Costa Rica Rainforest Adventure

It may take only an hour to walk across it, but Costa Rica’s pint-sized capital is far more than a pitstop on the way to the coast. A small, sleepy town founded by the Spanish in the 16th century at the foot of the Cerros de Escazú mountains, it has gradually evolved into a buzzy city with Indigenous chefs reimagining ancestral flavors, contemporary galleries in historic buildings and a Central Market filled with handmade snacks such as chorreada. 

Parque Nacional Tortuguero is a protected area on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, with winding lagoons and freshwater creeks cutting through dense rainforest. Endangered green, hawksbill and leatherback turtles return to the banks year after year, and witnessing a part of the process – from nesting to hatching – is a moving experience. Here, there are no roads, only a venous network of canals and rivers: kayak beneath the rainforest canopy, spotting wildlife above and below the surface of the water from bulldog bats and basilisk lizards to crocodiles and caiman. An immersive experience of the Caribbean coast’s canals, rainforest and mangroves. 

La Fortuna is a pretty palette of greens, a tiny rural town beneath the summit of Arenal Volcano. Of all Costa Rica’s volcanoes, none are as handsome as this one: the perfect cone, wreathed with cloud. So active that the Maleku people believed it to be home to the god of fire, Arenal only finished ejecting his fiery contents in 2010 and while the spectacular red rivers of lava no longer flow, the area remains a highlight of any Costa Rican adventure. Hot springs bubble up across the region and forests still teem with wildlife, flowers blooming in the mist.

Jutting out into the Pacific Ocean like the beak of a toucan, this private peninsula boasts an 18-hole golf course, a women-led surf school, an explorer’s club for aspiring naturalists and the coral reefs of Culebra bay for snorkeling. A recent $100 million investment has created biking paths, hiking trails and a network of ziplines, but 70% of the land remains protected and, as ever in Costa Rica, it’s nature that steals the show. A starry cast of experiences include seeing the sea churn with up to 15,000 dolphins at a time (known as a “super pod”), climbing 200-year-old fig trees and swimming with gentle whale sharks. Take a time out in the Balearic-style beach club, ice-cold cocktail or homegrown coffee in hand.