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Summertime in the popular beach town of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica means it’s time to hang out on the beach soaking in the sun and playing in the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean. It’s a great time to have fun with family and friends on a Costa Rica beach vacation.

On the southern Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa is one of the best beaches to surf in Costa Rica. National surf competitions are held here annually.

Knowing what you are doing when you go in the ocean, taking precautions and water safety are t

It’s 5:45 a.m. The sun is already shining, and I am gingerly making my way through the cow corral, being careful not to step in anything I shouldn’t nor get too close to the long-horned cows.

I’m headed to the cow barn at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin at Rincon de la Vieja, Costa Rica, to see how the ranch hands handle the morning milking. Inside, several buckets of steaming, frothy white milk wait in the holding area until they are carried to the hotel restaurant kitchen for processing.

One of the r

Normally, you don’t see tough, radical conservationists attending lectures by land developers. But there they were, 100 strong, from the Nature Conservancy, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and from all over Latin America – all raptly listening to how land development can actually preserve forests.

Nervous before his formidable audience, Guillermo Piedra Gonzalez explained how his small residential development in the tiny country of Costa Rica is carving out a niche

You’ve met the man or woman of your dreams. You’ve planned your wedding down to the last sugared almond and flower arrangement. Now it’s time to think about the honeymoon.

Costa Rica is one of the top destinations in the world for newlyweds to honeymoon. According to Perfect Honeymoons & Holidays Travel, Costa Rica ranks #3, right behind Hawaii and Italy, and outpaces other major destinations like Greece, Tahiti and the Caribbean. In 2012, 10.7% of Costa Rica’s tourists (166,000 people) were newl

Driving into Newfane, Vermont means you're visiting an authentic village in the Green Mountain State. This isn't a ski mountain town or a faux village artificially inflated with outside money. This is a town with a working storefront grocery store, white clapboarded church, and meeting house flanked by historic homes surrounding the town green. Walking the village takes no more than 15 minutes but its character and scenic charm is undeniable. Residents stack firewood, do their own home improvem

Wouldn’t it be nice to dine in a restaurant that only served freshly-made meals made with locally-sourced ingredients, vegetables picked that same day, sauces that didn’t come from a jar or can, bread hot out of the oven, juices that only a moment ago were whole fruit, and desserts loving crafted by an on-site pastry chef?

In fact, you can. This is what is cooking at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The renowned Costa Rica eco-adventure hotel at the base of the Rincon de la

The Nicoya Peninsula in the northwest region of Costa Rica in Central America is known as a “Blue Zone”. That means people here are more than twice as likely as elsewhere to reach a healthy age of at least 90 and frequently live to be over 100.

U.S. author and researcher Dan Buettner’s 2008 book, “The Blue Zones”, is written about his research with National Geographic and the world’s top longevity scientists to identify places around the world where people live measurably longer and better. After

When I stay at Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, one of my favorite things to do is to swim in the giant tide pool down the beach about five minutes from the hotel.

The larger-than-Olympic-sized shallow sea water swimming pool is one of the best-kept secrets of the area. It is located between Pranamar Villas and “El Peñón,” or the big rock, where Santa Teresa Beach turns into Hermosa Beach – better known as “Playa Hermosa”. Since Santa Teresa and Playa Hermos

Coming very soon to Playa Hermosa by Jacó in Costa Rica are the Costa Rica National Surfing Championships for 2015. The annual national event will take place July 17 to 19 on Playa Hermosa in front of the Backyard Bar & Restaurant.

If you are in Costa Rica at this time, don’t miss this fun beach party and exciting Costa Rica surfing competition on the third weekend in July 2015. Newly opened Hotel Tramonto is the best place to stay in Playa Hermosa by Jacó. The modern 76-room hotel is located on

Eco-friendly travel and sustainable tourism are some of the top buzzwords today in the travel and tourism industry worldwide. “Go Green” is the slogan you hear most often nowadays. Planet-conscientious travelers are more frequently seeking out eco-friendly lodging wherever they travel.

In ecotourism hotspot Costa Rica, L'acqua Viva Resort & Spa is a leading eco-friendly hotel in Nosara on the Nicoya Peninsula. The Bali-style Costa Rica luxury hotel is located between the beautiful white sand bea

Walk down the Pacific beaches of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica and you’re likely to see long, empty stretches of white sand, beautiful blue rolling waves, multicolored crushed seashells and interesting rocks and pebbles. What you won’t see so much is trash.

The southern Nicoya Peninsula beaches of Playa Hermosa, Playa Santa Teresa, Playa Carmen and Mal Pais all were honored once again with the Costa Rica Ecological Blue Flag Award by the Costa Rican Tourism Board for being some of the cleanest beache

Like all travelers, when you plan a vacation to an unfamiliar location, you want to have an idea of what to expect. TripAdvisor is a great resource for getting insider information about a place from guests who have been there.

Here are 5 great travel tips for your vacation to Nosara, Costa Rica from guests who stayed at L’acqua Viva Resort & Spa by Playa Guiones.

1. What’s the best way to get to Nosara, Costa Rica? Fly.

The area of Nosara includes the town of Nosara and the beaches of Playa Guio

After a big day of hiking, zip-lining, horseback riding or other adventure tours in Costa Rica, there is nearly nothing better than soaking in steamy thermal springs so hot they make you tingle all over. Your tired muscles are soon relaxed into spaghetti-like existence and the cares of the world melt away.

Mineral-rich hot springs have rejuvenating and therapeutic properties treasured for centuries by people all over the world. Travelers pay big bucks to visit famous spas with mineral springs. A

John Boggs first fell in love with Costa Rica many years ago when he was in the Air Force stationed in Panama. He visited Costa Rica frequently for R&R and on business, but it wasn’t until 2013 when he and his wife, Gay, finally moved to the renowned tropical country to retire.

Selling their house in Virginia, they opted for the adventure of international retirement life and chose Atenas, Costa Rica for their new home. The couple liked Costa Rica’s family-based culture and chose Atenas for its g

Article by Shannon Farley

In the easy-going surf and yoga town of Playa Guiones, Costa Rica, there is a very strange smell in the air this time of year.

Besides the fresh scent of the ocean, from January to April, it smells like a giant stack of maple syrup covered pancakes. What is that gingerbread cookie smell pervading everywhere?

It's molasses – all over the streets.

No, the residents of this little tourist town in the Nosara region of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula don’t have such a sweet tooth

Article by Shannon Farley

Continuing to be a favorite with world travelers, beaches and hotels in Costa Rica were named among the best in the world according to the latest TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Awards.

The popular global travel site announced on Feb. 18 its 2015 Travelers' Choice Awards for the best beaches and hotels in the world. The annual awards are based on traveler reviews gathered by TripAdvisor over the past 12 months. In addition to an over-all top 25 world winners list, top winne

Life in Atenas, Costa Rica is always “pura vida” – life is good. The new video about Atenas, Costa Rica by Pure Life Development of Atenas shows this with stunning footage of the mountain town’s natural beauty and attributes.

Produced by acclaimed photographer and videographer, Oscar Protti of Costa Rica, the four-minute high-quality video depicts life in Costa Rica and in the charming centrally-located town of Atenas. Protti used state-of-the-art equipment and remote control drones to produce br

Coming on a cruise to Costa Rica and looking for what shore excursion to choose? I always recommend seeing what Costa Rica is most famous for – rainforest and nature.

At your Caribbean port of call in Limon, Costa Rica, one of the best Costa Rica shore excursions to experience the rainforest and its exotic wildlife is Veragua Rainforest Eco-Adventure.

On cruise ship stops, you normally only have time for a half-day tour, or maybe a full-day tour. The nice thing about Veragua Rainforest Eco-Adven

Tired of that heavy winter coat, snow boots and wet, dismal weather? We agree. As record-high levels of snow, ice and rain and record-low temperatures continue to grip North America and Europe, Costa Rica is looking better and better as a Spring Break 2014 destination.

It’s time for some sun, and Costa Rica has plenty of it. Costa Rica’s dry summer season continues to deliver endless tropical sunshine over most of the country – welcome news for beleaguered residents in the cold north.

If a Costa

We all love things that make us feel young (or remember our youth), feel free and be happy. Traveling is almost always in the top 10 – even if only to an old neighborhood where we once lived. Why?

1. Traveling opens up our world.

In today’s world, where emails and smart phones often replace face-to-face interaction, traveling makes us get out and connect with humanity. Traveling changes our scenery. When we travel, we leave our daily routine and see new things which stimulate our mind and encourag