Braulio Carrillo National Park. Bromeliads and orchids cling to trees while white-faced monkeys and blue morpho butterflies climb and flutter around you. Take the Rain Forest Aerial Tram to explore the flora and fauna of the Rain Forest. This park is the easiest to get to from San Jose. It contains 6,000 tree species, 500 different birds, and 135 types of mammals.KC

Rara Avis. A private reserve on the east side of Braulio Carrillo National Park. Its 180-foot double cascade waterfall is photographed often.

La Selva Biological Station. Located at the northern tip of Braulio Carrillo National Park, La Selva is an excellent place to see animals. The trails are less difficult than at Rara Avis.

Heredia Museum of Popular Culture. 6 miles north of San Jos‚. This museum in the city of Heredia is furnished with antiques, and is surrounded by a small garden and coffee fields. An open-air restaurant serves authentic Costa Rican cuisine for lunch, and features marimba music and folk dancing on the weekends.

Café Britt. Located on the northwest side of the city of Heredia, this coffee plantation welcomes visitors. They offer a tour of the coffee farm and processing plant, along with a coffee-tasting session. http://coffeetour.com

Cahuita National Park. This rainforest on the Caribbean Coast has two miles of white sandy beach and Costa Rica's largest coral reef (1 square mile). You can tour the park by foot, horseback, or motorbike. Take a glass-bottom boat tour of the reef, or do some snorkeling to see the colorful coral and tropical fish.

Tortuguero National Park. There are no roads to Tortuguero. It's a 30 minute flight from the San Jose, or a 2-hour boat ride after a beautiful bus ride. Tortuguero means "turtle region", and this area on the northeastern shore of the country is one of the world's prime spots for viewing sea turtles and their nesting. At various times of the year, thousands of green, hawksbill, loggerhead, and giant leatherback turtles come to the beaches here and deposit their eggs.