Costa Rica is located on the Central American Isthmus, surrounding the point 10° north of the equator and 84° west of the prime meridian. It borders both the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 km of coastline (212 km on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km on the Pacific).
Costa Rica shares a border with Nicaragua to the north (313 km long border) and with Panama to the south (348 km long border). The area of Costa Rica is 51,100 km² of which 51,060 km² is land and 40 km² is water, making it slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia...
The nation's terrain is a coastal plain separated by rugged mountains, the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca, which form the spine of the country and separate the Pacific and Caribbean watersheds. Costa Rica claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km; 230.2 mi) and a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi).
The spine of the country produces many major river systems. Rivers draining into the Caribbean include:
Rivers draining into the Lake Nicaragua or the San Juan River (Rio San Juan), whose waters eventually drains into the Caribbean, include:
Rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean include:
In the eastern half of the country, the San Juan River forms the northern border with Nicaragua.
The Tilaran Range is part of the Continental Divide east of Lake Arenal and the nearby active volcano Arenal, and running into the Cordillera Central range further east. It is located in the Abangares district of the province of Guanacaste.