The Irazú Volcano is an active volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera Central close to the city of Cartago. The name could come from either the combination of “ara” and “tzu” or a corruption of Iztarú, which was the name of an indigenous village on the flanks of the volcano.

The volcano is contained within the Irazú Volcano National Park, which spreads across 5,705 acres (2,300 ha). The national park contains both primary and secondary montane forests and is home to armadillos, owls, rabbits, foxes, woodpeckers, and hummingbirds.

Nearby, also in the province of Cartago, you can visit Orosi. Orosi is situated in the Orosi Valley, a deep valley with a humid climate, surrounded by hills and lush vegetation. The cultivation of coffee is the leading industry in the area. Orosi has a population of approximately 4,600 and claims to have the oldest Catholic church still in use in Costa Rica. The church, Iglesia de San Jose de Orosi, was built in 1743 during the colonial era.

With its rain forests, volcanoes, hills and valleys lined with rows upon rows of coffee plants and sugar cane, the Orosi region offers some of the richest scenery to be found in Costa Rica. But the region is also rich in history and contains a number of monuments to the past, including a colonial capital founded in 1563 and archeological excavations that date back to 1000 B.C.

Orosi is one of the oldest communities in Costa Rica. The village of Orosi was chosen, together with Ujarrás, by the Spanish conquerors to establish their first settlement in Costa Rica due to its water wealth and fertile land. Before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, the Orosi Valley was inhabited by the indigenous Huetares, Cabecar and Viceita tribes

Although this area was one of the first in the country to be settled, it has been one of the last to be developed for tourism.