Liberia

Liberia is the capital of the northwestern province of Guanacaste, and home to an International Airport with flights arriving from Houston, Atlanta, Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Many tourists see it as a 'stop-over' to get to the Guanacaste gold coast, or on their way to Rincon de la Vieja National Park. However, if you want to experience a 'real' Costa Rican town, there is some charm to spending a day or two in the area. The central park, flanked by a large white church, is home to a hodge podge of stray dogs, birds, bums, couples and skaters enjoying the beautiful pink sunsets.

The town has a colonial look and feel to it, very similar to its neighboring towns in Nicaragua, which is not surprising when one considers that up to only about one hundred years ago, Guanacaste was part of Nicaragua. The narrow streets keep you cool, and the adobe whitewashed old houses are very full of charm. For this reason, Liberia is known as the white city, la "Ciudad Blanca".

There is a wide array of open air restaurants, ice cream shops and clothing stores to wander through during the day. At night, the far end of town on the other side of the town's only red light, becomes a non-stop party until sunrise. From electronica to reggae to local bachata, cumbia and salsa music, this strip has it all. For a tamer night the city center, the bars will give you a great view of typical life in the area, and they all close around midnight. The new Santa Rosa shopping complex also houses a great Spanish-owned Italian restaurant and some shops geared toward the surf-crowd.

The pace of life here is slower and more casual, with most people traveling by foot or bicycle. The dress code is beachy with flip flops and tight clothes for the ladies, to match the steamy temperatures of the driest region in Costa Rica.

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