Poás Volcano - La Paz Waterfall Garden (day trip)

Nearby the Juán Santamaría International Airport just after passing Alajuela we start to climb the slopes of the famous Costa Rican Highland Coffee. With a short stop in a Finca you learn many details about the cultivation of coffee. Afterwards we arrive into the national park volcano Poás. From  the 8’445 feet high crater edge we admire the second largest volcano crater of the world. A pleasant walk leads us through luxuriant vegetation to the even higher lake Botos.  Back to the entrance we can visit the Museo Sismologico, the seismic museum.

Our journey goes to far to Varablanca at the western end of the Braulio Carillo national park to the Peace Waterfall. A private nature park with a beautiful butterfly house, a huge tent with birds like toucans, an orchid garden, a hummingbird station, a snake house and a house with all this tiny colourful frogs. An impressive jungle path follows the narrow gorge of river La Paz passing numerous waterfalls so closely you even feel taking a shower.

Depending upon weather and time of day is one drive on as  "route around the Poás volcano" possible to an idyllic lagoon,     as well as to the highest waterfall of the country, or the return  trip over the village Sarchí, admits for its beautiful hand made pieces of tropical woods.

Irazú Volcano - Cartago - Lankester Botanical garden (day trip)

Over the southern highway ring we pass the capital San José and just before entering Cartago we turn left and rise continuously higher and higher. The view goes over the most diverse vegetable cultures, down into to the valley with Cartago and meets on the horizon the mountain range whith Cerro de la Muerte leading into the south of Costa Rica - a really fantastic view.

Now we are at the crater edge of the Irazú volcano on a level of 11’260 feet and with perfect weather condition we even could see both, the Pacific and Atlantic coast. After a small refreshment in a Cafeteria we take the road to the earlier capital Cartago. The cathedral La Basilika de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles is the center of the famous Pilgrim’s walk hold every year in august. Thousands of thousands pilgrim’s walk even more than 100 miles to celebrate…

Depending upon time of day or your desires, we visit the Botanical Garden Lankaster or Cachí, an artificial lake. A further, very scenic and recommendable journey leads along the slopes of the Irazú and the Turrialba (another volcano) to the city of the same name Turrialba, surrounded by fruitful field and green mountain pastures.

San José (day or half day trip)

Even if the Costa Rican Capital does not shine with many outstanding objects of interest, nevertheless some goals are be worth. San José is the economical center of the country with an everyday and typical Latin American traffic chaos. The Avenida Dos and above all the Avenida Central with its lively pedestrian precinct is a must. Enjoy the easy-going  tendency of the Latinos in the Mercado Central, a covered market hall from the nineteenth century - and their displays of vegetables, fruits, meat, spices, household articles...

It continues to go to the perhaps most beautiful building of the city, the Teatro Nacional - a original-faithful and reduced copy of the Paris Opera.

The place directly beside it saves a further high point in the basement - the gold museum, or Museo de Oro. A very impressive collection of pre-colombian cult articles from gold. Further important museums are the Jade Museum as well as the National Museum, which demonstrate a good overview of the culture and the history of Costa Rica.