Costa Rica is divided into seven provinces. San José, Alajuela, Heredia, and Cartago share the Central Valley. Guanacaste, Puntarenas, and Limón hold most of the coast.
The seven provinces
- San José is the capital province and the country’s political and business center. San José is compact, and day trips reach the mountains in about an hour.
- Alajuela includes Juan Santamaría International Airport, the western Central Valley, and the north toward Nicaragua, including La Fortuna and Poás.
- Heredia sits just north of San José, from coffee slopes on Barva Volcano down toward the northern lowlands. Heredia is one of the easiest bases for the valley.
- Cartago, the colonial capital until 1823, lies east of San José beneath Irazú and Turrialba.
- Guanacaste covers the dry northwest: Liberia, the Nicoya Peninsula, and the beaches of the North Pacific.
- Puntarenas is the long Pacific province, from the Gulf of Nicoya through Jacó and Quepos to the Osa Peninsula and the Panama border.
- Limón runs the Caribbean coast, from Tortuguero to Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo.
How to choose
Stay in the Central Valley if you want hospitals, museums, and short drives to volcanoes. Choose Guanacaste or Puntarenas for the Pacific, and Limón for the Caribbean. Province lines do not match the travel regions on this site. The region pages are the more useful map for planning a trip. The geography guide explains the mountains that sit between them.