Located in Guanacaste province, is one of the oldest, and biggest (49,515 hectares) in Costa Rica and has one of the best-developed camping facilities of the nation's parks. Santa Rosa covers most of the Santa Elena Peninsula which just out into the Pacific at the far northwestern corner of the country. The park is named after the Hacienda Santa Rosa where a historic battle was fought on March, 1856, between a hastily assembled amateur army of Costa Ricans and the invading forces of North American filibuster, William Walker.

Santa Rosa is a mosaic of some 10 different habitats: deciduous forest, oak forest, mangrove swamp, evergreen forest, mesquite-nacascol swamp, strongly deciduous hillside forest, littoral woodland and lightly forested savannah.

These park protects the largest remaining stand of tropical dry forest; the park protects more than 250 species of birds, 115 species of mammals, 100 species of amphibians and reptiles and over 10000 species of insects. Some of the protected species are: whitetail deer, jaguar, tapir, collared peccary, magpie jays, also four species of turtles: olive ridley, hawksbill, green and leatherback lay their eggs on the beaches of the park.

48 km south of the Nicaraguan border, west of the Pan-American Highway at Km 269. Guanacaste
Opening hours: Daily from 8:00-16:00. It may change without notice.