A real estate boom is erupting in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, a beach-lover’s paradise that is only a short plane ride from New York.

In the northwestern corner of the country, near the Nicaraguan border, Guanacaste is famous for its long stretches of deserted beaches, and with only 65 inches of rain a year, it is the driest region of Costa Rica. Often likened to west Texas, the province is named for the shady trees that shelter the herds of cattle that roam the dusty savanna, and is famous for its cowboys, known as sabaneros. The area also boasts semi-active volcanoes, several lakes, and remnants of one of the few tropical dry forests left in Central America.

There are a number of reasons Costa Rica is attracting foreign real estate investment. One of the oldest democracies in the western hemisphere, Costa Rica boasts the second highest per capita literacy rate in the world, a lower infant mortality rate than America, and the highest percentage of landmass in protected parks and reserves than any other country in the world, according to marketing data published by Century 21 Real Estate.

Guanacaste has only two seasons: hot and hotter. While most of the year the area is relentlessly sunny, with every surface coated in a film of dust, the rainy season from May to mid-November covers the hills with a carpet of lush greenery.

To lure transplants, Costa Rica’s government offers financial incentives, including a constitutional guarantee providing foreigners the right to own land in Costa Rica. It also charges no taxes on capital gains, allows ownership of land to be an offshore investment, and has properties titled and registered in a national registry, making previous owners, liens, and other details easily accessible. The transactions are carried out in American dollars, and American title companies offer title guarantees.

“I’m living a wonderful life here,” said Michael Hunter, a native New Yorker who moved to the province four years ago from an apartment on 62nd Street and Second Avenue. “There are 400,000 foreigners here, mostly Americans, and I’d estimate about 10% of the population are not ticos,” he said, using the slang for Costa Ricans. The 56-year-old bookie left New York to help a friend run a casino in Guanacaste, where gambling is legal, and is marrying a Costa Rican woman in February. “She speaks no English, and I speak only a little Spanish, but we get along just fine,” he said. The Guanacaste region has always been a local vacation site, but has only recently transitioned into a destination for foreigners, thanks in part to the newly renovated international airport in nearby Liberia. The capital of Guanacaste province, Liberia is a small town with an airport built by American armed forces in the 1970s as a base for troops during the Iran-Contra conflict. It was not until 1992 that international flights began operating out of the airport, and in 2002, Delta Airlines, which has its own terminal, was the first commercial airline to initiate weekly direct flights to and from America.

About 20 minutes from the beaches, the Liberia airport has seen an increase of more than 600% in commercial airline traffic in the past year.

Delta now runs five weekly flights from Atlanta to Liberia, and since January American Airlines has offered direct flights from Miami three times a week, while Continental Airlines has direct flights from its hub in Houston three times weekly. Direct flights from New York and Los Angeles are to be offered sometime next year, according to locals who work at the airport.

The Four Seasons has also become a presence in Guanacaste, driving up real estate values. The upscale hotel chain is investing $400 million in a new resort, with the first of four phases opening in January; several celebrity visits are already booked, including one by Madonna. The resort, which will include over a dozen beaches, an Arnold Palmer Signature golf course, and two marinas, is scheduled to be complete in 10 years.

“Real estate prices have grown exponentially in the past 12 to 18 months,” said the owner of a Century 21 office in Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, Scott MacDougall. He has lived in the country for 12 years and is developing a number of gated communities directed at American baby boomers looking to buy second homes.

“Buying in Costa Rica is no different than buying in America, it is just as safe, and you can get so much more for your money.”

Five years ago it was possible to buy several acres of beachfront property for $50,000, Mr. MacDougall said, but now those same properties have tripled in price.

At the high end of the market, a 4,500-squarefoot hacienda on three acres of beachfront property boasting five bedroom suites and gardens carries a $3.25 million price tag, according to real estate ads in local classified newspapers. More common properties include three-bedroom homes with ocean views for $289,000 and a five-bedroom home 200 meters from the beach for $350,000.

REAL ESTATE OFFICES

Century 21 At the Beach
Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, 011-506-672-0273

ReMax
San Jose, 011-506-290-3183

Coldwell Banker
Playa Del Coco, Guanacaste, 011-506-670-0805

HOTELS

Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica
Papagayo Peninsula, Gunacaste, 800-819-5053, www.fourseasons.com/costarica

Villas Sol Hotel & Villas Beach Resort
Playa Hermosa, Gunaacaste, 011-506-257-0607, www.villassol.com

Tabacon Hot Springs Resort & Spa
between La Fortuna and Lake Arenal, Tabacon, 011-506-256-1500, www.tabacon.com