Costa Rica

Nosara is a cocktail of international surf culture, stunning back-road topography, moneyed expat mayhem and yoga bliss.

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The chilled-out village of Manzanillo has long been off the beaten track, even after the paved road arrived in 2003. This little town is still a vibrant outpost of Afro-Caribbean culture and has also remained pristine, thanks to the 1985 establishment of the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Gandoca-Manzanillo, which includes the village and imposes strict regulations on regional development.

Whether you approach from the west or from the east, the drive into the Arenal area is spectacular. Coming from Tilarán in the west, the road hugs the northern bank of Laguna de Arenal. The lake and forest vistas are riveting. On either side lovely inns, hip coffeehouses and eccentric galleries appear like pictures in a pop-up book. Approaching from Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos), you’ll have Volcán Platanar as the backdrop, and if the weather cooperates, the resolute peak of Arenal looms in front of you.

Traveling south from San José, the road to Parque Nacional Chirripó passes through gorgeous countryside redolent of coffee plantations and cool, misty cloud forest. It bisects the Zona de los Santos, a collection of highland villages that bear sainted names: San Pablo de León Cortés, San Marcos de Tarrazú, San Cristóbal Sur, San Gerardo de Dota, Santa María de Dota – the last renowned for its superb, ecologically produced coffee. Further south in the Valle de El General, family-run fincas (farms) dot the fertile valley, though the action tends to center on San Isidro de El General, southern Costa Rica’s largest town and major transportation hub.

Below the wilderness of Parque Internacional La Amistad, a network of rural villages is signposted by Gaudí-esque mosaic navigation markers made by a local artist. These farming villages went about their business mostly unperturbed by tourists until 1997, when an enterprising group of local women in the village of Biolley (pronounced bee-oh-lay; named for a Swiss biologist who settled here) set up a cooperative, Asociación de Mujeres Organizadas de Biolley (Asomobi). It has 37 members and is designed to promote rural tourism in the area and to generate funds for the cooperative's various sustainable projects, such as organic coffee growing.

Just 4.3mi (7km) from the entrance to Manuel Antonio, the small, busy town of Quepos serves as the gateway to the national park, as well as a convenient port of call for travelers in need of goods and services. Although the Manuel Antonio area was rapidly and irreversibly transformed following the ecotourism boom, Quepos has largely retained its charm.

It is on the nontouristy, coffee-cultivated hillsides of the Central Valley that you'll find Costa Rica’s heart and soul. This is not only the geographical center of the country but also its cultural and spiritual core. It is here that the Spanish colonizers first arrived, here that coffee built a prosperous nation, and here that picturesque highland villages still gather for centuries-old fiestas. It is also here that you’ll get to fully appreciate Costa Rica’s country cooking: artisanal cheeses, steamy corn cakes and freshly caught river trout.

As the closest coastal town to San José, Puntarenas was once Costa Rica’s prosperous, coffee-exporting gateway to the Pacific, and a popular escape for landlocked Ticos. Some still come here on weekends, but during the week the activity along the oceanfront promenade slows to a languid pace – all the better to enjoy the beachfront sodas (inexpensive eateries) and busy market.

Santa Teresa is a wonderful surfing town, though no longer a secret one, and there are plenty of great places to eat and a modicum of nightlife. The entire area unfurls along one bumpy coastal road that rambles south from Santa Teresa through Playa El Carmen and terminates in the relaxed fishing hamlet of Mal País.