Central Valley
Costa Rica's Central Valley is the most populated region of the country; the capital city, San José, is there and so is the Juan Santamaría airport. The Central Valley includes charming small towns, towering volcanoes, and dense jungle landscapes like the huge Braulio Carrillo National Park.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Photo: The LEAF Project, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Essential Destinations
Top destinations include San José and Alajuela.
San José
San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. The undisputed cultural and economic center of Costa Rica's central valley, where most of the population lives, San José is also the most important transportation hub for domestic travel even though the international airport is in Alajuela.
Alajuela
Photo: Bernal Saborio, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Alajuela is a city in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, near San José. It is not to be confused with Alajuela Province, which extends north from the city of Alajuela to North Costa Rica.
Heredia
Photo: Rquesada, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Heredia region of the Central Valley offers much for the visitor in downtown Heredia, and in many of the towns around Heredia, particularly in the north mountains, like Barva, San Rafael, San Isidro, where there are many coffee plantations and fresh air year round.
Destinations to Discover
Explore places such as Turrialba and San Ramon.
San Ramon
San Ramón is a small town of about 7,700 people in the Central Valley. It is a mountainous area surrounded by cloud forests including privately held reserves such as the El Cocoro and El Silencio de los Angeles cloud forests.
Grecia
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Grecia is an inviting small town to the west of San Jose in the province of Alajuela. It is mountainous with verdant forests and nearby coffee plantations and farms.
Atenas
Photo: Rodtico21, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Atenas is a district of the Atenas canton, in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica. Its urban area is referred as Atenas city.
Braulio Carrillo National Park
Photo: Sjohnson301, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Braulio Carrillo National Park is a national park in Heredia Province, Cartago Province, Limón Province and San José Province, in central Costa Rica. It is part of the Central Conservation Area.
Tapantí National Park
Photo: Mardochaios, Public domain.
Tapantí National Park is a large protected tropical rainforest in the mountains of Costa Rica's Central Valley. It is a magnet for eco-tourism, providing habitat for more than 400 species of birds, almost 50 mammal species.
Santa Elena
Photo: Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Santa Elena is a village in Costa Rica on the border between the provinces of Puntarenas and Alajuela. It is a popular base camp for eco travelers and backpackers because it lies next to some spectacular rainforests and rugged mountain hiking areas.
La Cangreja National Park
Photo: TourVirtualCostaRica, CC BY-SA 3.0.
La Cangreja National Park is a good sized park that provides critical bird habitat in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. It is a mountainous area with forests and rain forest and is a good place for hiking and birdwatching.
Los Quetzales National Park
Los Quetzales National Park is a mountainous rainforest southeast of San José, the capital of Costa Rica. It is a large, remote wilderness that is popular among naturalists and bird watchers who come to the park to see a large population of the reclusive…
Central Valley
- Type: valley
- Description: plateau and a geographic region of central Costa Rica
- Also known as: “Costa Rican Central Valley”
- Location: Costa Rica, Central America, North America
- View on OpenStreetMap
Latitude of center
9.8667° or 9° 52′ northLongitude of center
-84.2167° or 84° 13′ westWikidata ID
Q1879771
This page is based on Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
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Satellite Map
Discover Central Valley from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Basque to Spanish—“Central Valley” goes by many names.
- Basque: “Erdiko Harana (Costa Rica)”
- Basque: “Erdiko Harana”
- Catalan: “Vall Central”
- Czech: “Centrální údolí (Kostarika)”
- Czech: “Centrální údolí”
- Dutch: “Valle Central”
- Esperanto: “Kostarika Centra Valo”
- French: “vallée Centrale”
- French: “Vallée Centrale”
- Hebrew: “העמק המרכזי של קוסטה ריקה”
- Italian: “Valle centrale della Costa Rica”
- Italian: “Valle Centrale”
- Japanese: “コスタリカ中央渓谷”
- Lithuanian: “Kosta Rikos centrinis slėnis”
- Norwegian Bokmål: “Valle Central”
- Norwegian: “Valle Central”
- Polish: “Valle Central”
- Russian: “Центральная долина (Коста-Рика)”
- Russian: “Центральная долина”
- Slovenian: “Osrednje podolje”
- Spanish: “Valle Central”
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About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Central Valley”. Photo: The LEAF Project, CC BY-SA 2.0.