Monteverde & Santa Elena
With picture windows overlooking the mountainside, this Santa Elena mainstay evokes the atmosphere of a ski lodge. But there are DJs, karaoke and pool tables plus sports on the screens. This is the one consistent place in the area to let loose, so there’s usually a good, rowdy mix of Ticos and tourists.
The food, such as the chifrijo (rice and pinto beans with fried pork and capped with fresh tomato salsa and corn chips), is surprisingly good.
Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
11.54 MILES
From 1968 until 2010, Volcán Arenal was an ever-active and awe-striking natural wonder, producing menacing ash columns, massive explosions and streams of…
9.68 MILES
If you're travelling between Monteverde and Arenal, there's no good excuse for skipping this stop. Viento Fresco is a series of five cascades, including…
17.11 MILES
Two kilometers northeast of Venado (Spanish for ‘deer’) along a good dirt road, these caves are an adventurous excursion into an eight-chamber limestone…
2.13 MILES
The exquisitely misty 310-hectare Reserva Santa Elena offers a completely different cloud forest experience from Monteverde. Cutting through the veiled…
Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde
2.46 MILES
This beautiful cloud forest reserve came into being in 1972, when the Quaker community (which had already set aside a third of its property for…
19.55 MILES
It’s an animal rescue center. It’s a volunteer project. It’s Spanish classes. This community-based organization is doing a lot of good, and you can…
22.39 MILES
This wild-animal shelter was started in the 1960s by the late Lilly Hagnauer, a Swiss environmentalist. It’s one of the largest shelters of its kind in…
12.91 MILES
A fabulous mountain for hiking if you've got your own wheels and a keen sense of adventure. It's best to scale this at sunrise or sunset, and to avoid it…
0.04 MILES
A local landmark in the center of Santa Elena. The adjacent roasted-chicken shack apparently has no religious affiliation.
0.12 MILES
This sweet-smelling garden in Santa Elena has shady trails winding past more than 500 types of orchids. On your guided tour, you’ll see such rarities as…
0.17 MILES
Returning to its former glory as the Ranario, or Frog Pond (it's changed names a few times), this place also features an insect house. The frogs are still…
0.18 MILES
For those who prefer their reptiles under glass (or at least behind it), a guide will show you around and introduce you to more than 50 species of…
0.42 MILES
There's no sign, no website, and last we checked, nobody was collecting any money for this delightful roadside attraction. It's simply a hollowed-out fig…
0.62 MILES
Head here for everything you ever wanted to know about butterflies. There are four gardens representing different habitats; they're home to more than 40…
1.03 MILES
The Bat Jungle in Monteverde is a small but informative exhibit, with good bilingual educational displays and a habitat housing almost 100 free-flying…
1.56 MILES
This simple meeting house in Monteverde is the ‘church’ of the American Society of Friends, or the Quakers, who first settled this area and committed to…