When you are feeling a bit blue, or in a perfectly good mood, strolling through a field of more than one million sunflowers is sure to put a big smile on your face. And there’s a place in Costa Rica where visitors can enjoy this delightful and unusual ecotourism experience on a seasonal basis. This is the largest planting of sunflowers in the world.

Girasoles de Costa Rica (Sunflowers of Costa Rica) will soon be reopening to showcase its latest crop, expected to be ready in February. Located at Pital de San Carlos in Alajuela, this glorious field of gold on 2 hectares (about 5 acres) will feature more than 15 different types of sunflowers in varied colors and sizes — some up to four meters tall.

“We always try to make every plantation better, with different and new experiences in every season,” said Erick Porras of the brainchild project he unveiled in August 2021. “We only open our sunflower field two or three times a year, and always use our social media to share and keep people updated with information about our next seasons.” 

A quick glance through the comments on the Girasoles de Costa Rica Facebook page reveals how successful the tour hosting venture has been, and how excited followers are about visiting again or for the first time.

“Our purpose is to create great memories for each person who joins us every season,” Porras stated. “For example, we are now planning to have dinners in the middle of thousands and thousands of sunflowers, under the stars. Can you just imagine that?”

Day or night, sunflower immersion “therapy” is sure to brighten the spirits of anyone who partakes. Then there are the life-preserving benefits, Porras adds, of protecting the bees and the environment with no chemical or pesticide use.

TRY THE ONLINE PUZZLE: click the lower right icon to enlarge