The traffic in all three lanes of the main highway was stationary as we sat in our rented car, travelling from San José – Costa Rica's capital – to Monteverde. It was November, the last month of the rainy season, but it was still hot.

To reach Monteverde from the south-east, you travel on Highway 1 for about two hours, passing the port town of Puntarenas, the one place in Costa Rica we had visited before. At the Estacion de Servicio Full Sardinal gas station you turn right onto Route 606. From there it's a 38-kilometre drive to Monteverde that takes roughly one hour. Route 606 is paved but is often heavily potholed in the wet season.

Finally, we arrived mid-afternoon. The verdant surrounds of Monteverde came as a huge relief after negotiating the treacherously potholed road leading to this marvel of nature.

Santa Elena

Travellers tend to use the name Monteverde loosely to refer to everywhere in the district, but the town centre is actually called Santa Elena, with Monteverde being the broader region containing the famous cloud forest.

Regardless of where you stay in Monteverde, you will almost certainly spend some time in Santa Elena, where there are numerous restaurants, souvenir shops, grocery stores, at least a couple of supermarkets, a bank and the town's own hotels. It sounds substantial but it's quite small. 

The three main roads in downtown Santa Elena form a triangular loop from where you can set off to the north for various parks and reserves, south to head back to San José and the international airport, and south-east to various hotels and lodges, more shops and tourist attractions and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.

It was in this last area that we stayed at Los Pinos Cabins and Gardens, spacious lodge-type accommodations set in the cloud forest. It was very peaceful here and the extensive deck a good place to sit with a drink at sunset.

Plentiful wildlife and stunning views

It wasn't long before we were visited by a local resident – a coati. The White-Nosed Coati, or coatimundi to give it its full name, is found throughout Costa Rica and other parts of Central America. In Costa Rica it is also known as a pizote.  

Coatis walked along our deck most days and once we saw about 30 of them running across the path of a neighbouring cabin, too fast for photography, unfortunately. These were most likely females, which are known to gather in packs, unlike males which are solitary.

We also saw an agouti (a medium-sized rodent) and some colourful birds. The cloud forest teems with animal, bird and plant life and Monteverde is said to contain 50 per cent of Costa Rica's biodiversity. Several species of wild cat are found in Costa Rica and the puma has been spotted in Monteverde.

Wildlife (costarica.com)

We took a walk in the biological reserve, where bridges snake through otherwise impenetrable parts of the forest. A cloud forest is simply a tropical forest where the clouds intersect the mountain ranges. In Monteverde the reserve is situated on the Tilarán mountain range at an average elevation of 5000 feet and straddles the continental divide, attracting winds from both the Pacific and Atlantic/Caribbean sides of the country. In November the trade winds arrive, bringing with them vast clouds of mist, which linger until mid to late January.

We took a ride on the Sky Tram that glides high above the cloud forest. At the top there's an observation platform from where, on a clear day, you can see over the surrounding forests to the Arenal Volcano in one direction and the Gulf of Nicoya in the other. You also have the option of riding the zipline, if you prefer to hang out in the open rather than be enclosed in a cable car.

Dining and shopping 

In Santa Elena we dined at the fabulous Tree House restaurant, which has a huge fig tree growing through the building. It's a top-quality restaurant with very fast service and live entertainment.

There is a surprisingly large choice of shopping on offer in Monteverde. This includes the usual arts and crafts, embroidered clothing, T-shirts, souvenirs and the like, but also Boruca weavings, locally grown coffee, jewellery and paintings. While shopping we noticed that Costa Ricans are very skilled at making things out of old tyres. 

 There is also a cheese factory, art galleries and a number of cooperatives selling a range of locally produced goods. These are spread between Santa Elena, the area near our accommodation where there is also a grocery store, and up towards the cloud forest reserve.

The week in Monteverde passed all too quickly and it was soon time to head back to San José. On our last night we stayed at Hotel Mango at Alajuela City, near the airport. This is a nondescript building when viewed from the street and with rooms that are beyond basic, but it has the most delightful courtyard, pool and small restaurant, which can be seen on the left in the picture below. 

In the morning it was just a five-minute drive by shuttle to Juan Santamaria International Airport.

Useful links

​Monteverde Costa Rica - info / maps / Hotels / Tours (monteverdeinfo.com)