Costa Rica Rainforest and Cloud Forest: Tortuguero, Arenal and Monteverde, 7 Nights

A driver meets you at Juan Santamaria airport and takes you by private car to your hotel near the capital. Make it an early night: tomorrow starts before breakfast is over in most places. Pack a small bag for Tortuguero, because luggage space on the boats is limited, and include insect repellent, a light rain jacket and shoes that can get wet. Ask your San Jose hotel about storing the rest.

An early start east through the cloud-wrapped mountains of Braulio Carrillo and down into banana country. At the river dock of Cano Blanco you board a boat for the final stretch along the canals to Tortuguero, a village with no road access between the jungle and the Caribbean. The afternoon is free to walk the village and learn about the turtle conservation work that made this coast famous.

The best wildlife hours are early, so the canal tour usually starts soon after dawn. The boat drifts through side channels while the guide spots sloths, howler and spider monkeys, caimans, kingfishers and toucans. Later, a guided walk on forest trails, in rubber boots when it is muddy. Night walks are not allowed inside the national park, but lodges can arrange one on a nearby private reserve to look for tree frogs. Rain is common here in most months.

After breakfast the boat takes you back along the canals to the dock, and a van continues across the northern lowlands to La Fortuna, below Arenal volcano. It is a long travel day, with a lunch stop on the way at your own cost. Arrive in the afternoon, and if you still have energy, head to one of the hot springs resorts nearby for a warm soak.

A naturalist guide leads you through rainforest and over the lava fields left by decades of eruption, with the cone of Arenal above when the cloud allows. Next, La Fortuna waterfall, a single high fall into a jungle pool, reached down a long flight of steps; swim at the bottom if you like. The tour usually stops for a casado lunch, and the day ends at a hot springs resort.

The most scenic way to reach Monteverde: a van to the shore of Lake Arenal, a boat across the water with the volcano behind you, then a climbing road up to the cloud forest. Monteverde is cooler and often misty, so bring a fleece. In the evening you can join a guided night walk, which we can book for you as an extra, to look for tarantulas, sloths and sleeping birds.

The morning guided walk in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve follows trails under trees heavy with moss, orchids and bromeliads. The resplendent quetzal lives here and is most often seen in the early months of the year, though sightings are never certain. Then a hanging bridges walk, crossing suspension bridges at canopy height. The afternoon is free for Santa Elena village, a coffee farm or a hummingbird garden.

After breakfast a private transfer drives you down from the mountains and along the highway to Juan Santamaria airport, timed from your flight. Allow a good margin: the road from Monteverde is winding at first, and traffic near San Jose can be heavy. An afternoon or evening flight makes this day comfortable.