With a quarter of its territory protected as national parks and reserves, and nearly 6 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, you’ll find remarkable nature and wildlife just about everywhere you turn in Costa Rica. The challenge is choosing where best to spend your time. Here are 5 parks in Costa Rica that we think are unmissable.  

If ever there was a place that epitomised the phrase, ‘good things come in small packages’, Costa Rica must be it.

The Central American country is around the same size as Ireland, and just like its Celtic counterpart, Costa Rica punches well above its weight when it comes to natural beauty and attractions.

Picture lush rainforests, steamy jungles, misty cloud forests, thundering waterfalls, stunning beaches, soaring volcanoes, and a wildlife roll call of Attenborough proportions.

Costa Rica’s government gave up its army in 1946 in favour of diverting funds into protection of the environment, along with education and healthcare. The country went on to become a pioneer of ecotourism.

The country has also been ranked by the United Nations as one of the happiest in the world. Their unofficial national motto, pura vida (pure life), says it all, really.

There are national parks and reserves right across the country, and you could spend a lifetime exploring them. But if, like us, you’ve got just two weeks to play with, then here’s our low-down on 5 of the best parks in Costa Rica.

Manuel Antonio National Park

It might be Costa Rica’s most visited reserve, but Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast turned out to be a highlight for us and well worth the visit.

Which was a surprise. Given the crowds, we thought we’d hate it.

What we found was that most visitors were in such a rush to get to the park’s legendary beaches that we had much of the wildlife viewing to ourselves.

Not even a howler monkey hanging out on a branch right over the main trail was enough to slow the beachgoers. Our guide simply set up a scope in the middle of the path and we settled in to watch the lazy simian holler at the trees.

In all fairness to the beachgoers, the four white-sand playas at Manuel Antonio are truly spectacular. They also seem to have the power of a tardis, somehow absorbing swathes of people without feeling overcrowded.

Those beaches, with their inviting turquoise water, are even better appreciated after a guided walk through the lowland tropical rainforest that backs them.

We booked a tour through our hostel, and joined a small group of others to explore Manuel Antonio with a naturalist guide.

Rudi, a surfer and certified tour guide from San José, had the eyes of an eagle. Over the next couple of hours, he found us howler and capuchin monkeys, lazy sloths, busy raccoons, iguanas, bats, and a host of birds, bugs and spiders.

In addition to his talent for spotting forest creatures, Rudi’s vast understanding of the jungle and its inhabitants was a highlight of the walk. As was his high-powered telescopic lens for close-ups of birds, and some other beasties we preferred to see from a distance.

At just 20 square kilometres, Manuel Antonio is the smallest of the national parks in Costa Rica, and it’s easily explored on foot. The longest trail is a little over 2 kilometres.

Then, when the heat finally takes its toll, and it will, you can head to the beach and wade into that beautiful azure water to cool down.

Just watch out for the innocent-looking capuchin monkeys and raccoons: Manuel Antonio’s cheeky ‘beach cartel’ is known to patrol the sands waiting for snatch and grab opportunities around unattended bags.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

Set in the mountains of north-eastern Costa Rica, the misty Monteverde Cloud Forest is a far cry from the hot tropical lowland forest of Manuel Antonio.

The weather may be unpredictable, but you can guarantee one thing: clouds.

Following a long day of travel from the Pacific coast, we arrived in the town of Monteverde to howling winds and a thick cloud cover. It wasn’t above us though. At Monteverde, you’re in the clouds.

There’s a reason National Geographic has declared Monteverde to be cloud forest royalty. It’s one of Costa Rica’s most exquisite landscapes, a mystical, almost preternatural place.

Pristine virgin rainforest rolls across the mountain, shrouded in mist. Vivid greens are interrupted by bright flares of red, yellow and purple flowers. Bird calls resonate through the canopy.

Incredibly, 2.5 per cent of the world’s entire biodiversity can be found within the 14,000 hectares of this verdant forest.

Monteverde is a private reserve and the number of people allowed in the park at any one time is capped, so get here early.

Despite being Costa Rica’s second most popular destination for visitors, the people limit means that once you set off on the park’s trails, it isn’t long before you leave the rest of the world behind.

We lost ourselves for hours here, wandering through the dense, lush forest and soaking up the intense quiet and solitude.

We hiked up to Mirador La Ventana for spectacular views across the continental divide, and lingered on the trails, waiting for glimpses of the forest’s diverse and beautiful wildlife.

Like the elusive resplendent quetzal, one of Monteverde’s most illustrious bird species.

We were on the lookout for quetzals during our entire visit. Just as we were headed for the exit, we caught a flash of jade and red in the canopy – a magnificent male quetzal. While partially hidden by the foliage, it was a huge thrill to finally see one of these rare birds, and a spectacular way to wind up our time in this magical park.

If you can only choose one park to visit, make it this one. Monteverde is hands down one of the best parks in Costa Rica, if not the best.

Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park

You won’t be lacking for things to do when you hit Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano National Park region.

The dramatic forested landscape around La Fortuna, just 2-and-a-half hours north of San José, is catnip for the adventure seeker, and you’ll find about a thousand ways to drop your money on the great outdoors.

For our part, having spent a good deal of time traversing the forest floor by this point in our visit, we were keen to get a bird’s eye view of the rainforest on one of the region’s canopy walks.

Cue dozens of options, with choices ranging from number of bridges, bridge height, bridge length, and whether you also wanted to zip line, Tarzan swing or rappel your way through the jungle. Or package it with a visit to a natural hot spring.

In the end, we went with a local’s advice and kept it simple, opting for Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park, a private reserve on the edge of the national park, with spectacular views towards the active Arenal volcano.

We had our reservations at first. The name of the place has a touch of the theme park about it. Once beyond the schmicko entryway though, and the slightly cheesy archway framing the Arenal volcano in the distance, we soon found ourselves in another world.

We got the money shot anyway.

Mistico is a compact park with excellent infrastructure, including a well-marked, well-maintained walking trail, and – the main reason for our visit – a series of awesome hanging bridges: six high bridges in the canopy, and a further ten smaller fixed bridges.

The wildlife spotting is excellent. You’ll see and hear a great variety of bird and insect life and, if you’re lucky, howler monkeys, sloths and snakes might make an appearance.

Keep your eyes peeled for the local residents.

The highlights for us in this park ranged from watching marching leaf cutter ants toting shards of foliage three times their own size; to following a brightly-coloured pair of keel billed toucans as they croaked their way through the treetops.