The Cordillera de Guanacaste, also called Guanacaste Cordillera, are 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 northern 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....

 near the border with Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

. The mountain range stretches 110 km from northwest to the southeast and contains mostly complex stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

es. The range as forms part of the southern region of 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...

, with the highest peak is the stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

 Miravalles

Miravalles Volcano

The Miravalles Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano in Costa Rica. The caldera was formed during several major explosive eruptions that produced voluminous dacitic-rhyolitic pyroclastic flows between about 1.5 and 0.6 million years ago. The only reported historical eruptive activity was a...

 at 2,028 m.

Rivers flowing from the range drain into the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 (Guacalito, Zapote) and the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 (Blanco, Tenorio

Tenorio River

The Tenorio River in Costa Rica rises near the Tenorio Volcano where it becomes a fast moving river, with some areas of rapids popular for white-water rafting and flows to join the Corobicí River....

, Martirio, Corobiá and San Lorenzo).

Protected areas located in the mountain range include Guanacaste National Park

Guanacaste National Park (Costa Rica)

Guanacaste National Park, in Spanish , is part of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, is a National Park in the northern part of Costa Rica, from the slopes of the Orosí and Cacao volcanoes west to the Interamerican Highway where it is adjacent to the Santa Rosa National Park....

 established in July 1991 and Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site

Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site

The Area de Conservación Guanacaste, is a World Heritage Site in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, which comprises Santa Rosa, Guanacaste, Rincón de la Vieja National Parks and the Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge...

 inscripted by UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 as a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 in December 1999.

The range contains areas of ecological significance, as the Miravalles Forest Reserve, hills and canyons that can be seen from the lowlands of Guanacaste, areas rich with epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

s, ferns and palms; and areas of geothermal

Geothermal

Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to:* The geothermal gradient and associated heat flows from within the Earth- Renewable technology :...

 activity, exploited for energy use. Geothermal energy exploited in Guanacaste account to 18% of Costa Rica's electricity and is also exported to Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

 and Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

.

Cordillera de Guanacaste is divided into two sections:

1. La Cordillera Volcánica - formed by a series of volcanic edifices that begin with the Orosi Volcano and ends with the Arenal Volcano.
2. La Sierra Minera - depressions located between Arenal and Tapezco.

Notable peaks

• Miravalles Volcano
  Miravalles Volcano
  The Miravalles Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano in Costa Rica. The caldera was formed during several major explosive eruptions that produced voluminous dacitic-rhyolitic pyroclastic flows between about 1.5 and 0.6 million years ago. The only reported historical eruptive activity was a...
  
   - 2028 metres (6,653.5 ft)
• Rincón de la Vieja Volcano
  Rincón de la Vieja Volcano
  Rincón de la Vieja is an active andesitic complex volcano in north-western Costa Rica, about 25 km from Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste. Its name means "The Old Woman's Corner", a reference to a local legend about a girl whose lover was thrown into the crater by her father; she became a...
  
   - 1916 metres (6,286.1 ft)
• Tenorio Volcano - 1916 metres (6,286.1 ft)
• Orosí Volcano
  Orosí Volcano
  The Orosí Volcano, in Spanish the , is an inactive volcano in Costa Rica, situated in the Cordillera de Guanacaste near the border with Nicaragua...
  
   - 1659 metres (5,442.9 ft)
• Arenal Volcano
  Arenal Volcano
  Arenal Volcano, in Spanish , is an active andesitic stratovolcano in north-western Costa Rica around 90 km northwest of San José, in the province of Alajuela, canton of San Carlos, and district of La Fortuna....
  
  - 1670 metres (5,479 ft)