water usually stays calm. The town is small and flat, and you can walk all of it in twenty minutes.
3 days GuanacasteTamarindo
Surf town with the liveliest nightlife in Guanacaste.
3 days