Irazú at 3,432 m, the 800 Species at Lankester and Orosi

Start with the length. This day runs more than eleven and a half hours from the pick-up in San José to the drop-off, and it covers a great deal of ground. Irazú is 3,432 metres (11,259 feet) and the most active volcano in Costa Rica. You go into one of its craters, where the lake at the bottom is green and changes depth. From that height, on the right day, both the Atlantic and the Pacific are visible at once. Then down into Cartago, the old capital, for a short stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, and on to the Lankester Gardens, which hold more than 800 species of orchids and other plants. Lunch is Costa Rican: rice, beans, salad, a choice of chicken, fish or pork, dessert and a drink. The afternoon is the Orosi and Ujarrás valleys, under the mountains, among coffee and sugar cane. Both valleys carry colonial history, pirate raids and natural disasters, and the Franciscan Order, which built the first Catholic churches in the country. One thing differs from most tours here: cancellation is free up to 48 hours before the start rather than 24. After that, and for a no-show, nothing is refunded.