We get nicely off the beautiful, but sometimes too-trod path on this 10-day Costa Rican idyll. Touching down at Liberia, in the country’s far northwest, we make a short drive to the ultra-pleasant Hotel Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa. The next day we do a little hiking on Rincón de la Vieja volcano, then visit one of the national parks — either Palo Verde or Santa Rosa — both windows into rare and wonderfully lush biosystems. We continue to Sarapiqui for a visit to La Selva Biological Station, one of the research centers of the Organization of Tropical Studies, dedicated to studying and sustaining Costa Rica’s precious environment.

Now to San José and south to the postcardy beaches and rain forests of the Pacific Coast at Quepos and our beachfront hotel, the Arenas del Mar, a fine base from which to venture into the nearby Manuel Antonio National Park, so alluring that the number of visitors is carefully controlled. We’ll make a sunset catamaran sail out of Arenas del Mar and kayak in the mangrove waterways of Damas Island before heading inland to the Xandari Plantation, whose 16 individually designed villas overlook the burstingly green Central Valley.

Day 1: fly to Liberia, drive to Borinquen • Day 2: hiking at Rincón de la Vieja volcano • Day 3: visit Palo Verde or Santa Rosa National Park • Day 4: fly to San José, drive to Sarapiqui, overnight at Sueño Azul • Day 5: La Selva Biological Station • Day 6: to San José, stopping at La Paz Waterfall Gardens, fly to Quepos, overnight at Arenas del Mar • Day: 7: Manuel Antonio National Park, sunset catamaran sail • Day 8: kayaking at Damas Island • Day 9: waterfall canopy tour, overnight at Xandari Plantation • Day 10: back to San José and flights home.

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