Alajuela

Population 172,000
This provincial capital is 18 km northwest of San Jose it is 200 meters lower in elevation and has a slightly warmer climate. The international airport is 2.5 km southeast of Alajuela. Walk - Alajuela is small enough to take in by foot. You can see the entire downtown in one afternoon. The Central Cathedral - Algol's Central Cathedral is the very center of the town as is traditional in colonial Spanish urban planning. The church is pretty, but not a spectacular piece of architecture.

 

In front of the cathedral is the central park which is a nice spot for people watching and you may get a glimpse of wildlife as parrots and a sloth that is an elusive resident.

Places to Visit

Museo Juan Santa maria
Parque Juan Santamaria





Grecia Central Park

This town is an important tourist destination mainly due to its unique red metal church, which is a deep dark red color. The Cathedral de la Mercedes is a Gothic style church made from metal pieces that were imported from Belgium in the 1890’s. This church is as beautiful from the inside as it is impressive from the outside. Painted in  a delightful light blue,  the church’s exterior is decorated in small  colorful  illustrations.





Puntarenas

 Puntarenas is the name of a port city located on the Pacific Coast and covers and extensive amount of territory with white sand beaches. It's the largest Province of Costa Rica and its located 75 miles (120 km) west of San Jose. Puntarenas means "Sandy Point". It is a long narrow sand spit that is an extension of the Nicoya Peninsula and juts out into the Gulf of Nicoya, only two blocks wide at its narrowest point. To the south is the open end of the Nicoya Peninsula with mild surf hitting the beach, which can be crossed by taking a ferry.   
La Paz Waterfalls Garden
Just minutes from the front gate of Volcan Poas and LaTerezza.
        
Other tourist locations accessible from La Loma Tranquila B&B with in less than 2 hours are as follows:

Playa Jaco

Volcan Arenal

Famous City of San Ramon

Palmares

Rio Sarapiqui

Zoo Avenue

Many other locations of interested not listed. Contact us and we can help you with your vacation tour plans.

Costa Rica's volcan Poas

located just 30 minutes from Costa Rica's B&B La Loma Tranquila.  Botos Lagoon is a filled-up crater in the Parque Nacional Volcan Poas. Its deep blue waters contrast with the dense tropical forest that surround it, making it the perfect spot for the stereotypical Indian sacrifice- throwing a young maiden into the mouth of a crater or a lagoon. Volcan Poas is one of the most visited volcanoes in Costa Rica, because of its proximity to San Jose and because of the luxuriant forest that surrounds the two craters. The park measures 5600 hectares, and this basaltic volcano stands at an altitude of 2708 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level.


         
 One of the craters measures 1.5 kilometers in diameter (0.9 miles) and is 300 meters deep (900 feet). At the bottom of this prehistoric-looking hole, there is a medium sized lagoon, that spews boiling sulfurous gases. The other crater is the one mentioned above, called Botos Lagoon, which unlike the other lake, contains cold water that connects to the Rio Angel, and later to the large Rio Sarapiqui. The volcano has had a long history of eruptions, going back as much as 11 million years ! On January 25, 1910, the volcano spewed out 640,000 tons of ash, and in the period of 1952-1954, it bombarded nearby areas with ash and rocks. Since then, the Poas has maintained a low profile, but as recently as 1989, the park was closed because of dangerous sulfurous gas emissions. Its geyser-like eruptions of muddy water and steam, have given it the reputation as the world’s largest geyser.  
   
    
   
    
 
Sarchi

A  pleasant  day  trip  from  the capital  city, Grecia tourists  are drawn to  Sarchi  for  a  number  of  reasons.  The beautiful  flowering trees along  the mountain road, keep you stopping for photos!

The beautiful hand made oxcarts and other beautiful hand made furniture has made this lovely mountain village famous. Sarchi  is  a  wonderful  place  to  see  Artisans  at  work,  and stock  up  on  goodies!  Some  good  restaurants  near the  shops  and  an  excellent  little  seafood  restaurant  in downtown Sarchi,  which  also  has  some  large  souvenir  shops, downtown  as  well.
  
     
Zarcero
Just about 20 Km north from Grecia, through Sarchi and Narango is Zarcero, a little valley agricultural town famous for its cool weather, pine trees, organic veggies, peach jam, dairy farms, homemade cheese and the charming topiary garden in front of the town’s white and red church.



In 1960, gardener Don Evangelisto Blanco began to trim the bushes in Parque Francisco Alvardo into fanciful shapes – elephants, birds, rabbits, oxen and cart, a monkey on a motorcycle and even a tunneled walkway with sides like giant Hershey’s Kisses. The work of one man, who has spent the past three decades converting what was formerly a soccer field into a whimsical garden of magic and wonder.