The Cordillera Central is a volcanic mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

 in central Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

 which continues the Continental Divide

Continental Divide

The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...

 east of Cordillera de Tilarán. It extends 80 km from Tapezco Pass to the Turrialba Volcano

Turrialba Volcano

Turrialba Volcano was named after the region of Costa Rica in which the volcano is situated in Turrialba County, Cartago of Costa Rica. There is no clear consensus on the origin of the name Turrialba, but historians disagree with attempts to attribute the name to the patronym Torrealba or from...

 and ending on the Pacuare River

Pacuare River

The Pacuare River, or the Río Pacuare, in Costa Rica has its source in the Cordillera de Talamanca and flows approximately 108 km to the Caribbean. It is a popular location for white water rafting, whitewater kayaking and riverboarding...

. It is separated from Cordillera de Tilarán by Balsa River and Platanar and Zarcero hills.

It contains four large volcanoes Poás

Poás Volcano

The Poás Volcano, in Spanish Volcán Poás, is an active stratovolcano in central Costa Rica. Poás has erupted 39 times since 1828.- Crater lakes :...

 (2,708 m), Barva

Barva Volcano

Barva Volcano, sometimes called "Las Tres Marías" is an andesitic shield complex in central Costa Rica 22 km north of San José, in the province of Heredia. It sits on the small agricultural community of Sacramento....

 (2,906 m), Irazú

Irazú Volcano

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...

 and Turrialba

Turrialba Volcano

Turrialba Volcano was named after the region of Costa Rica in which the volcano is situated in Turrialba County, Cartago of Costa Rica. There is no clear consensus on the origin of the name Turrialba, but historians disagree with attempts to attribute the name to the patronym Torrealba or from...

 (3,340 m). The highest peak is Irazú at 3,432 m.

South of the range lie elevated plains of central tectonic depression of Costa Rican Central Valley

Costa Rican Central Valley

The Central Valley is a plateau and a geographic region of central Costa Rica. The land in the valley is a relative plain, despite being surrounded by several mountains and volcanos, the latter part of the Central Range. The region houses almost three quarters of Costa Ricans, and includes the...

.

Cordillera Central's four main volcanoes are protected as national parks

National Parks of Costa Rica

There are currently 26 National Parks of Costa Rica, which are managed under the umbrella of SINAC , a department of Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy ....

. Volcanic massif of the Poás Volcano is the central feature of Poás Volcano National Park

Poás Volcano National Park

Poás Volcano National Park, in Spanish , is a National Park that covers an area of approximately ; the summit is . One of the attractive features about Poás is that you can get all the way to the edge of the crater...

, featuring permanent fumarolic activity. Barva Volcano features prominent hydrothermal activity (hot springs) and is a part of Braulio Carrillo National Park

Braulio Carrillo National Park

Braulio Carrillo National Park is a National Park of the Volcanic Cordillera Conservation Area in Costa Rica located on the eastern edge of the central volcanic corridor between San José and Puerto Limón. It is accessible from the Limon Highway, which bisects the park running roughly east-west,...

.

Irazú Volcano National Park

Irazú Volcano National Park

Irazú Volcano National Park, or in Spanish the ', is a National Park in the Central Volcanic Conservation Area of Costa Rica that encompasses the area around the Irazú Volcano in Cartago Province which incorporates what used to be the Ruben Torres Rojas Forest Reserve now called the Prusia Forest...

 contains Irazú Volcano, the highest volcano of Costa Rica. The significant elevation of the volcano makes it a strategic site for telecommunications, many national television and radio stations have their antennas at the summit.

Turrialba Volcano National Park

Turrialba Volcano National Park

Turrialba Volcano National Park, or in Spanish the ' is a National Park in the Central Volcanic Conservation Area of Costa Rica that encompasses the area around the Turrialba Volcano in Cartago Province...

centered around Turrialba Volcano features fumarolic activity and gas emissions.