Posted 19 Mar 2010

People on their gap year travels might want to stop off in Costa Rica as a tourism writer has documented the best things to do in the country.

Writing for the Telegraph, Chris Moss has produced a guide for beginners ahead of celebrations to mark the bicentenary of Latin America’s battle for independence later in the year.

Among his top attractions, he lists the Monteverde cloud forest, the Rincon de la Vieja national park – for its volcanoes – and white water rafting at Turrialba.

He says that tourists should refrain from heading straight to the capital city San Jose and should make the "cowboy town" of Liberia, in Guanacaste province, their first port of call.

According to Lonely Planet, Cost Rica draws 1.5 million tourists a year, as its "beauty is staggering and the sluggish pace seductive", with a high population of exotic animals, such as howler monkeys and toucans.

Category: South America