Sports & Recreation

Avellana Waterfall & Trails includes a 2-hour guided hike through the forests and a visit to a beautiful forest waterfall, with several refreshing pools perfect for swimming.

Horseback riding is available, camping is allowed, and meals are served by the friendly owners of the land, the local Gamba family.

Taxi's are familar and can take you to Avellana. However, your best bet for visiting this site is to go as part of an organized trip with Land Sea Tours.

The waters off Golfito also offer some of the best sportfishing in Costa Rica. If you'd like to try hooking into a possible world-record marlin or sailfish, contact Banana Bay Marina the operator has a full-service marina, a few waterside rooms for guests, and a fleet of sportfishing boats and captains.

You can also try The Zancudo Lodge which is based in nearby Playa Zancudo. The lodge can arrange pickup in Golfito, There's no steady charter fleet here, but itinerant sailors often set up shop here for a season or so.

About 30 minutes by boat out of Golfito, you'll find Casa Orquídeas, a private botanical garden lovingly built and maintained by Ron and Trudy MacAllister. During the tour, you'll sample a load of fresh fruits picked right off the trees.

If you have a serious interest in botanical gardens or bird-watching, consider an excursion to Wilson Botanical Gardens at the Las Cruces Biological Station located just outside the town of San Vito, about 65km (40 miles) to the northeast.

The gardens are owned and maintained by the Organization for Tropical Studies and include more than 7,000 species of tropical plants from around the world. Among the plants grown here are many endangered species, which make the gardens of interest to botanical researchers.

Despite the scientific aspects of the gardens, there are so many beautiful and unusual flowers amid the manicured grounds that even a neophyte can't help but be astounded. All this luscious flora has attracted at least 330 species of birds.

To get here from Golfito, drive out to the Interamerican Highway and continue south toward Panama. In Ciudad Neily, turn north.