Hacienda Monte Claro

Whether it’s for refreshing dips at the end of a trek or for a whole day of downtime, Angostura lake is 10 minutes’ drive away and an excellent spot for swimming, watersports and waterside walks. Once refreshed, make the 50-minute trip to the Guayabo National Monument, a hilltop site that was once the centre of a thriving civilisation. Between 3,000 and 600 years ago, a complex city of 10,000 souls lived up here, then vanished for reasons still not clear. After tours round the mysterious site, take a stroll round the farmers’ market in the nearby town or visit the colourful residents of the butterfly farm. To see more local colour, including the luminous jade coloured glass frogs, make tracks to Tapantí National Park an hour away: it’s a compact zone of cloud and rainforests, ravines, pools and waterfalls, with many hiking trails that end in a swim. Trout fishing is possible with permits, and you’re probably more likely to land a whopper than spot an elusive, cat-sized jaguarondi. Even so, the park is chock full of exotic wildlife, such as tapirs and armadillos, quetzals, ocelots… and, yes, violaceous trogons, too (they're a type of parrot, but of course you knew that...).