Mountains and Volcanoes

Running right down the middle of Costa Rica, and dividing the coasts, is a portion of the great Andean-Sierra Madre chain with its series of mountains and volcanoes. This impressive mountain range runs the length of the western littoral of the Americas.

 Views from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica are breath taking with mountains and volcano tops dominating the landscape of the country.

Volcanic activity has fractured Costa Rica's mountainous backbone into distinct cordilleras. In the northwest, the Cordillera de Guanacaste rises in a series of volcanoes, including Rincón de la Vieja and Miravalles, whose steaming vents have been harnessed to provide geothermal energy.

To the southeast is the Cordillera de Tilarán, dominated by one of the world's most active volcanoes, Volcan Arenal. To the east and rising even higher is the Cordillera Central, with four massive volcanoes; Poás, Barva, Irazú and Turrialba together they gird the central highlands and within whose cusp lies the Meseta Central, an elevated plateau ranging in height from 900 to 1,787 meters.

Costa Rica's highest peak lies to the south, Cordillera Talamanca, an uplifted mountain region that tops out at the summit of Cerro Chirripó (3,819 meters).


More on Costa Rica's Beaches, Mountains & Rainforests:

• Herradura Beach
• Central Pacific Coast
• Jaco Beach
• Mountains and Volcanoes
• Rainforests and Cloud Forests