Volcanoes, Jungles & Two Coastlines

Your first full day sets the tone immediately. You drive up through potato farms and cloud into the Irazú Volcano National Park, where a short walk to the crater reveals a lagoon of improbable green and, on a clear day, both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans visible at once. The descent takes you through the Lankester Botanical Gardens — 800 species of orchids and bromeliads — and then into the Orosi Valley, where one of the few remaining colonial churches in Costa Rica sits in a valley so green it seems almost artificially lit.

A four-hour transfer crosses the mountains to the Caribbean coast, and everything changes. The colour palette shifts from green to tropical. The music is reggae. The beach is white sand backed by rainforest. Cariblue Beach & Jungle Resort sits on five acres of pristine forest facing the sea, and the two days here are for walking the forest trails, snorkelling the reef at Cahuita National Park and doing very little with considerable enthusiasm.

Crossing back over the mountains brings you to the most dramatic landscape in Costa Rica — Arenal Volcano, a near-perfect cone rising from the jungle, still active and steaming. Days here begin early and end in hot springs. The Jungle Safari Float on the Sarapiquí River delivers two hours of pure wildlife theatre — river otters, caimans, basilisk lizards running across the water's surface, poison dart frogs in luminous colours. A sloth tour in the afternoon confirms what you've already suspected: Costa Rica's wildlife is simply on another level.

The Nicoya Peninsula is a different side of Costa Rica entirely — quieter, less visited and quietly wonderful. Sámara is a gentle crescent of beach protected by a reef, which keeps the water calm and makes it ideal for kayaking. You paddle out to Chora Island with a guide, snorkel the reef and eat fresh ceviche on the return. Three nights here is the right amount — enough to genuinely relax, not enough to exhaust what the peninsula has to offer.

The drive up to Monteverde is famous for being rough — a long, unpaved ascent into the clouds. What awaits at the top makes the journey immediately worthwhile. The cloud forest is suspended in perpetual mist, and the hanging bridges trail carries you through the canopy at treetop level. A guided walk in the Monteverde Reserve is a masterclass in biodiversity — your guide will find species you'd never locate alone, including the resplendent quetzal if the timing is right. The horseback ride in the afternoon covers the forested hillsides with views down to the Pacific.

Manuel Antonio is Costa Rica's most visited national park, and with good reason. The combination of beach and jungle here is quite unlike anywhere else — white sand fringed by dense rainforest, capuchin monkeys raiding coolers on the beach, sloths hanging motionless in the cecropia trees above the path. A guided walk in the park in the morning identifies species you'd miss alone. The afternoon is yours — to swim, to lie in the sun, or to find a quiet corner of the park before the drive back to San José and the flight home.