2 Best Sights in Tortuguero and the Caribbean Coast, Costa Rica

At the Finca la Isla Botanical Garden, you can explore a working tropical-fruit, spice, and ornamental-plant farm. Sloths abound, and you might see a few poison dart frogs. A guided tour (three-person minimum, must be reserved in advance) lasts two hours and includes admission and a glass of the farm's homemade fruit juice. Tours can be arranged in advance on days outside the Friday through Monday opening hours. You get the fruit juice if you wander around on your own, too (a $1 tour book is available in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and German). Watch the demonstration showing how cacao beans are turned into chocolate, and sample some of the product at the end of the tour.

Some 70 species of the heliconia, a relative of the banana, are among the collections that populate 5 acres of botanical gardens on this island in the Sarapiquí River. Expect to see ample bird and butterfly life, too.