San José
On the southern side of the Plaza de la Cultura resides the Teatro Nacional, San José’s most revered building. Constructed in 1897, it features a columned…
Must-see attractions in Central America
Central Valley & Highlands
This polished storybook garden complex just east of Volcán Poás offers the most easily digestible cultural experience in the Central Valley and is the…
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
Featuring lush jungle, picture-perfect beaches and craggy headlands, this tiny park (1680 acres/680 hectares) absolutely brims with wildlife (and often…
Cahuita
At the northwestern end of Cahuita, Playa Negra is a long, black-sand beach flying the bandera azul ecológica, a flag that indicates that the beach is…
Southern Caribbean
Off a dirt road marked by Punta Uva Dive Center is a quiet, idyllic cove that could double for a scene in the film The Beach. When the water is calm, it…
Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo
Antigua
Founded by Dominican friars in 1542, Santo Domingo became the biggest and richest monastery in Antigua. Following three 18th-century earthquakes, the…
Masaya & Los Pueblos Blancos
Described by the Spaniards as the gates of hell, the craters that comprise Volcán Masaya National Park are the most easily accessible active volcanoes in…
Ambergris Caye
At the southern tip of Ambergris, the 6.5-sq-mile Hol Chan Marine Reserve is probably Belize's most oft-visited diving and snorkeling site. It offers…
Copán Archaeological Site Ruins
Copán Ruinas
One of the most important of all Maya civilizations lived, prospered, then mysteriously crumbled around the Copán archaeological ruins, a Unesco World…
Panajachel
A former coffee plantation being reclaimed by natural vegetation, this reserve is 200m past the Hotel Atitlán on the northern outskirts of town. It makes…
Panama City
Celebrating Panama as the land bridge that has permitted astonishing biodiversity in the region, this world-class museum is a visual feast. Exhibits tell…
Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
Around 500km southwest of the Costa Rica mainland, Isla del Coco is a natural wonder that teems with wildlife, including the largest schools of hammerhead…
Chichicastenango
Some villagers still walk for hours carrying their wares to reach Chichi's market, one of Guatemala's largest and a highlight of many people's trips to…
Semuc Champey & Around
Semuc Champey is famed for its great natural limestone bridge, 300m long, on top of which is a stepped series of pools with cool, flowing river water good…
Western Highlands
While you're in Zunil, visit the image of San Simón, the name given here to the much-venerated Mayan deity known elsewhere as Maximón. His effigy, propped…
Antigua
At the northern end of 5a Av is La Merced – a striking yellow building trimmed with white plaster filigree. Its facade is one of the most beautiful in…
Antigua
The Arco de Santa Catalina is Antigua's most iconic monument, and an early-morning or late-afternoon photo opportunity framing Volcán Agua through its…
Monumento Nacional Cañon de Somoto
Northern Highlands
The Coco (or Wangki), Central America’s longest river, runs all the way to the Caribbean, but its first impression may be its most spectacular. Gushing…
Cayo District
Set on a leveled hilltop, Xunantunich (shoo-nahn-too-neech) is one of Belize's most easily accessible and impressive Maya archaeological sites. Getting…
Belize District
If most zoos are maximum-security wildlife prisons, then the Belize Zoo is more like a halfway house for wild animals that can't make it on the outside. A…
Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho
Nicaragua
It’s been a few decades since this 1345m volcano, the defining feature of the Granada skyline, has acted up, but it is still most certainly active and…
Cayo District
Once one of the most powerful cities in the entire Maya world, Caracol now lies enshrouded by thick jungle near the Guatemalan border, a 52-mile, roughly…
Basílica Menor Santiago Apóstol
Coclé Province
Natá's principal draw is this 16th-century cathedral, thought to be the oldest church built in the Americas still in use today. Indigenous artisans did…
Convento y Museo San Francisco
Granada
One of the oldest churches in Central America, Convento San Francisco boasts a robin's egg–blue birthday-cake facade and houses both an important convent…
Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
From 1968 until 2010, Volcán Arenal was an ever-active and awe-striking natural wonder, producing menacing ash columns, massive explosions and streams of…
Museo Arqueológico Huellas de Acahualinca
Managua
Discovered by miners in 1874, these fossilized tracks record the passage of perhaps 10 people – men, women and children – as well as birds, raccoons, deer…
Southern Costa Rica & Península de Osa
The world-class Wilson Botanical Garden is internationally known for its collection of more than 2000 native Costa Rican species. Species threatened with…
San José
This museum houses the world’s largest collection of American jade (pronounced ‘ha-day’ in Spanish), with an ample exhibition space of five floors…
Belize City
This modern museum in the Fort George District provides an excellent overview of the story of Belize, told through exhibits housed in the country's former…
Half Moon Caye Natural Monument
Belize
Half Moon Caye Natural Monument is known first and foremost as providing nesting grounds for the rare red-footed booby bird, but the island's enchantments…
Arenal & Around
If you're travelling between Monteverde and Arenal, there's no good excuse for skipping this stop. Viento Fresco is a series of five cascades, including…
Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around
Geography fun fact: this isthmus, which is the centerpiece of the park, is called a tombolo and was formed by the accumulation of sand between the…
Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismática
San José
This three-in-one museum houses an extensive collection of Costa Rica's most priceless pieces of pre-Columbian gold and other artifacts, including…
Parque Nacional Marino Ballena
Quepos to Uvita
Famous for its wide, 4km-long beach, part of which is shaped like whale's tail at low tide, this small but important marine park protects coral and rock…
Belize City
Some of the most spectacular snorkeling in Belize happens just a short swim off the powder-white sands of Goff's Caye, a tiny, uninhabited island just a…
Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge
Quepos to Uvita
Consisting of pristine beaches, riverbanks, mangrove estuaries, wetlands, primary and secondary forests, tree plantations and pastures, this 330-hectare…
Parque Nacional Marino Isla Bastimentos
Isla Bastimentos
Established in 1988, this 132-sq-km marine park was Panama's first. Protecting 130 islands of the Bocas del Toro archipelago, including the coral-fringed…
Museo para la Identidad Nacional
Tegucigalpa
If you hit only one sight in Tegus, head here. The museum is housed in the gorgeously renovated 19th-century former Palace of Ministries. It's a superb…
San Salvador
Designed by sculptor Ruben Martinez and completed in 1971, Iglesia El Rosario is radically beautiful. Arguably the finest church in Central America, its…
Green Iguana Conservation Project
San Ignacio
On the lush Macal Valley grounds of the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, this excellent program collects and hatches iguana eggs, raising the reptiles until they…
