Whether your plans include lounging on a warm beach with a cocktail in hand, camping in the wilderness, or pursuing a volunteer opportunity, the time to start planning for spring break is now.

To help travelers plan the perfect spring break vacation, Let’s Go Publications is offering their top spring break trip ideas for 2011. From party hotspots to ideas for a “voluntourism” vacation, Let’s Go has created a list that includes something for just about every type of traveler.

1.    Costa Rica

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Costa Rica’s political system has three claims to fame: its democracy, its military’s non-existence, and its president’s Nobel Prize. Not only is Costa Rica the Latin American country with the longest uninterrupted record of free elections and the first on the planet to voluntarily abolish its military, but its president, Óscar Arias Sánchez, is the first Nobel Laureate in history to be elected to such a post.

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Want to know one of my favorite things about Latin America? I’ll give you a hint. It’s dirty, colorful, noisy, and moves at about a thousand miles an hour all the time.

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Most visitors to Isla del Caño Island come to see the coral reef and tropical fish. And though these fish are often strange creatures, the most perplexing features of Isla del Caño are the mysterious Diquis stones located at the center of the landmass.

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With an hour to kill before another overcrowded, sweaty bus ride to my next destination in Costa Rica, I decided to visit a tour guide friend I had met the day before in Bijagua to try to squeeze out some more information about the sabanero town. When I arrived, I was surprised to see him and a friend decked out in their cowboy-best—faded, tight jeans, loose-fitting button-down shirts, mango-sized belt buckles, and leather cowboy hats and boots. They informed me that they were getting ready for the bull-riding competition, as part of the festive weekend aimed to raise money for the local elementary school. His frighteningly calm friend was part of the valiant crew from Cañas that would sacrifice their bodies for those 10 seconds of bull-riding glory.

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While Puerto Viejo is known year-round as the central reggae-party in Costa Rica, the atmosphere changes during each March and April for the annual South Caribbean Music Festival. Held at the Playa Chiquita Lodge, the festival has concerts on Friday and Saturday night with live reggae, classical, and calypso music from around the Caribbean coast.

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