This Route leads you to the 2nd most important tourist area of the Country: Jacó and Quepós/Manuel Antonio. Both Central Pacific most famous destinations are among the best CR offers in Nature, water sports and beach attractions and activities as well as accommodations for every budget and taste.

Leave our Capital using the Inter-American Highway, directing you to the WN, passing El Coco where Juan Santamaría San José International Airport is situated. For your next visit here, we reckon we will boast a real first class air international facility. Then appears La Garita which mainly specializes in plant nurseries. It also owns a wide collection of restaurants for Sunday-in-family lunches.

Leaving Grecia, Palmares (its annual festivities every January are full of happiness and joy) and San Ramón in the N side of the scenery, take a national road southbound to join Atenas, where "the best climate of CR" is , San Mateo and Orotina, a major capital for fruit production, where a Fruit Festival is celebrated every March.

Only 8 minutes from this town, pay a visit to Turu Ba-Ri, a new eco-adventure park bordering the Tárcoles river where you can enjoy aerial ride and butterfly farm, among others, in one single property. Ideal for families, nature and adventure lovers. More to the S, always chasing the seashore, you come across Tárcoles River, near Carara NP, rich in different flora (mainly evergreens). Several ecosystems are protected, such as marsh, lagoon, gallery, secondary and primary forests. Crocodiles as big as three meter long abound as do water birds such as pink herons, ducks, rock martins, etc.

Driving on to the S, you soon discern the Pacific Ocean with famous tropical pristine beaches as Herradura Beach and then our Surfing Capital, Jacó, at only 1 h 40 minutes from San José, the nearest seaside resort from the Capital.

On the main road, if you take the first entrance to Jacó and follow the signs, you quickly discover the brand new Rain Forest Aerial Tram - Pacific, a recently born brother of the veteran one situated near the Braulio Carrillo NP on the road to Limón . It is situated in a 90 hectare tropical forest.

Jacó Beach, the tourist capital of the Garabito county (cantón) in the Middle Pacific region of Costa Rica, is definitely a place for every age, but specially for youngsters from all over the world. Surfers made it their new mecca. Some people say Jacó is now like Hawaii was at it starting point. After the waves' pleasures, discos (more than one per day of the week), bars and international and gourmet restaurants together with local traditional sodas serving all types of cuisines for all types of budgets await you. Sport fishing is very rewarding there with registered record numbers of sailfish, marlin, tuna, dorado and wahoo. Horseback riding and bike tours are offered at every corner at affordable prices. One of the most pleasant place to stay there is the small Canciones Del Mar Hotel offering nice 10 ocean front bedroom apartments. The Girasol Hotel is another interesting option with its very comfortable apartments fully equipped directly on the beach.

Following the coastal road always southbound, boarded by African palm trees, passing Hermosa Beach -- another famous place for turtles laying their eggs - and Parrita, you arrive at Quepos, a former active fishing harbor also dedicated to banana exports. It is now a local commercial capital adjacent to Manuel Antonio beaches and NP.

Manuel Antonio NP welcomes more visitors than any of the 30 NPs our country has established. Is it due to its pristine beaches enhanced by white sand (Espadilla, Catedral)? To its 12 bare islets? To the fact it is a sanctuary for so many species of sea birds? To the dolphins and migrating whales you may be lucky enough to observe? To your sharing moments with many species of monkeys, including the titi, in danger of extinction? (Be careful: sometimes they steal your food or beverage because they seem to like to eat exactly the same that you are eating or drinking on the beach…). Is it because of the iguanas, converting themselves in permanent friends? You will easily make your own decision.

Established in 1972, one of the first in the country, the Park covers 683 ha of land and 55.000 ha of sea. It was designed to protect 5 main habitats for much flora biodiversity and marine resources such as primary forest, secondary forest, mangrove swamp, lagoons and island and beach vegetation.

The Park's fauna include the endemic squirrel monkey in danger of extinction due to the destruction of its habitat and its use as a pet, together with 100 species more common but always impressive: raccoons, white-nosed coatis, agouties, two-toed sloths and white-faced capuchin monkeys.

Outside the Park nestles Manuel Antonio, our world famous resort with all day and night life facilities and activities. One suggestion: stay at California Hotel with its breathtaking views over the surrounding Nature. If you need more action, right on the each, choose Karahé Hotel & Villas which boasts newly tiled swimming pool and a jacuzzi, as well as a new restaurant.