In only 523 000 square kilometers, the seven Central American countries offer 15 sites declared World Heritage by UNESCO. These are National Parks, colonial cities and living cultures that we cannot miss. Corners of the world full of beauty that are the legacy of the past, to care for and enjoy at present times, and to transmit to future generations.

Nature conservation

If we look for jewels of nature in the UNESCO list, in Central America we can find three Reserves and four National Parks.La Reserva del Arrecife in Belize is a destination for divers from around the world, attracted by the clear waters of the Caribbean Sea and the richness of life in the coral reef.La Reserva de La Amistad, shared by Costa Rica and Panama, has an exuberant forest cover, inhabited by some indigenous communities and the Reserva de la Biosfera de Río Plátano in Honduras captivates with its rich biodiversity of ecosystems, consisting of marshes, mangroves, pine forests, savannas, rain forests and elfin forests.

If we enter into the National Parks, there are two in Costa Rica: el Parque Nacional Isla de Coco, an area with a large ocean biodiversity, and the Parque Nacional Guanacaste, created for the protection of tropical forests on the slopes of the volcanoes Orosi and Cacao. The other two parks, the Parque Nacional Darién and the Parque Nacional de Coiba, are located in Panama. Darien is the largest park in all of Central America and Coiba is an insular and coastal zone of marine ecosystems protection.

Conservation of cultural sites

Central America stands out for the fusion of its cultures and when we speak of World Cultural Heritage we refer to the archaeological sites, parks, ruins, cities and fortifications. To learn about Maya culture we can visit the archaeological site Joya de Cerén in El Salvador Parque Nacional Tikal and the Parque Arqueológico y Ruinas de Quiriguá,both in Guatemala, where we find some of the most important remains of this ancient civilization and finally the city of Copán,in Honduras, the Maya settlement most studied and best preserved.

If what interests us is the heritage of the former colonies, in Nicaragua are the Ruinas de León Viejo, belonging to one of the Spanish colonial settlements. In Panama we can visit Fortificaciones de Portobelo y San Lorenzoused for defense from the attack of pirates and privateers and the archaeological site de Panamá Viejo.And we cannot forget the Antigua Guatemala, a town in the central highlands of the country, famous for its well-preserved Spanish Renaissance architecture.