A new music festival that will bring world class musicians and rising stars together on one stage has been born in the southern pacific zone of Costa Rica. The first annual Best Fest promises to be an amazing event featuring musical genres such as reggae, latin, jazz, rock, blues, and more performed by bands from Costa Rica and the United States. The Best Fest invites audiences of all ages to expe...

Article originally found on BirdingCraft.com. In the past The Costa Rica Star has published on bird watching excursions in Costa Rica and how Nature Air is supporting this fantastic hobby. Time flies just like the migrants that zip through Costa Rica. Although I haven’t listened to the night skies as much as the previous year, the Spring Peeper-like notes of Swainson’s Thrushes have drif...

You are invited to join us for the 2012 Costa Rica International Festival of Terror ("TerrorFest"), October 25th to 31st 2012 in Montezuma, Costa Rica. If you don't have Halloween plans, this could be your ticket, and a great way to meet new people and see the country. TerrorFest presents the best in short and feature horror, sci-fi, suspense, thriller, animation, horror-comedy, and more fr...

If you are presently on vacation in Costa Rica, or planning to make your getaway soon, Costa Rica's port town of Limón on the Caribbean side of the country, converts to an all out party every October to celebrate “Carnaval”! Vaguely disguised around celebrating Columbus Day (October 12th) or “Dia de Las Culturas” (as we know it in Costa Rica), locals as well as every strange character you c...

The Whale Festival will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 7/8/9 & subsequently on the 14/15/16. The whale & dolphin boat tours will take place every hour out of the main entrance; sector Punta Uvita of the Ballena Marine National Park. The tour lasts about an hour and a half and costs 16,000 colones (approx. $32 USD) per adult and 10,000 colones (approx.. $20 USD) for ...

Don't forget to check out all of the previous articles published by The Costa Rica Star on Samsung mobile products in Costa Rica! EVENT: 80′s AWESOME FEST! WHEN: September 8th – 4:00pm WHERE: Estadio Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica If you ever wish you grew up in the 80′s… you will have one night to experience (or re-live) those good old days. Samsung presents Costa Rica with a blas...

On Saturday, August 18th, 2012 the Community Action Alliance of Costa Rica will be conducting a job fair with IBM Costa Rica. IBM will be bringing a team of recruiters and managers to accept resumes and conduct pre-screening interviews to identify the most talented professionals and students from the region. The IBM Job Fair will take place at the Universidad de Costa Rica Regional Museum in...

As every year, Father’s Day is celebrated in Costa Rica on the third Sunday of June. This year, local companies and brands have taken advantage of this opportunity to offer promotions, contests, and discounts aimed towards those looking for the perfect gift for Dad. Telephone and Communications giant, ICE expects to provide Costa Rican fathers with phones and an unprecedented cashback offer wit...

Grecia's Second Annual Independence Day Fiesta is planned for Sunday, July 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Organized by a group of expats and their Costa Rican neighbors, this is a day to celebrate US independence with American foods, live music and dance, and to give back to the community. Once again this event will be at the Quinta Real recreation center in San Francisco de San Isidro de Grec...

The town of Santa Cruz de Turrialba is preparing for the 2012 Cheese and Fair Expo to be held on June 30th, July 1st, July 7th, and July 8th. This is a community activity set up to promote their number one economic resource. The cheese production industry employs 96 percent of adults in Santa Cruz, and the Cheese Fair and Expo is an opportunity for neighbors to celebrate their traditions while pro...

Inspired by the The Costa Rica Star's recent articles, and frustrated by the poor quality of the bell peppers at my local supermarket (you know the one that starts with “W” and ends in “almart”) my girlfriend and I decided to visit the Farmers' Market in Heredia. I had heard that I should arrive early for the best products, so when we arrived at a leisurely 9:30 am we expected things to have c...

This weekend in Punta Leona, the community celebrates the arrival of the green season with live music, handcrafts, culture, sports, and fun activities for the whole family. Rain Fest is an annual event that greets the rainy season in the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This is the second year of the event, which seeks to bring together visitors and the community of one the country's premier t...

Reggae legends The Wailers, Bob Marley's original band, will headline the No Hunting World Music Fest in Costa Rica on Saturday, May 19th at Empire (the old Azotea in La Uruca). This is a special reggae festival supported by the Association for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna (APREFLOFLAS in Spanish), and it seeks to create awareness of a legislative proposal that has been floating in the Nati...

If you were not able to attend the first-ever Costa Rica Craft Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu a couple of weekends ago, you certainly missed out on a lot. While everyone hopes that a future iteration of the Craft Beer Festival will yield more master brewers, a greater range of microbrewery products, and greater overall interest in the craft beer scene in Costa Rica, you don't have to wait unti...

Flying will be cheaper than bus travel for a few days in Costa Rica. Nature Air, a domestic flight carrier that bills itself as the world's first carbon-neutral airline, will offer very cheap flights with a couple of promotions during May. These two promotions will be the most inexpensive flights offered in 2012. The first promotion started two days ago, and will run until Saturday, April 28th ...

Costa Rica Extrema 2012 is our country's first expo dedicated to ecotourism, adventure and extreme recreational activities. It brings together the best Costa Rica has to offer to people who enjoy both active and relaxing vacations. The three specific areas of interest at Costa Rica Extrema 2012 will be: extreme sports, ecotourism and adventure travel. At the fair, visitors will have a chance to...

Tickets are now on sale for the first-ever Craft Beer Festival in Costa Rica, which will take place at Avenida Escazu on Saturday, April 21st at 11:00 am. The festival will feature the best that our microbreweries have to offer, tastings, workshops, presentations, music, and a brew-off between craft beer makers based in Costa Rica. The cost of a VIP ticket is 15,000 colones. A VIP ticket gi...

The National Museum, in conjunction with community associations of the Osa, Palmar and the Diquis Delta region, invite you to the VII Festival of the Stone Spheres this weekend. This is a cultural and festive event that will serve as a warm up for the future UNESCO candidacy of the magnificent National Park of the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica. The activities will start at 9:00 AM and will wrap u...

If you miss the colorful doves that formed part of the Peace Parade in San Jose over the last few months, you'll have a chance at keeping one (or more of them) at your house when the prettiest 40 doves go on auction a week from today, on April 17th. According to national newspaper La Nacion, bidding on these doves is more than just taking home a part of Costa Rica's recent history, but also a c...

By declaration of the United Nations, World Press Freedom is celebrated each May 3rd with the goal of developing initiatives that support freedom of expression, raise awareness as to the importance of news media, remembering those unfortunate journalists who were victims of censorship, oppression and violence. UNESCO San Jose will celebrate World Press Freedom Day proactively. In associatio...

From May 7th to 13th, beautiful representatives from the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America will participate in a series of presentations and pageant events in San Jose, Aguas Zarcas, Sarchi, and tourist hotspots of our Pacific Coast. The contestants will charm audiences to promote tourism to their respective nations in competition for the crown of Reina Internacional de los Mares ...

UPDATED: Go here for the most up to date information on the Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu. Beer lovers in Costa Rica are no longer limited to the commercial offerings of the Florida Ice & Farm S.A. and expensive imports at the store. On Saturday, April 21st, the first ever Microbrewery and Craft Beer Festival will take place in Avenida Escazu (map), featuring the best Costa Rica has t...

From now until March 20th at 6:00 pm, readers of The Costa Rica Star have a chance to get creative with messages left on our Facebook wall and win two weekend tickets to the 2012 Festival Imperial. There are many reasons to participate, like TV on the Radio, the beautiful and talented ladies who will grace the stages, the onstage antics of Gogol Bordello and Cypress Hill, and many more. Ele...

SAN JOSE – The annual gallo pinto fair held at Paseo Colon earlier today managed to attract more people than the Calle 13 concert on Friday night at the nearby La Sabana metropolitan park. The culinary activity, which showcases the most representative folkloric dish in Costa Rica, was part of the "Smoke-Free Sundays" initiative that the Municipality of San Jose is promoting each year. During ea...

This year's Festival Imperial is heavier on the estrogen than in previous years, and that's a very good thing. While we wait for the lucky reader who will take home two free weekend tickets to the festival, here's a look at some of the female artists who will grace the stages at La Guacima speedway in Alajuela on Saturday, March 24th and Sunday, March 25th. The Great Wilderness – Costa Rica ...

The free, open-air concert of Puerto Rican musical wonder group Calle 13 drew around 60,000 Ticos to La Sabana last night and set the stage for the rest of the 2012 International Festival of the Arts (FIA). Calle 13 managed to heat up the FIA, which will continue until March 25th. The night concert started with "Digo lo que pienso", followed by the mega-hit "Baile de los pobres." As is their si...

For millions of people around the world who share some sort of cultural affinity with Irish culture, the Saint Patrick's Day celebration is a special time to rejoice. It has been part of the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church since the 15th century, and in Costa Rica it is celebrated as a religious feast day with a Mass service, although it isn't a holy day of obligation like it is in Irel...

One of the most exciting musical acts that will play at the Festival Imperial this year is TV on the Radio, a Brooklyn-based band that has been producing an interesting brand of indie rock. TV on the Radio may not be as popular as some of the other acts playing at Festival Imperial, such as Maroon Five and Bjork, but they are darlings of the finicky indie rock critic industry spearheaded by Pitchf...

The International Festival of the Arts (known as FIA by its Spanish acronym) is now just four days away from its 2012 opening. Once the FIA starts in earnest, residents of Costa Rica can look forward to ten days of arts and culture on the streets, in our theaters, and in open performance spaces around our capital city of San Jose.  This year marks the 20th anniversary of the FIA, an event organize...

A dear reader named Brad recently left the following question in our Facebook profile: " about good, affordable day trips in and around the SJ. I get a lot of visitors and they are always interested in them." Hello Brad, thanks for your question. Most tourists come to Costa Rica looking for eco-adventures, surfing, fishing, or relaxing at any of our pristine beaches. Our capital city often g...

March is shaping up to be one of the busiest and most interesting months for lovers of the arts and entertainment in Costa Rica. At the same time the Festival Internacional de las Artes unfolds around San Jose, the Arts Festival in Jaco will be taking place, and the Envision Festival gets underway in Bahia Ballena, the second International Design Festival will begin exhibiting at the former custom...

Some gatherings around the world have become emblematic of the activities they showcase, the lifestyles they support, and the people who choose to form a part of them. Such is the case with the initial iterations of the Lollapalooza festival in the early 1990s, as it heralded the coming together of a new wave of counterculture in the United States and later around the world. Then there's the Toron...

UPDATED Congratulations to the winner of the commenting contest, Ericka Castillo Arias, she will be going with her friend to the Festival Imperial weekend courtesy of The Costa Rica Star! Unfortunately Alex did not respond in time to claim the tickets to Imperial Festival, so we are resorting to another method. Tell us why you want to go to Imperial Festival on our Facebook page and we w...

The 5th Annual Atenas Chili Cookoff is February 12th and is created to help the Hogar de Vida (Homes of Life) for children in Costa Rica. Please join us. You can see more information about the chili event and activities by clicking here and visiting the official website. Here is a map to find the location. I Didn't Know Beans About Chili by Patricia Diekroger. Since I am on the committee f...

The twenty-fifth iteration of the annual festivities at Palmares has not disappointed anyone thus far; in fact this year's celebration of what has become the de facto end-of-vacation carnival for Ticos has been mostly characterized by being more orderly and less raucous than in previous years. Two of the three major events that make Palmares a massive celebration have already taken place: the tr...