4 Best Sights in Malpais and Santa Teresa, Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula

Conquistadores named this area Cabo Blanco on account of its white earth and cliffs, but it was a more benevolent pair of foreigners—Swede Nicolas Wessberg and his Danish wife, Karen Mogensen, arriving here in the 1950s—who made it a preserve. Appalled by the first clear-cut in the Cabo Blanco area in 1960, the pioneering couple launched an international appeal to save the forest. In time their efforts led not only to the creation of the 12-square-km (4½-square-mile) reserve but also to the founding of Costa Rica's national park service, the National Conservation Areas System (SINAC). Wessberg was murdered on the Osa Peninsula in 1975 while researching the area's potential as a national park. A reserve just outside Montezuma was named in his honor. A reserve has also been created to honor his wife, who dedicated her life to conservation after her husband's death.

Informative natural-history captions dot the trails in the Cabo Blanco forest. Look for the sapodilla trees, which produce a white latex used to make gum; you can often see V-shape scars where the trees have been cut to allow the latex to run into containers placed at the base. Wessberg cataloged a full array of animals here: porcupine, hog-nosed skunk, spotted skunk, gray fox, anteater, cougar, and jaguar. Resident birds include brown pelicans, white-throated magpies, toucans, cattle egrets, green herons, parrots, and blue-crowned motmots. A fairly strenuous 10-km (6-mile) round-trip hike, which takes about two hours in each direction, follows a trail from the reserve entrance to Playa Cabo Blanco. The beach is magnificent, with hundreds of pelicans flying in formation and paddling in the calm waters offshore—you can wade right in and join them. Off the tip of the cape is the 7,511-square-foot Isla Cabo Blanco, with pelicans, frigate birds, brown boobies, and an abandoned lighthouse. As a strict reserve, Cabo Blanco is open only five days a week. It has restrooms, picnic tables at the entrance, and a visitor center with information panels on park history and biological diversity, but no other tourist facilities, and overnight camping is not permitted. Most visitors come with their own guide. This is one of the hottest parks in the country, so be sure to bring lots of water with you.

An official sign at the entrance warns people with cardiovascular problems NOT to walk the strenuous trail to Cabo Blanco beach.

This Blue Flag beach, sometimes referred to as El Carmen, is just a stone's throw from the commercial development along the beach road, so it tends to attract more people. There's a parking lot and palm trees for shade. The waves offer excellent surfing for all levels, with dozens of beach breaks scattered along the wide, sandy strand. The sea grows rough and dirty during the May to December rainy season, with frequent swells that sometimes make it impossible to get out on a surfboard. Swimmers need to be careful of rip currents. Lifeguards are on duty year-round on weekends, from 9 am to sunset; more days during holiday periods. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: surfing.

Playa Carmen seamlessly segues into Playa Santa Teresa, about 1 km (½ mile) to the north. This flat, sandy Blue Flag beach is edged by forest and punctuated with rocky sections and tide pools at low tide. It's usually a calmer option for surfers, but swimmers need to take care, especially since there are no lifeguards here. The farther north you go, the less crowded the beach is. Beachfront hotels include Trópico Latino, Latitude 10, Florblanca, and Pranamar; Rancho Itauna provides food and entertainment facing the beach. Amenities: none. Best for: surfing; walking.