BLUE FLAG COSTA RICA BEACHES

And the best of them bear Blue Flag certification.

They form the life-blood of the Costa Rica vacation industry and lead to creation of thousands of jobs.

After all, most honeymoons in Costa Rica begin on the beach.

If you're into animals, places like Tortuguero offer Costa Rica ecology tours.

And, face it---you're simply a beach lover.

But, I bet you don't know that beach vacations to Costa Rica, like to Playa Conchal Costa Rica or Tamarindo Costa Rica beach, are part of Costa Rica's plan of sustainable development.

In fact, Costa Rica is the first country in the world to pledge to become carbon neutral within a few years.

Learn more from National Geographic about Costa Rica's pledge to become the world's first carbon neutral country.

This is not just empty political talk.

There’s been real commitment to environmental issues in this little country.

Like reducing its carbon footprint.

Costa Rica’s Environmental Performance

Yea, sure. Every country says that.

But in Costa Rica this isn't all hype. It's proven.

In January 2008 a team of Yale and Columbia University researchers released the first comprehensive Environmental Performance Index.

It evaluated and rated the environmental performance of 149 countries using 25 different categories, ranking each country’s performance from 0 (the worst) to 100 (a perfect score).

And only one country in the Western Hemisphere.

Not the U.S.

Not Canada.

Only Costa Rica.

America and Canada talk-the-talk but only tiny Costa Rica walks-the-walk.

And, amazingly, Costa Rica made the top 5 even though its per capita income is less than one-third of any of the other top 5 countries (Switzerland and three Scandinavian countries).

To be sure, there's a long way to go and spiraling coastal development presents a real environmental challenge. But, Costa Rica is working to get ahead of the curve and its environmental performance record is the envy of much of the world.

One need only look at its Blue Flag program.

Blue Flag Beaches: Best Quality Costa Rica Beaches

Modeled after the Blue Flag program developed in Europe to identify the world's best beaches based upon ecological quality and visitor conveniences, Costa Rica has created its own Blue Flag program with strict objective rating standards involving water and beach qualities of cleanliness. Only those beaches obtaining a water and beach quality score of 90 or more (out of 100) are certified as Blue Flag.

In 2008, there are 59 certified Blue Flag Costa Rica beaches, eight of them on the Caribbean Coast, 26 on the North Pacific Coast (Guanacaste Province), and 25 on the Central Pacific Coast (Puntarenas Province).

In a country with so many superb beaches, these are the best-of-the-best environmental quality beaches. Check them out before you travel Costa Rica and when you take that long awaited Costa Rica vacation, plan to visit some of the 59 best blue flag beaches.

Other Costa Rica Beaches

The Blue Flag designation is, after all, a badge of honor (and, of course, a great marketing tool) and distinction.

The program's over-all goal is environmental excellence, not just getting by.

The environmental excellence bar is intentionally set high through the establishment of objective criteria.

And, it works in part because it cleverly requires every community seeking such status to apply anew each year.

In other words, it involves the communities, from their businesses to their schools to their local governments.

There is an economic incentive to attain Blue Flag status, community pride at stake, and an increasing awareness of how sensitive the oceans are.

Alarmingly, more and more Costa Rica beaches are being littered with plastics discarded in the oceans over many years.

Some Blue Flag committees are organizing monthly beach cleanups with schools and the schools are using this global problem as an educational tool for students.

The standards necessary for Blue Flag inclusion are objective and applied transparently.

Indeed, eight Costa Rica beaches lost their Blue Flag certifications in 2008. Seven, Arenilla, Ocotal, Manzanillo, Agujas, Pelada de Nosara, Dominical, and the enormously popular (and very visited) Tamarindo, are on the Pacific and one, Playa Negra at Puerto Viejo, is on the Caribbean.

The loss of certification shocked, embarrassed, and angered many residents and remedial steps haven't just been discussed but actually undertaken in affected communities. The beaches above are still great Costa Rica beaches---just not the best of the best.

Finally, regrettably, there are a few beaches to avoid. These are Costa Rica contaminated beaches.

Go to Costa Rica Beaches

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