Costa Rica, which is located between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea in Central America, offers visitors an abundance of wildlife, landscapes and climates.
The island currently has 30 National Parks managed by SINAC (Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion), which embrace more than 28% of the country's total land area.
Costa Rica's approach to environmental protection and sustainable ecotourism in the National Parks System have been lauded as a model for other countries.
The rainforests, tropical forests, marine areas and wetlands of Costa Rica are the subject of many studies that help to enrich knowledge of these important habitats.
The national parks include the La Amistad International Park, which extends into Panamá and the Corcovado National Park, which preserves a lowland tropical rainforest that is unique in the world.
Manuel Antonio National Park was listed by Forbes in 2011 among the world's 12 most beautiful national parks.
The Camino de Costa Rica is a 280 km long hiking trail across Costa Rica.
It goes from the Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean coast) and along the Tortuguero Canals.
The trail the goes up the mountain and indigenous territory near the Barbilla National Park and through valleys and mountain ranges before taking in the Turrialba and Irazu Volcanos and the Los Santos coffee region down to the Pacific coast in Quepos.
San Lucas Island
San Lucas Island, located off the Pacific coast of the Gulf of Nicoya, has been designated Costa Rica's latest national park.
Previously a Wildlife Refuge, the Lucas Island National Park covers 1.8 square miles.
From 1873 to 1991, Isla San Lucas was a penal colony known as one of the most violent and cruel prisons in the world.
It had an underground cell network where the most hardened criminals in Costa Rica were housed.
Today the island is inhabited by howler monkeys, deer, turkeys, and snakes, with sharks, rays, sea turtles and barracuda In the surrounding waters.
The new park will support Costa Rica's sustainable tourism offering and contribute to the socio-economic development of the area.
Some 50 tourist guides have been trained to show the historical island, which served as a prison until 1991.
The island is accessible by a 40-minute boat ride from the city of Puntarenas, located 60 miles away from San José, Costa Rica's capital city.