Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

Manuel Antonio National Park, on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, encompasses rugged rainforest, white-sand beaches and coral reefs. It’s renowned for its vast diversity of tropical plants and wildlife, from three-toed sloths and endangered white-faced capuchin monkeys to hundreds of bird species. The park’s roughly 680 hectares are crossed with hiking trails, which meander from the coast up into the mountains.

San José, Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, sits in the Central Valley region with the Talamanca Mountains to the south and volcanoes to the north. The city is distinguished by its Spanish colonial architecture, such as the ornate neoclassical National Theatre of Costa Rica, at downtown’s Plaza de la Cultura. Underneath the plaza, the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum displays hundreds of gleaming artifacts.