Costa Rica
Los Bajos del Toro
A river hurls itself into an extinct volcanic crater; six turquoise falls hide nearby.
The crater announces itself by sound alone. Steps descend its wall until Catarata del Toro stands revealed — a river dropping clean off the cloud forest into an old crater's floor, walls dripping green on every side. Mist rolls through the valley most mornings, and hummingbirds own the garden at the top.
Los Bajos del Toro is a waterfall valley folded between volcanoes on the Central Valley's northern rim. Catarata del Toro is its centrepiece — no swimming here, just the spectacle of a river vanishing into a crater — while the neighbouring Blue Falls trail strings together six falls in improbable shades of turquoise and celestial blue, several with pools you can swim in. The private reserves around the village have logged upward of 200 bird species, endemics among them, and the cloud forest cycles through mist and clearing like weather that cannot make up its mind. Highland dairy country surrounds it all — fresh cheese and natilla on every table.
Solo
Waterfall trails and concentrated birdlife fill contemplative days that need no guide — the mist does the thinking with you.
Couple
Cloud-forest lodges with private decks, few neighbours and birdsong from every direction — a valley that feels designed for two.
Friends
Descending into a volcanic crater to face a waterfall becomes a story, and the six blue falls carry the afternoon.
- Catarata del Toro plunges to the floor of an old volcanic crater — viewed, never swum.
- The Blue Falls trail links six waterfalls in shades from teal to celestial, several with swimmable pools.
- Upward of 200 bird species are on the valley's reserve lists, endemics included.
- A hummingbird garden at the waterfall entrance puts the birds within arm's reach.
Highland dairy in everything — fresh cheese and natilla spread thick on warm tortillas.
Valley-lodge trout with garden vegetables, eaten to the sound of rain on leaves.
Drakensberg
South Africa
Basalt walls rise above sandstone caves painted across thousands of years.
Parque Nacional Volcán Isluga
Chile
Volcanic horizons and high wetlands surround living Aymara settlements in the altiplano.
Sani Pass
South Africa
A switchback road climbs from green foothills to a high border above the clouds.
Livingstone Mountains
Tanzania
A green wall drops 1,500 metres from cold summits into a warm clear lake.
Arenal & La Fortuna
Costa Rica
Hot springs steaming through jungle beneath a volcano's perfect cone at dusk.
Manuel Antonio
Costa Rica
Capuchins patrol the sand beneath dozing sloths where rainforest walks into the ocean.
Tortuguero
Costa Rica
Jungle canals where green sea turtles haul onto black volcanic sand under a moonless sky.
Corcovado National Park
Costa Rica
National Geographic called it the most biologically intense place on Earth. They undersold it.