The Santa Rosa National Park encompasses all of the Peninsula of Santa Elena north of Nicoya Peninsula and meets Guanacaste National Park further inland.

Santa Rosa and Guanacaste National Park are considered something like a unit with the interior cloud forests of the Orosi Volcano area connecting the tropical and coastal Santa Rosa National Park. The park is pretty big at 387 square kilometers (149 square miles), and from the Pacific shoreline it extends into the heart of the Guanacaste Province. Santa Rosa National Park was the first national park of Costa Rica created in 1971.

Santa Rosa National Park is frequented by many animals on the land, in the sea and the sky. Birders, biologists and nature enthusiasts will all be very pleased by the vast assortment of species in the park. Some of the avifauna in Santa Rosa consists of peacocks, magpies, toucans, ospreys, parrots, the red widow, the soterrey matraquero, the northern caracara, the crab-eating hawk and the tailed manakin. Some of the mammals in Santa Rosa include the white-tailed deer, the armadillo, the howler monkey and the white-faced monkey. There are also three types of sea turtles that nest on the shores of Santa Rosa beaches such as the Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback and Green turtles.

The park is not only occupied by plenty of wildlife, but also by a flourishing botanical ecosystem, as well. The species of flora in Santa Rosa National Park consist of the mahogany, the Guanacaste, the Pochote Guapinol, the Indio Desnudo or Jiñocuave in the drier areas of the forest. Santa Rosa has multiple environments such as deciduous forests, oak and evergreen forests, mangrove swamps, riverside forests, short vegetation forests, pasturelands or savannahs. In the evergreen and oak forests can be found the nispero, the oak tree, the tempisque and the aceituno.

Santa Rosa National Park in Costa Rica is closest to the international airport in Liberia, and from there can be reached via tour bus, taxi or rental car. There a number small towns and beach communities in the Santa Rosa area including La Cruz, Playa Rajada and Playa Copal. Visitors to the park are advised to bring a swim suit, snorkel, mask, flippers, hiking boots and gear, binoculars, a camera, a backpack, a water bottle, sunscreen and insect repellant.

Location: Santa Rosa National Park
Items to bring: a swim suit, snorkel, mask, flippers, hiking boots and gear, binoculars, a camera, a backpack, a water bottle, sunscreen, insect repellant
Species of fauna: peacocks, magpies, toucans, ospreys, parrots, the red widow, the soterrey matraquero, the northern caracara, the crab-eating hawk, the tailed manakin, the white-tailed deer, the armadillo, the howler monkey, the white-faced monkey, Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback, Green turtles
Species of flora: the mahogany, the Guanacaste, the Pochote Guapinol, the Indio Desnudo, Jiñocuave, the nispero, the oak tree, the tempisque, the aceituno
Cities nearby: Liberia, La Cruz, Playa Rajada, Playa Copal
Ways to get here: tour bus, taxi, rental car, plane