Central America usually includes the nations between Mexico and Columbia: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. These developing nations have often been beset with political and economic strife, but also have some of the most amazing lush, tropical rain forests and blue, warm beaches. Costa Rica and Belize in particular are very popular vacation destinations. The surfing in Costa Rica is world-famous. The Central American countries are interesting to visit culturally and politically but are also simply awe-inspiring for their natural beauty.

Though each of the countries in Central America has a unique high and low season, all the countries follow a similar pattern of attracting the most visitors either during the winter months, school vacations, holidays, or some combination of the three. While regional temperatures stay pleasant year-round, visitors should factor in rainy seasons (usually in late summer or early fall), and along the Caribbean seaboard, hurricane season.

* high season: November to April, June to August
* low season: May, September to October

Easter and Christmas are also peak times.

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Panama
Roughly the same area as North Carolina, with a population of 3 million, Panama has plenty of wide open spaces. It's a country of intersections -- American engineering meets Central American jungle and lack of organization; laid back Caribbean culture meets the banks and commerce of Panama City; indigenous people meet and mingle with the decenedants of Europeans and Africans; the warm and shallow Caribbean Sea almost touches the cold and turbulent Pacific, miles of diverse beaches are separated by jungle-covered mountains in the middle.

Panama City could be anywhere, really --it's noisy and packed with cars and litter. The streets don't make much sense. Full of skyscraping condominiums, universities, internet cafes, restaurants and banks, it's a fully modern city with a few great tourist spots. Outside of the city, you'll find an incredibly diverse variety of towns large and small, populated by people of every shade.

Costa Rica
The Costa Rican motto is "Pura Vida" (pure life), and between the famous warm-water surfing, amazing wildlife, and more than a quarter of the country that is protected forests and reserves, life flourishes in Costa Rica like nowhere else. This tiny country holds 5% of the world's biodiversity in its lush rainforests and hospitable shores. Macaws, whales, howler monkeys and iguanas are common sights.

The peaceful live-and-let-live attitude extends to politics: Costa Rica is one of the most politically stable Latin American countries and was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army.

San Jose is the capital and the political and economic center. It feels like a legitimate metropolis--sometimes too much so--you'll be able to find McDonald's and Denny's here without a problem. The coasts are where it's at. Both the Pacific and Caribbean shores have incredible beaches. Some of them feel a lot like "Endless Summer", which can be either good or bad, depending on what you're looking for. The Arenal volcano is an especially popular tourist sight, jutting dramatically out of the forest.

Belize
Belize, known up until 1981 as British Honduras, is the only country in Central or South America where English is spoken as frequently as Spanish is. Belizean residents (a mere three hundred thousand strong) are a fascinating hodgepodge of Mayan, African, Spanish, and British descent, and so although the official language is in fact English, Belize boasts as many as seven main languages. Kriol, a lilting mix of English and Caribbean tongues, is the most widely and universally spoken language; to see it written, you'd think it was a charming distortion of English words, but to hear it spoken, it's something else entirely.

Belize is a dreamy, heavy, humid place, equatorial and lush, hung gigantesque palm jungle and a string of elysian white-sand beaches that border the longest coral reef in the world, second only to the Great Barrier off the coast of Australia. Tourists primarily flock, therefore, to the aquamarine coasts for snorkel and diving trips. Those with a significant amount of money can even rent their own private island, cherry-picked from the thousands and thousands of tiny mounds of sand and palm that dot the green miles off the coast. Head inland, though, for jungle hikes and Mayan ruins, since particularly the northern half of Belize once comprised a good chunk of the Mayan empire.

Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a beautiful and worthwhile Central American escape. Overshadowed by the cloud forests and entrenched eco-tourism of the rich coast, Nicaragua is emerging as an experience driven type of travel locale. The ambience pervades, from coastal parties to dance club madness, the people are willing and welcome to partake in the joviality. Come for the beaches, the Caribbean vibes, the smiles and the food. At present this country is still relatively unscathed by global tourism, don’t wait for it to Cancunify…Learn Spanish, se vale la pena.