The trip from San José International Airport to Atenas is just under 30 minutes by car, 35 minutes on a bad day. At the end of the ride: a picturesque town blessed with clean air, potable water, gourmet coffee shops, good restaurants, and a welcoming popula-tion - including a large number of expatriates from North America and Europe.

NASA once concluded in a major study of climatological data that Atenas, Costa Rica, has one of the best climates in the world. Atenas also has a central location that takes the hassle out of getting to and from the country's most appealing and most visited points of interest.

Atenas is an hour closer to Manuel Antonio National Park (near Quepos, www.manuelantoniopark.com) and to Jacó and other Pacific beaches than San José. It is also closer than San José to Puntarenas, MonteVerde (www.monteverdeinfo.com) and Guanacaste as well as to the Poas and Arenal volcanoes. All of the attractions mentioned above are easy day trips from Atenas by car.

One can arrange one-day tours to any of the destinations, or multi-day tours to any combination of these destinations ahead of time or after arrival. Also check out www.visitcostarica.com. for more inormation on Costa Rica's attractions.

  Atenas as well as Grecia, Naranjo, Palmares, San Ramón, and Sarchí are communities steeped in rural tradition. Situated in the northwest region of Costa Rica's Central Valley, inhabitants of these six small towns continue to live the turn-of-the-century coffee culture that forms a pillar of the country's social democracy. Country roads wander through the region's coffee fields and green valleys where every turn brings a view that seems better than the last. The drive from Atenas to any one of her five sister towns is about forty-five minutes; all six towns offer a distinctive country flavor as well as a pleasing combination of regional cuisine, local parades, fairs, crafts and citizens with plenty of that irresistible Tico charm.