Manuel Antonio National Park

Just south of Quepos on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica are a series of wide, white-sand beaches backed by dense, tropical forest, mangrove swamps, and lagoons that serve as the home for hundreds of species of animals such as sloths, iguanas, and rare squirrel monkeys. Offshore is no less diverse, making the park popular with scuba divers, snorkelers, and deep-sea fishermen. Cathedral Point, a former island now connected to the mainland by a thin strip of land, separates the park’s two most visited beaches, Playa Espadilla Sur and Playa Manuel Antonio, and has views of the coastline.