Braulio Carrillo National Park  

Costa Rican Rainforest

Costa Rican Rainforest

Braulio Carrillo National Park  (Heredia and San Jose)

Located within both the Heredia and San Jose Provinces, the gorgeous and expansive Braulio Carrillo National Park will provide your group with unforgettable views, activities, and ecological knowledge. Covering 117,300 acres, Braulio Carrillo consists of equal parts virgin rainforest and cloud forest, and perhaps counterintuitively also part main highway. While ironic, the highway is actually one of the main reasons this land is protected so well, allowing attention to be drawn to the area and its conservation efforts. Guapiles Highway allows this park to be easily accessible within the Central Volcanic Conservation Area, also.

Braulio Carrillo National Park was named after the third president of Costa Rica, something you can learn a bit more about by visiting one of the two ranger stations, Zurqui Ranger Station holding a small information center within.

Over 500 species of birds such as quetzals, antpittas, snowcaps, trogons, and hummingbirds call Braulio home, the variations of birds changing with the elevation throughout (36 meters to 2900 meters). The same can be said about the 150 mammal species within, some of the most widely spotted being the howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, and pacas. To get a better view of the flora and fauna world within taking an aerial tram ride in an open gondola or perhaps take any of the many hiking trails, each of varying length and difficulty. Some of the most popular are Los Botarramas and La Botella, as well as the trail to the San Fernando Waterfall. You will find as short as a ½ mile and as long as 32-mile trails throughout. Be aware that this spot is considered to be cloud forest, as mentioned above, therefore it is typically wet. Dress accordingly (layers)!