Accessible tourism in Costa Rica: beaches, parks and adapted activities

Costa Rica has real development (not just marketing) in accessible tourism: Lonely Planet recognized it as the "best accessible tourism destination" in 2021, and there is a **Red Costarricense de Turismo Accesible**, an organization that promotes tourism with an inclusion, accessibility, and universal design focus.

**Accessible beaches**: several beaches have retractable walkways (made of recycled plastic) that allow people in wheelchairs, with a cane or crutches to enter the sea without problem:

• **Playa Jacó** (cantón de Garabito).
• **Playa Panamá**, which also has a **silla anfibia** made 100% Costa Rican and an inclusive changing room.

**National parks with universal trails**: the **Parque Nacional Carara** and the **Parque Nacional Volcán Poás** have trails adapted for wheelchairs, with real possibility to see sloths, toucans and poisonous frogs up close without needing rough terrain. Manuel Antonio also has accessible trails.

**Other adapted activities available in the country**:

• Canopy (zip line) adapted, in the Arenal area.
• Accessible hot springs, in La Fortuna.
• Adapted boat navigation, in Tortuguero and the Tárcoles River.

**Where to look for help to plan the trip**: there are specialized tour operators (for example Wheel The World, with whom the ICT has done joint promotion) and guides trained in accessibility in the main tourist destinations of the country (San José, Manuel Antonio, Volcán Arenal) — there is also rental of adapted mobility equipment in those destinations.

Note: the availability of accessible infrastructure varies quite a bit between a large, well-developed destination and a more rural or remote one — for a concrete travel plan, it is advisable to confirm directly with the hotel, park or beach specific how accessible it is in practice, rather than assuming that all of Costa Rica has the same level of adaptation.