This trip begins on the slopes of a huge volcano at Turrialba to stay amid the coffee-producing hills. From here, you head up into the mountain cloud forests of San Gerardo de Dota and down via a Pacific marine reserve to the Osa Peninsula, a precious jumble of wild beaches, tropical islands, primary and secondary rainforest and mangroves.

Most of Costa Rica's iconic wildlife can be seen across the country. Sloths, toucans, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, capuchins, tree frogs, snakes, caiman, coati and morpho butterflies are all fairly common in lowland areas on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Hummingbirds are common at higher elevations inland. In theory, you could also see a jaguar pretty much anywhere, but you'd have to be owed an awful lot of karma for that to happen. So we're not putting that in bold...

Monkeys are everywhere, except the little squirrel monkeys that are only found on the southern half of the Pacific coast. You will have a good chance to see them when you visit the Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula.

Tapir and anteaters are even less widespread, and really, you are only likely to see them during your visit to the Corcovado National Park. Seeing a tapir is a red-letter moment, not guaranteed by any means, but it's fairly common to find them cooling off in swampy, shaded water close to the beach.

Humpback whales have two migration windows when they can be seen off the southern Pacific coast (Uvita and Osa Peninsula). The first coincides with the dry season, particularly from December through February, as the first groups come down from the coast of California. The second arrival is from the south, as pods migrate from Antarctica to give birth between July and October.

Resplendent quetzals build their nests in the cloud forests of San Gerardo de Dota between March and May. Statistically, this is the best place to see them in the country, far better than busy Monteverde. In fact, they invariably build their nests on the grounds of our preferred lodge, so you really needn't go very far. They are most active and most visible on early morning walks during this time. The males lose their magnificent tails around August until November or December. You'll also see lots of hummingbirds in higher elevations.

Scarlet macaws are restricted to the southern coast around the Osa Peninsula and Uvita-Dominical, with another stronghold at Carara National Park. You'll almost certainly see them, and hear their loud squawks and squabbles when you visit Corcovado National Park.

Sea turtles are particularly prevalent on the beaches of Tortuguero and the Nicoya Peninsula. We don't include either of those areas on this trip, but they are easily added if turtles are a priority.

Raptor migrations take place on the Caribbean coast twice a year. As millions of birds of prey migrate north in spring, and south in autumn, they are funnelled through a narrow spot between the Caribbean Sea and the mountains in one of nature's greatest spectacles. In a single season, 3.5 million raptors were counted flying over this spot! This is very much out of the scope of this itinerary, but if you are interested, then please let us know and we can discuss.

Broadly speaking, Costa Rica has a tropical climate, so it is warm and humid year-round, and every day is likely to feature some rain downpours and some sun. The weather in Costa Rica is often described and defined by the dry season (December - April) and the green season (May - November). Green season is tourist board-speak for wet season.

On the Pacific side of the country, it will typically be sunny, hot and dry from December through April, rainier in the transitional months of May and June, a drier patch in July then wetter in August to a peak in September/October. The driest months have 50mm of rain, the wettest 850mm.

On the Caribbean side, the patterns are very different. Sunshine hours are much more consistent and it's also more consistently wet. The driest month (September) has an average of 150mm of rain where the wettest months (July/December) have 400mm.

As a comparison, London averages around 80mm of rain in the wettest months and 40mm in the driest. The difference is that the rain in Costa Rica is warm. It also tends to rain heavily when it rains - no day long drizzle here. It's either raining, or it's not. The pattern tends to be that rains come later in the day, so dry mornings, wet afternoons.

Overall, we don't sweat the weather too much. It will be what it will be and rarely impacts your travels to a great extent. We advise against travel to the Pacific side in late September through to early November. Otherwise, go prepared and just enjoy whatever comes your way.

Christmas and New Year are peak season for travellers, getting quieter again in January to pick up in February and March, usually through to Easter time. After that point, things are fairly steady.

It should be said that the types of places we visit do not tend to get busy. However, the places we stay are small so it doesn't take much to fill them up.

This is somewhat dependent upon when you want to travel but for this trip, there are several key properties which make it highly vulnerable - most obviously on the Osa Peninsula so six to 12 months is normal.

Having a vehicle allows you to stay in more remote, interesting places, and to explore locally once you are there. Journey times between your overnight stays will generally be around three or four hours so comfortably fit into a morning - days are not 'lost' to navigating.

Roads in Costa Rica are a mixture of good tarmac, old tarmac with potholes and compacted dirt roads. As a rule of thumb, the further you get from the populous Central Valley, the less traffic there is and the bumpier the road. However, both main coastal roads are smooth and sleek.

Don't worry, we do not expect you to drive as you land in Costa Rica, instead we have your car delivered to you at your first hotel. Since these tend to be on the outskirts of the city, your escape into the countryside should be relatively stress-free.

Overwhelmingly so, yes. Costa Rica is famously a peaceful place, with no standing army. It is enormously unlikely that you will encounter any problems at all, if you do then it would most likely be theft from your vehicle so you should be sensible about your belongings but you need be no more concerned than you would be traveling to, say, Spain. Or Boston.

By using Google Maps or Waze on your smart phone, you can easily navigate as you would at home without using any mobile data. We provide simple step-by-step instructions, don't worry.

We include 4x4 vehicles, well maintained and from reputable rental operators. For couples these tend to be mid-sized SUVs such as a Hyundai Tuscon, automatic transmission, decent sized engine.

Absolutely, this would be a great trip for a group of friends traveling together.

As a tailormade trip, the level of exertion on this trip is determined by you but it is not conceived of as a particularly active trip.

If you want more adrenaline, we can discuss this and potentially include other activities. Bear in mind that we also provide you with detailed Vacation Guide notes so you can read our tips and advice for any given part of the country and sort out additional activities as you go.

The hotels and lodges on this vacation are small scale, very comfortable, friendly and in wonderful locations. We don't sweat star ratings, there are more important things in life.

Absolutely, yes. Because you are going off the beaten track, you will be seeing life as lived by Ticos throughout this trip.Between guides, hosts and our top tips for where to go and what to eat, you should leave Costa Rica with a proper sense of the people.

There's a general and infectious sense of joie de vivre, Pura Vida, in Costa Rica.

Too many vacations to Costa Rica focus entirely on the wildlife with a bit of beach and activity thrown in. That's totally unfair to the people who live here and give it all color - and who take such pride in their environment. It's not always obvious given the ramshackle appearance of many towns and villages but the environmental education and messaging here is remarkable and people are generally very proud of the lead their country takes in matters ecological.

But really, it's the day to day people watching that too many people miss. Lunch at a roadside 'soda' is an opportunity to see all of society eating side by side, doctors to farm labourers. Eating ceviche whilst watching the fishermen haul in their catch. Tucking into a huge plate of plantains, rice and beans as a pickup truck with a huge speaker strapped in the back goes up and down the street, blaring out the latest special offer at 'MEESTER CHICKEN!!!'

It's a fun, and funny, place.

Absolutely. We can tailor your vacation in any number of ways. If you have specific activities or wildlife events you want to see then we can rearrange the trip to include those.

The next step is to simply send an enquiry using the big green button up there, or give us a call if you prefer to chat things through. We will then send you the full proposal for the trip, including the places you stay and all the bright and beautiful photography you can handle.

Suitably seduced, we then tweak things to fit your exact dates and we are happy to go back and forth to tailor any detail so that it's just right for you. We then start to check availability with our local partners and then present a final itinerary for you to book.

We take a 20% deposit to secure your vacation and confirm all services, with the remainder due eight weeks before your departure.

Your money is 100% protected through our ATOL licence if your trip includes a flight booked through us, or through our ABTOT bond if it does not. Either way, this protection provides a cast-iron financial guarantee and helps you book with complete peace of mind. Because the contract between us exists here in the UK, you get this protection regardless of where you live.