• Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveCool mist, a layer in the bag, and the gate at opening. If quetzals are around, they show early. By midmorning there is a line. Trails get muddy.
  • Santa Elena Cloud Forest ReserveThe high school reserve is cloud forest too, often with a shorter line. Be there at opening and stay on the trail. Bring a layer. The air is cool.
  • Selvatura hanging bridgesBridges in the canopy. Fog is normal, and morning is when the birds are out. This is not the reserve trail. If the walkways are wet, slow down.
  • Sky AdventureCables and a tram, a different day from the quiet reserve. Weather can pause it. The first turn waits less. You are not on a forest path.
  • Butterfly gardenUnder netting, about an hour, butterflies up close. It does not replace the forest walk. Do it when the reserve is full, or for an easy hour.
  • Night walkOnly with a guide, after dark: frogs, insects, and cool air. Do not go alone, and do not shine a bright light in an animal's face. Wear a layer.
  • Hummingbird galleryBy the reserve gate, feeders make a short stop even if you skip the trail. Morning has more birds. A few minutes is enough if you want.
  • Curi-Cancha ReserveA private reserve, with trails and birds, often quieter than the main gate. Go in the morning and stay on the path. Green months mean mud.
  • Coffee and chocolate toursA farm visit and a tasting, a couple of hours, in the settled part of the hills. Not the canopy and not a hike. You walk, you taste, you are done.
  • Zip linesCables, not the reserve path. A layer still helps up here, and morning slots move faster. Weather decides. If they stop the run, that is the day.

The landscape is cloud forest, continental divide, and mountains. You are likely to see resplendent quetzals, three-wattled bellbirds, hummingbirds, howler monkeys and glass frogs. The plants around them are cloud forest of oak, ferns, orchids, bromeliads and moss.

Around Monteverde, quetzals are a morning on the reserve trails, and not every morning. Hummingbirds are at the feeders through the day. Go in when the gate opens.

The Tropical Science Center's cloud-forest reserve, the Santa Elena high-school reserve, and the Children's Eternal Rainforest.

In Monteverde, stay on the trail and do not feed what you came to see. That is the rule that keeps this place the way it is.

The climate is cloud forest. It is cool and misty, about 15–22°C. Rain and fog persist year-round, driest from February to April. Monteverde sits at 1,440 m (4,720 ft).

If the view is gone when you arrive, wait. Cloud here comes and goes. The countrywide calendar is in the best time to visit Costa Rica.

You can come through Daniel Oduber in Liberia or Juan Santamaría in Alajuela. The last stretch is a mountain and lake road, slower than it looks on a map.

The drive is simple until the last kilometers. Arrive in daylight if you do not know the road. Buses, shuttles, and rental cars are compared in getting around Costa Rica.