How to experience a touch of Costa Rica at Eden Project

A haven of wild beaches, untouched reefs, volcanic peaks and rare forests teeming with over 500,000 species, including 900 bird species and five of the world’s seven sea turtle species, Costa Rica has a world-apart, enchanting beauty. Home to some 6.5% of the planet’s entire biodiversity, it’s also a beacon in sustainability and conservation, with over 25% of its land protected to preserve its precious habitats and cultural heritage.

Little wonder then that the Eden Project has partnered with the Costa Rica Tourism Board and local communities to support and champion the country’s transformational environmental work. From its iconic biomes and global gardens in Cornwall, to ground breaking environmental programmes, the Eden Project is an educational charity that demonstrates and inspires positive action for the planet. Visit the horticultural hotspot this summer to see some of Costa Rica’s rare flora and how they are partnering on projects to ensure its ecosystems are sustainable both environmentally and economically. Explore its natural landscapes yourself with Latin America specialists, Journey Latin America, which has an incredible prize trip up for grabs.

With its vast Biomes home to plant species from around the world, the Eden Project is a riot of exotic blooms and tangle of lush greens year round. But visit its steamy Rainforest Biome this summer and you’ll find a little corner of Costa Rica beckoning to be explored. The Eco Lodge exhibit, set around a traditional lodge hewn from natural materials, can be found close to the crashing waterfall. It’s been created to give visitors a glimpse of the country’s pioneering approach to ecotourism. Look out for colours and patterns representing artworks created by some of Costa Rica’s local communities and the vibrant tropical planting (heliconia, brugmansia and anthurium) that will lead you into the absorbing exhibition.

Learn about how Eden is supporting a shade-grown cacao planting initiative, where Costa Rican farmers are using as part of regenerative cropping systems to ensure they produce more sustainable chocolate, and the country’s Pura Vida (Pure Life) Pledge around sustainable travel. You can also find out about various volunteering projects you can get involved in and discover some of the ways this pledge has been put into action alongside the Eden Project. The attraction has been working with local communities and partners in Costa Rica since 2018 to help regenerate and expand a biological corridor on the stunning Nicoya Peninsula. This fragile ecosystem is one of the last areas of tropical dry forest left in the world. Guided tours of the lush and dripping Rainforest Biome are a wonderful way to discover more about why the world’s tropical ecosystems are so vital and the extraordinary plants and wildlife that flourish in them.

Costa Rica’s forests provide vital habitats for all kinds of weird and wonderful wildlife from garrulous howler monkeys and shaggy sloths to big-beaked toucans and jewel-bright quetzals. Would you like to see these enchanting mammals and rare birds for yourself? Visit with destination expert Journey Latin America and witness first-hand the power that global collaboration has to support both the planet and people in some of the country’s trailblazing ecotourism projects. You can lend a hand in conservation work yourself. Visit the tropical dry forest on the Nicoya Peninsula to see for yourself how wildlife has returned to this rare habitat as the land has been successfully reforested and returned to the communities who depend on it.

The Nicoya Peninsula is a green-cloaked and surf-beach-fringed peninsula on the Pacific coast and wildlife-lover’s paradise. Also on the Pacific coast, near the town of Quepos in the Puntarenas province is Manuel Antonio National Park, a swathe of coastal rainforest and waterfalls where white-faced capuchin and squirrel monkeys are just two enchanting residents. Endangered turtles nest on its beaches and whales breach offshore. Another natural wonder is the striking Arenal Volcano National Park in Alajuela province, part of a lush landscape pocked with healing thermal springs, and known for its well-preserved cultural traditions. There are many ways you can immerse yourself in the country’s incredible biodiversity, breathtaking natural landscapes and local communities, thanks to Journey Latin America. All the while knowing that you are having a positive impact on both the people and nature.

Traverse the tropical forests of Costa Rica as the cacophony of chit chatting wildlife rings out around you, from dry growth and coastal rainforests to moss-clad misty cloud forests. You could win an extraordinary trip that will take you around some of Costa Rica’s most remarkable and precious landscapes by entering this competition to win a 10-day holiday with Journey Latin America. Known for its personalised tailor-made holidays and escorted small-group tours, the destination expert has put together a blockbuster of an itinerary that one lucky winner and a guest will get to experience.

The adventure will start in buzzing capital San José and take you onto mountainous Monteverde in the northwest where you’ll go in search of the dazzling quetzal, spotting sloths and teeny tree frogs as you learn about the rare ferns and orchids that flourish in its ethereal cloud forests. As well as hiking, you’ll also zipline high above the forest’s lush canopy. Heading to the Pacific coast, you’ll visit Manuel Antonio National Park where rainforests teem with monkeys and more. The park’s forest-fringed beaches and mangroves are a haven for turtles and bird life too. That’s not to mention the awe-inspiring sunsets that set the sky alight on this spectacular side of Costa Rica. Enter before 28 September 2025 to be in with a chance to win this extraordinary travel experience.

The Eden Project is known for transforming a clay pit in Cornwall into a global garden, but its charitable work reaches beyond the UK to Costa Rica. Watch the story of the partnership between Eden Project, the Costa Rica Tourism Board and local communities – and their journey to build a more sustainable future together.