La Paz Falls, the Bajos del Toro Pools and Poás Hot Springs

Pick-up is between 8 and 9 in the morning, from hotels in San José and Alajuela, and the day ends back at your hotel between 5 and 6. La Paz comes first, in the Sarapiquí mountains, where the water drops more than 120 feet into thick vegetation. The birds, the frogs and the butterflies around it are the reason to look down as well as up. Then the pools of the Celeste river near Bajos del Toro. A suspension bridge crosses to them, and the water is turquoise. Swimming is the point of the stop. The hot springs come last, heated by Poás, with lunch on the same site: rice, beans, meat and a drink. After eating there is time to get back in the water before the drive to San José. One difference from most tours here: cancellation is free up to 14 hours before the start rather than 24. After that, and for a no-show, nothing is refunded.