![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/CsuOrsd.png)
With more than a quarter of its land protected by national parks and reserves, it is home to an astonishing array of wildlife, including humpback whales, sea turtles and four species of monkey, all in an area around two-thirds the size of Scotland.
And you don't have to sacrifice luxury to go green, with increasingly stylish, eco-conscious hotels opening up.
STILL-SMOKING VOLCANOES
Arenal's perfect cone rises out of the rainforest and into the clouds, looming over the town of La Fortuna, which in the last 50 years has gone from sleepy agricultural town to tourist hub
![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/RMbh6uF.png)
The country's most active volcano hasn't erupted since 1968 but, until six years ago, it regularly let off atmospheric plumes of smoke and red-hot lava. You can hike up the national park's numerous trails, down to La Fortuna's impressive waterfall or spend the morning exploring the Arenal Hanging Bridges with a guide for a close-up look at the jungle.
Afterwards, ease tired muscles in one bof the area's natural hot springs – you can get a day pass to Tabacón (tabacon.com) with its swim-up bar, and the gorgeous villas at Nayara Springs (nayarasprings.com) have plunge pools fed by mineral water.
In the Central Valley to the south, the Poás Volcano sits in one of the country's most visited national parks and you can peer into its enormous craters – one belching sulphurous mud, another filled with a jade-green lagoon – without a strenuous uphill hike.
WILD NATURE
Sitting high on the country's mountainous spine and reached by a bone-jangling unpaved road, Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is one of the country's biggest natural attractions. It is the meeting point of the Continental Divide, where moist air from the Caribbean meets dry air from the Pacific, creating a wildlife hotspot and birder's paradise, home to around 30 species of iridescent hummingbirds and the elusive quetzal.
In Costa Rica's isolated south western corner, the Osa Peninsula is made up of rainforest, rivers and mangroves all ringed by unspoiled beaches, where you are more likely to hear the chatter of monkeys than fellow travellers.
Corcovado National Park has an enormous variety of flora and fauna and the Golfo Dulce is a great place for whale and dolphin spotting from a boat or kayak.
![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/c1knfnz.png)
OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
Not content with chilling on boundless beaches? Costa Rica has no shortage of adrenaline-inducing adventures for thrill seekers.
It's home to the original canopy tour and there's plenty of zip lines that give you a monkey's eye view of the forest, sending you speeding – and squealing – over the jungle. Off the Pacific coast, the protected Cocos Island is considered one of the world's top dive sites, surrounded by pristine reefs that teem with life, including enormous but docile whale sharks.
The Pacuare River, which runs 65 miles from the Talamanca Mountains to the Caribbean, is a renowned white water rafting spot, perfect for all levels. You can even raft into the rainforest hideaway Pacuare Lodge (pacuarelodge.com).
![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/r8rWy3c.png)
Back on dry land, take a three-day round-trip hike up the country's highest peak, Cerro Chirripó, where, if you get to the summit before the fog falls, you can see both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea at the same time. Turf and surf Diminutive Manuel Antonio is the country's smallest and one of its most popular national parks, with almost guaranteed wildlife spotting – slumbering sloths, lounging lizards, curious white-faced capuchin and scampering squirrel monkeys – and lined with picture-perfect beaches and gentle rollers, ideal for novice surfers.
Or you can head to the surf schools of surfing hotspot Tamarindo in Guanacaste on the north Pacific coast – Kelly's Surf Shop (kellyssurfshop.com) offers lessons to suit all abilities.
Surfers-in-the-know take the road less paved to the southernmost tip of the idyllic Nicoya Peninsula and the beautiful beaches and breaks around Santa Teresa, popular with A-listers from Mel Gibson to Giselle.
![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/TkwTQaI.png)
PARTY IN THE CARIBBEAN
The country's less visited Caribbean coast has a distinctly different feel to the Pacific. The provincial capital Limón is where dense rainforest meets white-sand beaches on one side and the Talamanca mountain range on the other.
To the north, the watery Tortuguero National Park is a sanctuary for nesting hawksbill and green sea turtles – the peak season is July and August – and around 300 species of bird, and you can tour its canals, lagoons and wetlands by motorboat and canoe. And to the south, the lovely laid-back beach town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca has an Afro-Caribbean vibe where you can laze on palm-fringed white sand by day and feast on just-caught lobster and dance to reggae beats after dark.
COFFEE CULTURE
Discover Costa Rica's often-overlooked culture and cuisine in Heredia at the heart of the country. Casado – beans, meat, fried plantains, avocado and cabbage salad – may be the most common dish but here the markets are filled with exotic fruits such as guanabana, granadilla and guava. And there are cheese makers, vanilla and cacao farms, and traditional trapiches, the sugar mills.
The country produces first-rate coffee and at Finca Rosa Blanca (fincarosablanca.com) you can take a bean-to-cup tour of the organic coffee farm to learn about the process of picking, drying and roasting the beans before a cupping session. Or visit the greenhouse and its organic produce with Finca's chef, before he shows you how to rustle up a seven-course tasting menu, perhaps Costa Rican-style ceviche with coconut milk or tasty tamarind and coffee chicken.
![Costa Rica](http://i.imgur.com/CsuOrsd.png)
CITY BREAK
At first glance, San José may not be the most attractive of capitals but it is home to some of the region's top museums: discover the country's often overlooked pre-Colombian history at dazzling Museo de Oro Precolombino y Numismática, the world's largest collection of American jade at the Museo del Jade and Central America's largest and most important collection of modern art at the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo.
Historic neighbourhoods are being gentrified and mansions are filling up with trendy bars and restaurants. There's a burgeoning craft beer scene and top-notch coffee for the morning after. Try Kalú and Al Mercat in Barrio Escalante.
And if you're keen to go green, Hotel Grano de Oro (hotelgranodeoro.com), set in a 20th-century mansion, has an impressive Five Leaves sustainability rating.
Getting there: The Ultimate Travel Company (020 3051 8098/ theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk) offers a 12-day, tailor-made Costa Rica: Cloud Forest & Coast tour from £3,450pp (two sharing), B&B.
Price includes return flights from London Gatwick to San José and private transfers. Costa Rica tourism: visitcostarica.com
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