Costa Rica is a place of breathtaking beauty with lush rainforests, towering volcanoes, and pristine beaches. From the misty forests of Monteverde to the remote beaches of Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica offers countless photo opportunities. Whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur with a passion for capturing the beauty of nature, Costa Rica is a destination you should not miss.
Costa Rica is a relatively small country in Central America. It is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, making it a dream destination for nature photographers. And while the focus of this article is on Costa Rica’s landscape, at least its wildlife is equally breathtaking and alive.
How to get to Costa Rica?
From most parts of the United States, there are direct flights that take no more than six hours to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. If you’re traveling from Europe, you’ll also find several direct options. Those usually take about 12 hours and are expensive. The cheapest flights are over the United States. If you don’t mind 20 hours or more travel time and the hassle of dealing with US customs, this can save you a lot of money.
Walking around Costa Rica
The best way to explore Costa Rica is to rent a car. Due to road conditions in many parts of the country, you should at least rent an SUV, ideally with the option of all-wheel drive. It can be expensive if you plan to stay more than a few weeks, especially when visiting in high season. From late November to April, car and hotel prices are significantly higher than during the rainy season.
I visited Costa Rica for almost three months last year and renting a car for the duration was impossible. Some people buy a car and then sell it if they stay in a certain country for a long time. But you should know the way around the car and speak the local language well.
There is also another option: to travel along the east and west coasts of Costa Rica, you can use a bus. Several companies offer regular trips up and down the coast for a few dollars. If you don’t mind public transportation, this is a good way to see the coastal areas of Costa Rica. You won’t have the flexibility of renting a car, but on the coast you’ll find plenty of walkable photo spots near major towns. For example, Manuel Antonio, uvitaAnd Puerto Viejo.
To explore the mountains and central regions of the country, I would not recommend doing that. There, too restrictive for photographers who need to move. That’s why I split my time in Costa Rica. I first explored the west coast for a month by bus, then rented a car for three weeks to explore the mountains, and then ended my stay on the east coast, again. travel by bus.
Landscape Photography in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a very diverse country with plenty to photograph for every genre of nature photographer.
Coast
To its east, Costa Rica faces the Caribbean and to its west, the wild Pacific Ocean. If you have enough time, you should visit both sides, because they are very different.
Puerto Viejo, for example, is a tourist hub in the southeastern part of the country. It’s easy to get there by bus from San Jose. The best place to take pictures is Manzanillo, a few kilometers south of Puerto Viejo. You’ll have a national park with spectacular coastline nearby and a shipwreck beach right in front of town.
I traveled all over the east coast of Costa Rica and found this area to be the place to offer the best seascape shots. In Puerto Viejo, the beaches are beautiful but also very crowded. With so many waves and seagrass, it was hard to get good photos there when I visited. The coastal forest at Punta Cocles is the only place I’ve had any luck.
On the west coast of Costa Rica, finding great photo spots is much easier. The beaches there are very unspoiled and surrounded by countless palm trees. While there are crowded places like Puerto Viejo, the sheer number of beaches makes it easy to find areas that give you a Robinson Crusoe feel.
The beaches of Marino Ballena National Park are an example. Uvita is the most popular beach in the park and especially around sunset at low tide it is a great photo spot.
waterfall
Costa Rica is not only known for its pristine beaches. It is also a country full of waterfalls. Areas like Bajos del Toro remind me of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Within a radius of several miles, you will find countless waterfalls of different sizes and strengths. The most spectacular of them all is the Catarata del Toro. It’s part of a small park for which you have to pay an entrance fee of about $15. You can combine such a visit with an excursion Additional waterfalls in the area.
Entrance fees are a common theme in Costa Rica. Most photogenic sites are either part of a National Park or located on private land. As long as this helps to preserve the nature of Costa Rica, that’s a good thing. But most of the money is used to develop accessibility to those places. It brought in more people, and because of that, many places began to lose their natural beauty.
But there are still enough photo spots far from the trailhead. One source to get information about such places is Que Buen Lugar. But when researching the different guides on this homepage, you will find that even for remote locations, there is an entrance fee or you are required to hire a local guide.
Forest
A large part of Costa Rica is covered with dense woodland. Prominent areas are the cloud forests of Monteverde and the Quetzales National Park. Those places are magical and full of photographic potential. Tapping into this potential takes time. I spent five days around Monteverde exploring different trails. Finding good works in this chaotic environment is a challenge. But if you follow enough tracks, you will eventually find some order in the moss-covered vegetation.
View
Costa Rica has several mountainous regions, with the highest mountain, Cerro Chirripo, reaching more than 3,800 meters. Cerro Chirripo National Park is one of those places I would love to visit, but it just doesn’t fit my schedule. If you plan to visit Costa Rica and are looking for a mountain adventure, consider adding this place to your list.
If you’re looking for a more accessible setting, the rolling hills around Monteverde offer several options. The best of them is view from Cerro Pinocho. From there, you can look down on Nicoya Bay.
All in all, if you enjoy climbing mountains and photographing breathtaking landscapes, you need a car. Many trailheads are difficult to reach by public transport. I should also mention that even when traveling by car, it is not easy to find good photo angles due to road conditions. The road up the mountain can be bumpy very quickly. That’s at least my experience. So you should consider renting a Jeep instead of a sleek SUV if you want to explore the mountains. Make sure you have a spare tire.
Conclusion
Despite being one of the most expensive countries in Central and South America, Costa Rica is a must-visit destination for photographers for its many breathtaking landscapes and natural wonders. One last piece of advice I’d like to give you on such a visit is: don’t rush. Try not to bring too much into your travel itinerary and allow yourself time to get to know the places you visit.
