Liberia is a district and the largest city in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica, located 215 kilometres northwest of the national capital, San José. Part of the Liberia canton, it is a major center for the country's tourism industry. Liberia has been nicknamed la ciudad blanca due to the white gravel that was once used to make the city's roads and the whitewashed colonial houses which used to make up a large part of the city. It had a population of 56,899 in 2013.