Stay in San José for a cheaper look at Costa Rica

Most visitors visit San José only fleetingly, using the city as a jumping off point to the tourism centres of Arenal, La Fortuna, Monteverde and the Golden Coast. Yet travellers with less time to spend — or funds to spare — can turn a city stopover into a nature adventure. If you know where to go, you can find the nation’s famed tropical forests and sloths, Blue Morpho butterflies, rare orchids and birds, beaches and hot springs, Indigenous food, volcano views and estate coffee tours all within city limits or an easy day trip.

Here’s an itinerary to transform your city break into a sampler of all the natural wonder Costa Rica has to offer.

Seeing Wildlife

Start at the Lankester Jardin Botanico, a stunning bioreserve in the lush Orosi Valley. There are 30,000 species of orchids — the largest and most diverse plant family on earth. The garden cultivates many native orchids, plus 18,000 other species. Some delicate flowers are locked in glass display cases like glittering jewels; other rare blooms smell of honey, chocolate and blood. The 11-hectare grounds — landscaped with palm forests, bromeliad fields and ginger  — are just wild enough to get lost in, and you should.