Experience the best of Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a market town on the dry plains of Guanacaste, in the north-west of Costa Rica, where ranching and rice farming set the rhythm. Costa Ricans call it the folklore capital of the country, and the town holds a big fiesta each January, with parades, dancing and bull riding. The central park and its church are the focus of town life.

Guaitil and San Vicente, two villages nearby, make pottery by hand in the style of the Chorotega people, painted in earth colours and fired in open kilns. The canton also reaches Guanacaste's Pacific coast, where Tamarindo, Brasilito, Flamingo, Avellanas and Junquillal offer surf beaches, calm coves and turtles nesting on the sand.

Corn runs through the local kitchen: tortillas cooked on a griddle, rosquillas, ring-shaped corn biscuits, tamales and sweet corn drinks such as chicheme. Beef from the ranches, rice and beans fill the plates. Between December and April the plains are hot, bright and dusty, and the green season that follows brings afternoon rain and fresh pasture.