Manuel Antonio is where rainforest runs straight down onto white-sand coves. It is Costa Rica's smallest national park and its most visited, and the reason is that collision: within roughly 20 square kilometres you get jungle, cliff, reef and beach touching each other. The density of animals is the other reason. Around 109 mammal species and 184 bird species live in that small area, and three of Costa Rica's four monkeys move through the canopy. Sloths hang motionless overhead, white-faced capuchins work the paths for dropped fruit, iguanas doze in the leaf litter and toucans clatter through the high branches. The park's landmark is Punta Catedral, a forested headland tied to the shore by a slender neck of sand. It was set aside in 1972, on a strip of coast just south of Quepos.
On the trails, the wildlife tends to find you first. At dawn the guttural roar of howler monkeys carries through the trees long before you glimpse a single animal. Shaded paths open onto quiet coves and clifftop lookouts over the whole curving coastline. The Sendero Punta Catedral circles the old island headland, and from the top the forest drops away to open Pacific horizon. Playa Manuel Antonio, tucked into the crook of that headland, has the calmest water in the park, bath-warm and shallow enough to wade straight into. Popularity now comes with limits: the park closes every Tuesday and admits only a fixed number of timed-ticket visitors, booked in advance. It also shuts by late afternoon, so the sunset happens from the beaches just outside. The monkeys have learned what a rucksack is, and food left unattended does not stay unattended.