Costa Rica

Travel Costa Rica on your gap year. Ideas for gap year travel to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica gap year - Gap year programmes in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is an ideal gap year destination if you want to get stuck in to some wildlife conservation work. Nearly 30 per cent of Costa Rica is protected in one form or another and more than 13 per cent of Costa Rica is designated as being a national park. Among the exotic animals that can be seen in their natural habitat in Costa Rica are sea turtles, caymans, sloths and monkeys. Costa Rica also boasts rain forests, active volcanoes and some stunning beaches. Costa Rica is considered the safest country to visit in Latin America, as well as being home to some of its friendliest people.

The capital of Costa Rica, and home to its international airport, is San Jose. San Jose has some of Costa Rica's finest museums and restaurants and is an excellent base from which to visit the rest of the country. Compared with some other major cities in Latin America San Jose is an extremely cosmopolitan place and its department stores and shopping malls give it quite a westernised feel. Visitors should definitely allow a few days to do all of its excellent shops, museums and parks justice.

As 13 per cent of Costa Rica is covered by national park it's difficult to highlight just one, and they all have different things to offer. Costa Rica's main attraction for many naturalists is its birds. Around 850 species of bird have been recorded in Costa Rica, including more than 50 species of humming bird. Costa Rica also has over 200 species of mammal. Most visitors to Costa Rica will manage to see monkeys, sloths, poison arrow frogs, crocodiles and iguanas. The most difficult animals to spot, although it is possible, are the ocelot and jaguar. In terms of plant life Costa Rica has over 10,000 species of plant, including 1200 types of orchid and 1400 different tree species. An absolute ‘must do' in Costa Rica is to go on at least one rain forest canopy tour. These exhilarating elevated walkways give visitors the opportunity to observe the rainforests and their wildlife from the treetops. 

Costa Rica is an excellent place to travel if you are passionate about animals and want to work with them on your gap year. An excellent programme is Real Gap's ‘Costa Rica Zoo Volunteer.' This Costa Rica programme enables volunteers to work as zoo assistants, gaining ‘hands on' experience with a wide variety of Costa's Rica's diverse wildlife. Volunteers help look after the animals on a daily basis and also act as zoo guides for visiting local school children. Volunteers on the programme also receive four hours a day Spanish tuition and stay with local families at the language school, which really helps them to learn Spanish and get to know Costa Rica on a far more intimate level than someone who's just passing through.

Costa Rica is well known for its beautiful beaches. There are some superb snorkelling and diving opportunities on Costa Rica and the tropical reefs are considered to be some of the best in Central America. Costa Rica's Peninsula de Nicoya is a particularly popular area for backpackers looking for some beach life.

Costa Rica is one of the safest, most manageable and friendliest places in the whole of Latin America. Whether you want to work with wildlife, help disadvantaged people on a worthwhile volunteer project, learn Spanish or simply lie on a tropical beach then all of these things, and more, are possible in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica gap year - Gap year programmes in Costa Rica


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