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La Cruz, Guanacaste
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The tiny hilltop town of La Cruz lies 20 km south of Peñas Blancas, Costa Rica’s main border crossing with Nicaragua. Located on the Santa Elena Peninsula in the northwestern corner of Guanacaste province, La Cruz is a pleasant place to stay at, especially if you are interested in visiting the lovely Santa Rosa National Park and its surrounding environs.
Known for its pristine gorgeous beaches, this Santa Rosa National Park is a great place to surf, as well as catch a glimpse of sea turtles nesting along the shore. Home to the legendary surfing point of Witch’s Rock and the first national park to be built in Costa Rica, the Parque Nacional Santa Rosa is also a historically significant place as well.
Some 59 km northwest of Liberia, and roughly 277 km northwest of the capital city San Jose, La Cruz sits east of the Inter-American Highway and serves as a gateway to Bahia Salinas, the second best place to windsurf or kiteboard in the country after the Laguna de Arenal next to La Fortuna de San Carlos. The nearest airport is the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, while if you are traveling by car, the easiest way to get here is head west of San Jose on the Inter-American Highway. The journey by car from San Jose to La Cruz is roughly 5 hours. If you wish to take a bus trip, then catch the bus to Peñas Blancas, as it stops to pick and drop off passengers in La Cruz.
Though there is not much to see in this rural town, there are a number of good markets out here in addition to quite a few sodas. To see some truly spectacular views of the coast, head over to the Restaurante El Mirador-Ehecatl near the central park in town around sunset.
If you like, you can also head on to the fishing village of Puerto Soley from here and then take a boat to tour the National Refuge for Forest Fauna on Isla Bolanos. Home to over 200 pairs of brown pelicans and beautiful frigate birds, this area is also the only place in Costa Rica where one can catch American oystercatchers nesting.
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