Most people visit Costa Rica for the experience of nature that it offers. Within its small area, Costa Rica has a great variety of scenery: mountains tipped with misty cloud forest, lowlands swathed in rich rainforest, dry and dusty ranch lands, long beaches and rocky coves.
Costa Rica also has impressive volcanoes, wild rivers tumbling through narrow gorges, and country roads that wind through sleepy villages whose farming families grow coffee, flowers, or fruits.
Wildlife reserves and national parks cover a quarter of Costa Rica's area, helping to maintain these precious natural wonders and Costa Rica's incredible biodiversity: over 5% of all the species on earth in an area a fifth the size of the UK. Getting to see the natural side of Costa Rica has been made easy with numerous park trails, elevated walkways in the canopy and river boat trips.
Often called the Switzerland of Latin America, Costa Rica is peaceful and well organised. Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the Americas (second only to Canada) and have so light an ecological footprint that the country comes very close to achieving 'one-planet living'. Costa Rica has no army, educational and health standards are relatively high, and English is widely spoken.