Must-see attractions in Central America

  • SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA-MARCH 3, 2015:  The National Theater in Costa Rica first opened to the public in 1897.  It remains a top tourist destination today.; Shutterstock ID 265490903; Your name (First / Last): Lauren Gillmore; GL account no.: 56530; Netsuite department name: Online-Design; Full Product or Project name including edition: 65050/ Online Design /LaurenGillmore/POI

    Teatro Nacional

    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…

  • Iguana in Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica

    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…

  • Sunset on beach with Ocean, Costa Rica

    Playa Negra

    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…

  • Stone water bowl at Hotel Casa Santa Domingo.

    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…

  • Laguna de Apoyo and Mombacho Volcano

    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…

  • underwater buddy team reef

    Hol Chan Marine Reserve

    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…

  • 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

    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…

  • Costa Rica, Las Cruces, Wilson Botanical Garden, bromeliad bud, close-up

    Wilson Botanical Garden

    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…

  • Belize City, Belize, Belize, Central America

    Swing Bridge

    Belize City

    This heart and soul of Belize City life, crossed by just about everyone here just about every day, is said to be the only remaining manually operated…

  • 500px Photo ID: 76842259 - Museo Del Jade, San Jose, Costa Rica

    Museo del Jade

    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…

  • Museum of Belize

    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…

  • A Red-footed booby (Sula sula) sits on a branch in a breeding colony on Half Moon Caye off the coast of Belize. This is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.; Shutterstock ID 583848568; Your name (First / Last): Alicia Johnson; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial ; Full Product or Project name including edition: Belize

    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…

  • A drone shot of the National park Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
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    Punta Catedral

    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…

  • Frog Pendant. Costa Rica, Chiriqul. 11th-16th century. Cast Gold. Frogs are frequently depicted in the gold work of Costa Rica and Panama,. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images)

    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…

  • Reserva Natural Atitlán

    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…

  • Palm tree at the Goff's Caye in Belize; Shutterstock ID 163105160; Your name (First / Last): Alicia Johnson; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial ; Full Product or Project name including edition: Belize

    Goff's Caye

    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…

  • Biomuseo

    BioMuseo

    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…

  • The sloth on the tree; Shutterstock ID 624132143; Your name (First / Last): Alicia Johnson; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial ; Full Product or Project name including edition: Panama

    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…

  • View of a cruise ship through the Santa Barbara fortress while she heads to Trujillo, 600km north of Tegucigalpa on October 15, 2014.    AFP PHOTO / Orlando SIERRA        (Photo credit should read ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

    Fortaleza Santa Bárbara de Trujillo

    Honduras

    High above the waves, gazing over the Caribbean toward the European motherland, this 17th-century Spanish fortress could not have a more evocative…

  • Visitors learn about the Mayas at the Museum of National Identity in Tegucigalpa on December 14, 2012. The beginning of a new Mayan era on December 21 will be marked with celebrations throughout southern Mexico and Central America. Honduras is one of five countries preparing to observe the date, which marks the end of a more than 5,000-year era, according to the Mayan "Long Count" calendar, which began in 3114 BC.  AFP PHOTO/Orlando SIERRA        (Photo credit should read ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images)

    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…

  • Iglesia El Rosario's interior is a colorful celebration.

    Iglesia El Rosario

    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…

  • Catedral Metropolitana in San Salvador

    Catedral Metropolitana

    San Salvador

    Facing the revamped Plaza Barrios, the cathedral is the most significant landmark in the city and the resting place of Archbishop Óscar A Romero. In the…

  • Green iguana profile detail with black background. Lizard's head close-up view. Small wild animal looks like a dragon. ; Shutterstock ID 616251773; Your name (First / Last): Alicia Johnson; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial ; Full Product or Project name including edition: Be

    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…

  • Eagle Ray swimming in the waters of Coco Island in Costa Rica; Shutterstock ID 127196843; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Parque Nacional Isla del Coco

    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…

  • Iglesia de la Recolección

    León

    Three blocks north of the cathedral, the 1786 Iglesia de la Recolección is considered the city’s most beautiful church, a Mexican-style baroque confection…

  • Antigua Catedral

    Managua

    The hollow shell of Managua’s Old Cathedral remains Managua’s most poignant metaphor, shattered by the 1972 earthquake – and slowly undergoing restoration…

  • Market

    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…

  • Playa Espadilla Sur & Punta Catedral in Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

    Playa Espadilla Sur

    Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio & Around

    A half-hour hike from the park entrance, the exposed Playa Espadilla Sur is to the north of Punta Catedral and gorgeous with pinch-me scenes of white sand…

  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo

    Panama City

    This wonderful privately owned museum features the best collection of Panamanian art anywhere, an excellent collection of works on paper by Latin American…

  • Reserva Santa Elena

    Monteverde & Around

    The exquisitely misty 310-hectare Reserva Santa Elena offers a completely different cloud forest experience from Monteverde. Cutting through the veiled…

  • Volcán Maderas

    Isla de Ometepe

    Climbing this 1394m volcano is challenging but worthwhile. Guides are required for the seven- to eight-hour round-trip trek (with four to five hours of…

  • Volcán Concepción

    Isla de Ometepe

    This massive (and active) volcano is an Ometepe landmark. The seven- to 10-hour hike up loose volcanic stone to the summit of this looming peak can be…

  • Parque Nacional El Imposible

    Western El Salvador

    Edging Guatemala, the mostly primary forest of Parque Nacional El Imposible shimmers with rivers and beautiful waterfalls. Hiking can get muddy and steep,…

  • Montezuma Waterfalls

    Montezuma

    A 40-minute river hike leads to a waterfall with a delicious swimming hole. Further along, a second set of falls offers a good 12m leap into deep water…

  • Tazumal

    Western El Salvador

    In the K’iche’ language Tazumal means ‘pyramid where the victims were burned.’ Archaeologists estimate that the verdant 10-sq-km Tazumal area – much of…

  • Museo de Arte Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián

    León

    Probably the finest museum of contemporary art in all of Central America, the Ortiz-Gurdián Collection has spilled over from its original home in Casa Don…

  • Iglesia Merced

    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…

  • Museo Auka Tangki

    Caribbean Coast

    Don’t miss Dr Dionisio Melgara Brown’s museum, a 10-minute walk along dirt roads curving away from the river. Brown, a retired teacher, built this museum…

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