DESTINATIONS SAN JOSE LATIN AMERICA 15.00: La Sabana Park Where next? 16.00: Museum of Costa Rican Art


TORTUGUERO This green national park is worth visiting for the journey alone – most lodgings are reached via a network of forest- hemmed canals the colour of chocolate milk. Once there, you can row kayaks down the narrower inlets, scouring for howler monkeys, or take a twilight tour to see nesting turtles (between March and


October). Stay at Mawamba Lodge, whose grounds offer wildlife-spotting opportunities from nesting hummingbirds to three-toed sloths. From £200 per person, per night. mawamba.com


Cultura, a popular public square that sits atop one of the city’s most intriguing museums. Built in a subterranean inverted pyramid, the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum (£7) has a collection of gold artefacts, pre- Columbian figurines and exhibits on Costa Rica’s indigenous people. museosdelbancocentral.org


12.30: Head to the upscale Rohrmoser district, three miles west of downtown, for lunch at Furca. One of the first restaurants in the city to offer modern farm-to-table food, this chic spot is a favourite for business lunches or lazy weekend grazing. Dishes such as confit cherry tomatoes with pancetta and house-matured cheese start from about £10. Ask for a quick tour of the kitchen garden, just beyond the back terrace. The air is fragrant with herbs, including basil and chocolate mint. furca.cr


15.00: Turn right onto Boulevard de Rohrmoser and walk five minutes to La Sabana Park, the city’s largest green space. Pass the striking curves of the National Stadium and follow paths lined with native trees, planted


as part of an effort to attract more birdlife. The centrepiece is a large lake with pedal boats for rent.


16.00: The Museum of Costa Rican Art (free entry) is tucked on the park’s eastern edge. The building was an international airport terminal until 1955 and contains works by Costa Rican and Latin American artists, with a garden of striking sculptures. musarco.go.cr


20.00: Dine at one of the city’s best restaurants, Silvestre, with a daily- changing tasting menu or à la carte mains from about £10. In a restored olive-and-white mansion in Barrio Amon, the chef-owned spot serves refined and playful takes on ‘grandma’s cooking’, including a deconstructed pork ‘tamale’ and teeny versions of classic desserts in masquerade dolls. restaurantesilvestre.com


22.30: Turn left out of the restaurant and walk one block to El Sótano, tucked in the basement of an old mansion house. Young, local crowds cram into the small bar for live jazz and blues. facebook.com/sotanocr


74 travelweekly.co.uk 7 February 2019


MONTEVERDE This mist-shrouded cloud forest, around three hours’ drive northwest of San José, is haome to jaguars, several species of monkey, and native birds including the resplendent quetzal. It also has its share of extreme thrills like crossing vertiginous hanging bridges and ziplining over tree canopies at Sky Adventure. El Establo


Mountain Hotel, with doubles from about £100, has huge rooms in chalet-style buildings, with views over the forest. elestablo.com


GUANACASTE Towards the west coast and a three-hour drive from San José, Río Perdido feels like the middle of nowhere. That’s a good thing, because this lodge is the kind you don’t really want to leave. Three pools are fed by springs warmed to different temperatures, and for a wilder soak, guests can head down to a hot-spring river with a series of


swimming holes. Each bungalow, from £250 per night, has a private, tree-shaded terrace with hammocks. rioperdido.com


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