Costa Rica Highlights

Depart for the Arenal Volcano region. You'll leave your lodge and board a boat through the canals to the pier, then continue by road to the pickup point between Tortuguero National Park and San José. After being collected, drive towards Arenal Volcano and your hotel located on the outskirts of La Fortuna.

Visit La Fortuna Waterfall, located near Arenal Volcano National Park in an area rich with vegetation. This beautiful waterfall has its source in La Fortuna River, and you have the opportunity to take a gently undulating hike into the forest to get to the 70-metre-high waterfall. At the base of the waterfall, there's a 'natural pool', where you can swim in fresh water and admire the surrounding rainforest before returning to your hotel.

On your third day in the Arenal area, enjoy a walk along the old lava beds in Arenal Volcano National Park. You're given some history of the volcano and have a chance to see abundant wildlife along the trail and in the surrounding tropical forest. At the end of the tour, head back to La Fortuna, where you have access to the local hot springs. Bathe in the thermal waters before dinner with the rumbling of the volcano in the distance.

Cross Lake Arenal – one of the most scenic ways to get to Monteverde and the cloud forest region. After a combination of road and boat, you arrive in Monteverde later today. Check into your hotel before you're taken on an evening excursion into the forest. Then arrive for your night walk as the forest awakens and nocturnal creatures emerge. Your guide helps you spot a variety of insects, reptiles, birds and mammals that inhabit the forest at night. Some of the highlights include snakes, spiders (especially tarantulas), sleeping blue-crowned mot-mots, tiny tree frogs, coatimundis, agoutis, a sleeping sloth, a wide-eyed kinkajou, an armadillo and the highly endangered olingo.

Visit the Selvatura Walkways and obtain a bird's eye view of the jungle as you traverse the canopy via a network of suspended bridges. The reserve is mainly a primary cloud forest, shrouded in mist for most of the year, and home to more than 400 bird species, including one of Costa Rica's birding highlights – the resplendent quetzal. In addition to the walkways, you can visit the butterfly garden and the sloth sanctuary to see one of Costa Rica's most iconic mammals and learn about the destruction of their habitat and their rehabilitation in the wild.

Head down from the coolness of the cloud forest to the steamier Pacific Coast. You have three nights at your chosen hotel near Manuel Antonio National Park. Spend your days exploring the park, relaxing on the beach or by the pool.

Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most popular in the country thanks to its wide variety of flora and fauna specimens. It's home to three of the four existing monkey species in Costa Rica and boasts three trails, ranging from flat to very steep. Accompanied by a knowledgeable nature guide, explore a three-kilometre trail that loops through the park, with plenty of opportunities to spot sloths, birds and reptiles, as well as unusual orchids, butterflies and tropical trees.

On your third day in the Manuel Antonio area, you have time to relax and explore the beautiful beaches. As one of Costa Rica's most protected areas, the 683 hectares of mangrove swamps and beaches are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. Within the park, there's also good hiking for viewing a host of wildlife. Aside from the park, other options include sea kayaking, mountain biking, canopy tours, scuba diving and deep-sea fishing.

You're driven approximately three hours back to San José, where you're taken to the airport in time for your flights back to the UK. Flights back to the UK travel overnight, arriving the next day.