Irazu Volcano National Park
Costa Rica
Irazu is the highest volcano in Costa Rica, and a paved road runs to within a few hundred metres of its summit craters,…
1 ticket or tour
Central America
Oldest national parks in Central America
Conservation in Central America began with volcanoes. Costa Rica protected the crater of Irazu in 1955, and Guatemala declared Pacaya in 1963. Bonaire's Washington Slagbaai, of 1969, was the first nature reserve in the former Netherlands Antilles.
| # | Park | Country | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Irazu Volcano National Park | Costa Rica | 1955 |
| 2 | Pacaya Volcano National Park | Guatemala | 1963 |
| 3 | Washington Slagbaai National Park | Bonaire | 1969 |
| 4 | Poas Volcano National Park | Costa Rica | 1971 |
| 5 | Manuel Antonio National Park | Costa Rica | 1972 |
| 6 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | Costa Rica | 1973 |
| 7 | Corcovado National Park | Costa Rica | 1975 |
| 8 | Cotubanama National Park | Dominican Republic | 1975 |
| 9 | Morne Trois Pitons National Park | Dominica | 1975 |
| 10 | Tortuguero National Park | Costa Rica | 1975 |
| 11 | Los Haitises National Park | Dominican Republic | 1976 |
| 12 | Cahuita National Park | Costa Rica | 1978 |
| 13 | Carara National Park | Costa Rica | 1978 |
| 14 | Palo Verde National Park | Costa Rica | 1978 |
| 15 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | Costa Rica | 1978 |
| 16 | Masaya Volcano National Park | Nicaragua | 1979 |
| 17 | Darien National Park | Panama | 1980 |
| 18 | Soberania National Park | Panama | 1980 |
| 19 | Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve | Nicaragua | 1983 |
| 20 | Jaragua National Park | Dominican Republic | 1983 |
Pacaya Volcano National Park
Guatemala
Pacaya is the active volcano an hour and a half from Antigua and an hour from Guatemala City, and the half-day hike up…
7 tickets & tours
Washington Slagbaai National Park
Bonaire
Washington Slagbaai occupies the whole north-western end of Bonaire, a small, dry Dutch island in the southern…
2 tickets & tours
Poas Volcano National Park
Costa Rica
Poas is an active volcano in the central highlands of Costa Rica, about fifty kilometres, an hour and a half by road,…
2 tickets & tours
Manuel Antonio National Park
Costa Rica
Manuel Antonio is the most visited national park in Costa Rica, a small patch of rainforest and beach on the Pacific…
137 tickets & tours
Rincón de la Vieja National Park
Costa Rica
Rincón de la Vieja is the volcano park an hour north of Liberia in Guanacaste, and it is sold in two different ways…
27 tickets & tours
Corcovado National Park
Costa Rica
Corcovado is the great rainforest park on the Osa Peninsula in the far south of Costa Rica, and since 2014 everyone…
32 tickets & tours
Cotubanama National Park
Dominican Republic
Cotubanama, which until 2014 was called the National Park of the East, occupies the blunt peninsula at the…
1 ticket or tour
Morne Trois Pitons National Park
Dominica
Morne Trois Pitons National Park occupies the mountainous southern centre of Dominica, the wildest and least developed…
11 tickets & tours
Tortuguero National Park
Costa Rica
Tortuguero is the park of canals and sea turtles on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, reachable only by boat or light…
53 tickets & tours
Los Haitises National Park
Dominican Republic
Los Haitises is the mangrove and karst park on the southern shore of Samaná Bay in the north-east of the Dominican…
107 tickets & tours
Cahuita National Park
Costa Rica
Cahuita is the small coastal park next to the village of the same name on Costa Rica's southern Caribbean coast,…
26 tickets & tours
Costa Rica's modern park system was created from 1970 onward, with Poas, Manuel Antonio, Rincon de la Vieja, Tortuguero and Corcovado all established within five years, a burst of protection that later made the country's tourism industry possible.