(some descriptions courtesy of Moon Handbooks)

Arenal Volcano and Hot Springs

Driving Time: About 2 hours

Visit Arenal Volcano National Park and Tabacon Hot Springs

The 12,016-hectare Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal (8 a.m.–4 p.m., $6 admission) lies within the 204,000-hectare Arenal Conservation Area, a polyglot assemblage protecting 16 reserves in the region between the Guanacaste and Tilarán mountain ranges, and including Lake Arenal. The park has two volcanoes: Chato, whose collapsed crater contains an emerald lagoon surrounded by forest, and the perfectly conical Arenal.

The volcano (1,633 meters) is a picture-perfect cone. It’s also Costa Rica’s most active volcano and a must-see on any tourist’s itinerary. Note, however, that it is most often covered in clouds and getting to see an eruption is a matter of luck (the dawn hours are best, before the clouds roll in; seasonally, you stand a reasonable chance in dry season, and less than favorable odds in rainy season). Arenal was sacred to pre-Columbian tribes (it is easy to imagine sacrifices tossed into the inferno), but it slumbered peacefully throughout the colonial era. On 29 July 1968, it was awakened from its long sleep by a fateful earthquake. The massive explosion that resulted wiped out the villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo, whose entire populations perished. The blast was felt as far away as Boulder, Colorado.

It is regarded as one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Its lava flows and eruptions have been constant, and on virtually any day you can see smoking cinder blocks tumbling down the steep slope from the horseshoe-shaped crater that opens to the west—or at night, watch a fiery cascade of lava spewing from the 140-meter-deep crater. Some days the volcano blows several times in an hour, spewing house-size rocks, sulfur dioxide and chloride gases, and red-hot lava. The volcano’s active vent is on the western side, and the normal easterly wind blows most of the effluvia westward. Explosions and eruptions, however, occur on all sides.

The turnoff to the entrance is 3.5 km east of Lake Arenal dam and 2.5 km west of Tabacón. The dirt access road leads 1.5 km to the ranger station (no tel.), which sells a small guide ($1) and has restrooms. A dirt road leads north from here 1.5 km to a parking lot and hiking trails.

The park headquarters (tel. 506/461-8499) is about 800 meters further west. A long-touted interpretive center was no closer to having materialized at last visit. Meanwhile, the Arenal Observatory Lodge has a small but interesting Museum of Vulcanicity.

For further information, contact the Arenal Conservation Headquarters (tel. 695-5180)

From San Ramon and follow signs for Arenal Volcano. You will pass Tabacon as you head towards the park—it has springs and spa services, but is very touristy.

Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall Gardens

Driving Time: About 1 ½ hours

See the crater and a unique forest habitat; visit a private waterfall and butterfly gardens

Poas: Few volcanoes allow you to drive all the way to the rim. Poás does—well, at least to within 300 meters, where a short stroll puts you at the very edge of one of the world’s largest active craters (1.5 km wide). The viewing terrace gives a bird’s-eye view not only 320 meters down into the hellish bowels of the volcano, with its greenish sulfuric pool, but also down over the northern lowlands.

Poás (2,708 meters) is a restless giant with a 40-year active cycle. It erupted moderately in the early 1950s and has been intermittently active ever since. The park is frequently closed to visitors because of sulfur gas emissions. Over the millennia it has vented its anger through three craters. Two now slumber under a blanket of vegetation; one even cradles a lake. But the main crater bubbles persistently with active fumaroles and a simmering lake. The sulfuric pool frequently changes hues and emits a geyser up to 200 meters into the steam-laden air. The water level of the lake has gone down about 15 meters during the past decade, one of several indications of a possible impending eruption. In the 1950s a small eruption pushed up a new cone on the crater floor; the cone is now 220 feet high and still puffing.

Oft as not it is foggy up here and mist floats like an apparition through the dwarf cloud forest draped with bromeliads and mosses. Clouds usually form midmorning. Plan an early-morning arrival to enhance your chances of a cloud-free visit. Temperatures vary widely. On a sunny day it can be 21°C (70°F). On a cloudy day, it is normally bitterly cold and windy at the crater rim. Dress accordingly.

La Paz: This splendid and popular nature and wildlife park (tel. 482-2720, www.waterfallgardens.com, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, $21 admission adults, $10 students and children), at Montaña Azul, about four km north of Vara Blanca, features the largest butterfly garden in the world, enclosed in a soaring hangar-size cage within which butterflies flutter freely. There’s also a hummingbird garden, a rainforest wildlife exhibit, and orchid houses, all accessed by well-laid concrete trails that lead along the river to four waterfalls; educational posters line the trails. Standing on the viewing platform at the Templo Fall, you’re pummeled by spray blasted from the base of the fall, a testament to its awesome hydraulic power. Continuing downriver, you get to a metal staircase that clings to the cliffside and takes you to the Magía Blanca (the largest cascade), Encantada, and La Paz falls. It’s a daunting climb back. A short distance further downhill, at a tight hairpin bend in the road, is La Catarata la Paz—the “Peace Waterfall”—a pencil-thin fall that attracts Ticos en masse on weekends (watch for pedestrians in the road). The restaurant here has a veranda with marvelous views over the valley and forest. Birding tours are led by Dr. Aaron Sekerak, author of A Travel & Suite Guide to Birds of Costa Rica. Last admission is 4 p.m.

Go to the Inter-American Highway and go towards San Jose. Exit at Grecia and follow signs for Poas

Tarcoles Area & Carara National Park

Driving Time: About 2 hours

Go to Tarcoles Bridge to see the Crocodiles and continue on the Carara to see pristine Tropical Dry Forest and Scarlet Macaws

Tacoles: Twenty-five km south of Orotina, Hwy. 34 crosses the Río Tárcoles. The bridge over the river is the easiest place in the country for spotting crocodiles, which bask on the mudbanks below the bridge: (don’t lean over too far). Several tourists have been victims of armed robberies near the bridge. There is now a police post here, but caution is still required.

Crocodiles gather in even greater numbers at the rivermouth, five km west, where the fishing village of Tárcoles is deriving new income offering croc-spotting trips. The estuary is also fantastic for bird-watching: more than 400 species have been identified here. Gulls, terns, and herons congregate on the sandbars. Frigate birds wheel overhead, while cormorants and kingfishers fish in the lagoons. Roseate spoonbills add a splash of color. And scarlet macaws fly overhead on their way to and from roosts in the mangrove swamps that extend 15 km northward.

The turnoff for Tárcoles is signed five km south of the bridge; the dirt road leads north about two km to a Y-fork where you should go right for the river and safari departure point, and left for the beach and Tarcol Lodge.

At the turnoff for Tárcoles from Hwy. 34, a dirt road leads east and climbs steeply to the hamlet of Bijagual. About two km above the road is the Villa Lapas Sky Walk a canopy tour with bridges and ziplines and fantastic views down over the coast. You must buy tickets at the Villa Lapas Hotel.

Continuing uphill, about five km from Hwy. 34 you pass the Catarata Manantial de Agua Viva (tel./fax 506/661-8263, 8 a.m.–3 p.m., $10 admission), where a three-km trail drops steeply to this spectacular 183-meter-high waterfall. There are miradors and benches for wildlife viewing. Best time is rainy season, when the falls are going full tilt. They don’t cascade in one great plume but rather tumble down the rockface to natural pools good for swimming. There are scarlet macaw nesting sites, and poison-arrow frogs hop along the paths. The trail is a stiff 45-minute hike. Camping is permitted. A bus from Orotina to Bijagual (departs 11 a.m.; returns from Bijagual at 5:30 a.m.) will drop you at the front gate. You can buy snacks and drinks.

Another two km brings you to Pura Vida Botanical Garden (tel. 200-5040, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.). Manicured gravel trails offer dramatic views over mountain ridges toward the Manantial de Agua Viva waterfall and the coast. A self-guided tour ($15) takes about one hour. It has a delightful restaurant and a gift store.

Carara: Rainforest exploration doesn’t come any easier than at Carara, 20 km south of Orotina and beginning immediately south of the Tárcoles bridge. Carara (the Huetar name for crocodile) is unique in that it lies at the apex of the Amazonian and Mesoamerican ecosystems—a climatological zone of transition from the dry of the Pacific north to the very humid southern coast—and is a meeting place for species from both. The 5,242-hectare park borders the Pan-American Highway, so you can literally step from your car and enter the last significant stand of primary forest of its kind on the Pacific coast.

Carara was once part of the huge Finca La Coyola, one of the biggest haciendas in Costa Rica. The Cervantes family protected the area for generations before the land passed to the National Parks Service. The land was expropriated in 1977 as part of an agrarian resettlement program for landless campesinos; in April 1979, 4,700 hectares were pared off to form a biological reserve, which was elevated to national park status in 2000.

Carara protects evergreen forest of great complexity and density. The diversity of trees is one of the highest in the world. The 10 rarest hardwoods in the country are here, as are some of the rarest and most spectacular animals of tropical America: American crocodiles, great anteaters, ocelots, spider monkeys, and poison-arrow frogs. Carara is also one of the best bird-watching localities in all Costa Rica. Fiery-billed aracari and toucan are common. Boat-billed herons, with their curious keel-shaped beaks, are common along the watercourses. And around dawn and dusk, scarlet macaws—there are at least 40 breeding pairs—can be seen in flight as they migrate daily between the wet forest interior and the coastal mangrove swamps. The bridge over the Río Tárcoles is a good place to spot them as they fly over. Carara also has numerous pre-Columbian archaeological sites dating back at least 2,000 years.

The Visitors Center (Centro de Visitantes, tel. 506/200-5023, 8 a.m.–4 p.m. low season, 7 a.m.–5 p.m. high season, $8 admission) and park headquarters (tel. 506/383-9953, raviles@ns.minae.go.cr) sit beside the coastal highway, three km south of the Río Tárcoles, and has exhibitions, an auditorium, and bathrooms. You’ll find picnic tables here, plus Las Araceas Nature Trail, a one-km loop; and a handicapped-accessible trail that links to the Quebrada Bonita trail. The 4.5-km Laguna Meandrica Trail begins beside the highway and follows an old road paralleling the Río Tárcoles; the entrance gate, however, is usually locked.

Go to the Inter-American Highway and go towards San Jose. Exit at Palmares and follow the signs for Atenas, then for Orotina/Jaco, and then for Tarcoles/Jaco. Stop at the bridge and then Carara Park office.

Adventure Park: Los Angeles Cloud Forest

Driving Time: About 45 minutes

Cloud Forest preserve with guided hikes and canopy tour

This 800-hectare reserve provides the same experience as Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve without the crowds or the quetzals. The reserve is part of the Villablanca finca, a cattle ranch owned by former president Rodrigo Carazón. It begins at 700 meters’ elevation and tops out at 1,800 meters (when the clouds clear you can see Volcán Arenal). The hills are covered with thick cloud forest, with the calls of howler monkeys emanating from its shrouded interior. Bird species include bellbirds, trogons, and aricaris. Laureles trees have been planted to lure quetzals. Three species of monkeys abound, and other mammals such as ocelots, jaguars, and jaguarundis are present.

Two short trails (1.5 and two km) have wooden walkways with nonslip surfaces. A third, hard-hiking trail (plan on six to nine hours) descends past the waterfalls and natural swimming pools of the Ríos Balsa and Espino. Rain ponchos, flashlights, and umbrellas are provided. A canopy tour is offered using a 300-meter-long cable slung between seven treetop platforms ($38.50 per person).

No bags are allowed on the trail, as fanatical horticulturists have been stealing orchids. Guided hikes cost $20–24 pp depending on season ($12–15 self-guided). Horseback rides cost $12 per hour.

Go to San Ramon and follow the signs for Los Angeles, Villa Blanca, and Arenal Volcano, exit at the road for Villa Blanca

Zoo Ave

Driving Time—about 1 hour towards San Jose

This splendid zoo (tel. 506/433-8989 www.zooave.org, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.), at Dulce Nombre, on Hwy. 3, about 3.5 km east of the Pan-American Highway, is a must see. It covers 59 hectares of landscaped grounds and is a wildlife rescue center for injured and confiscated wildlife. The fantastic bird collection (the largest in Central America) includes dozens of toucans, cranes, curassows, and parrots, and a veritable Pantone chart of more than 100 other Costa Rican bird species. Zoo Ave is one of only two zoos in the world to display resplendent quetzals. Macaws fly free. You’ll also see crocodile, deer, turtles, ostrich, tapirs, peccaries, pumas, and all four species of indigenous monkeys in large enclosures. Noah would be proud: most creatures are in pairs or groups.

Take the La Garita exit off the Inter-American Highway heading towards San Jose, before Alajuela. About 1 hour easy driving.