Birding zone 1 of 5 · The spine of the country · Arrive San José (SJO)
The cloud forest and the high oak forest down the spine of the country, from the Talamanca ridge to the volcanoes above the Central Valley. Cool mornings, moss on everything, and the bird most of our clients open the conversation with: the Resplendent Quetzal lives here, and San Gerardo de Dota is where we send people who have crossed an ocean to see one.
Coming for the quetzal? Our Resplendent Quetzal page says where we take people to see one, with the lodges and the trips.
We put this zone first on a birding trip for two reasons. The quetzal is the first thing most birders ask us for. And it is an easy first stop: the Savegre valley is about 2½ hours from the San José airport.
Three nights gives you two full dawns in the same forest, which is what the quetzal needs. The guides in the valley work the wild avocado trees the birds feed on and know this season's fruiting trees, and the lodge feeders do the hummingbirds for you while you drink your coffee.
The map
Each number is one of the places worth the mornings below; the small dots are the 13 lodges we use here.
Three more places in the Highlands have their own page: the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve and the Curi-Cancha Reserve.
Every place we send birders, in all five zones, is on one map: Costa Rica birding hotspots.
Fiery-throated HummingbirdPanterpe insignisHighland feeders at San Gerardo de Dota, where this one guards the sugar water. All year.
Volcano HummingbirdSelasphorus flammulaOne of Costa Rica's two smallest birds, found on the high volcanoes and peaks.
Black GuanChamaepetes unicolorA quiet, turkey-sized black guan with a blue face, of highland cloud forest.
Northern Emerald-ToucanetAulacorhynchus prasinusThe oaks above San Gerardo de Dota and Los Quetzales. All year.
Swallow-tailed KiteElanoides forficatusBlack and white raptor with a forked tail, gliding over the ridges.
Timberline WrenThryorchilus browniA tiny, tail-wagging páramo wren of Costa Rica's highest bamboo and treeline.
Long-tailed Silky-flycatcherPtiliogonys caudatusThe oaks of San Gerardo de Dota and the ridge above it, catching insects in mid-air. All year.
Collared RedstartMyioborus torquatusA trusting highland warbler with a yellow face and a flashing white tail.The Resplendent Quetzal first, the biggest trogon on the list, the male with tail streamers that can be longer than the rest of the bird. With a guide, all year, best in the nesting season. In the same mornings Fiery-throated Hummingbird and Volcano Hummingbird at the feeders, Black Guan in the oaks, Northern Emerald-Toucanet (your field guide may still call it Emerald Toucanet), and Swallow-tailed Kite over the ridge.
Higher up, the birds of the ridge: Timberline Wren in the bamboo, Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher, Collared Redstart, Flame-throated Warbler, Sulphur-winged Parakeet in noisy flocks, and the Wrenthrush, a bird so odd that the official list gives it a family of its own. Every one of those carries the list's regional endemic flag: birds of Costa Rica and the mountains just over the border, and nowhere else.
At the feeders the Violet Sabrewing, the biggest hummingbird you will see here, a deep violet male that owns the feeder it chooses. Of the 52 hummingbirds on the official list, 19 are regional endemics, and the Highlands are where you meet most of them.
Each place below has its own page: the birds to look for, getting there, when to go and the lodges we use nearby.
The Savegre valley at about 2,200 metres, where we send birders for the Resplendent Quetzal: the birds, the lodges in the valley and how to get there.
See the placeThe oak forest on the ridge above San Gerardo de Dota: 12,355 acres of park, the quetzal with a guide, the six lodges at its edge and the trips nearby.
See the placeThe highest road in Costa Rica, over the ridge above the quetzal valley: the birds of the ridge at km 70, two family lodges on top and how to get there.
See the placeTapantí, the wet side of the Talamanca above Cartago: oropendolas and tanagers at the balconies of the lodge beside the park, the quetzal, the drive.
See the placeThe slopes of Poás above the Central Valley, where two of our birding trips spend their first nights: cloud forest birds, the quetzal with luck, the lodge.
See the placeThe Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, founded in 1972: the bellbird and the quetzal with a guide, the lodge whose trails walk into it, and our trips there.
See the placeSanta Elena, the quieter reserve at Monteverde, run by the public high school board since 1992: a guided quetzal morning, the lodge we use and the trips.
See the placeCuri-Cancha, the private farm beside the Monteverde reserve where our birding mornings climb from pasture into primary forest: the birds, lodge and trips.
See the placeThirteen of our lodges are in this zone: six in and above the San Gerardo de Dota valley for the quetzal, three in Monteverde, and one each at Poás, Bajos del Toro, Cachí and in Heredia. Each card says why birders stay there.
Photo: Dantica Cloud Forest Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota
Cozy Bungalows with Fireplaces and Stunning Cloud Forest Views
★★★
Bungalows with fireplaces on a hillside above San Gerardo de Dota, close to Los Quetzales National Park, with trails through the lodge's own forest. Eleven of our birding reviews name it, one for "a hillside surrounded by serene forests and lots of birds".
Photo: Hotel Bougainvillea
Heredia
Surrounded by Lush Gardens, the Hotel Bougainvillea is a Hidden Jewel in the city!
★★★
A family hotel in ten acres of botanical garden at Santo Domingo de Heredia, where 53 bird species have been logged, hummingbirds, tanagers and Blue-crowned Motmot among them. A garden rather than a reserve, so it suits a first or last night.
Photo: Hotel Quelitales
Cachí
Take advantage of nature without affecting it - the next stop on your perfect Birding vacation to Costa Rica!
★★★
Gardens beside Tapantí National Park, in Cachí above Cartago, where oropendolas, euphonias and tanagers come to the suite balconies, and the Doña Ana waterfall on the property's own trail.
Photo: Hotel Suria
San Gerardo de Dota
Welcome to the San Gerardo de Dota Cloud Forest!
★★★
Twenty rooms on 10 acres of farm, creek and forest in the San Gerardo de Dota valley, owned and run by Hilda Araya and her family. The simplest of our highland lodges, and the valley's birds are the same ones.
Photo: Mirador de Quetzales
San Gerardo de Dota
Located in Cerro de la Muerte
★★★★
On land the family has farmed since 1948 on Cerro de la Muerte, run as a lodge for over 25 years, and the name says what you are there for: a quetzal lookout. It is cold at this altitude, so pack a jacket.
Photo: Monteverde Lodge & Gardens
Monteverde
A place perched in the mountains with infinite things to do for nature lovers and discerning travelers!
★★★
A cloud forest lodge with gardens at Santa Elena that sends guests to three reserves: the Cloud Forest Reserve, whose page names 400 bird species, Curi Cancha, with open ground for spotting birds and a limit of 40 visitors, and Santa Elena. Guided hikes and a night walk.
Photo: Paraíso Quetzal Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota
A family-run birding lodge in the cloud forest at km 70 of the Inter-American Highway South
★★★
At 2,600 metres on Cerro Buena Vista, km 70 of the highway south, with an 80-hectare reserve, five trails, four waterfalls and a hummingbird garden where a quetzal sometimes turns up. The Serrano Salazar family has run it since 2005.
Photo: Poas Volcano Lodge
Poás
An Intimate Mountain Lodge with Breath-taking Views of the Poas Volcano
★★★★
Eleven rooms of stone and wood on the edge of the cloud forest, beside a working dairy farm, with a walk-in fireplace in the living room for the cold evenings. La Paz Waterfall Gardens is within driving distance, and four of our recent birding itineraries stay here.
Photo: Savegre Lodge Natural Reserve & Spa
San Gerardo de Dota
A Cozy Mountain Retreat in the Cloudforest Offering Fantastic Nature Tours and Birdwatching
★★★
A 400-hectare private cloud forest reserve at 2,200 metres, with over 170 bird species recorded on it and the quetzal among them. Heated rooms and a spa with a sauna, which matters at that altitude.
Photo: Senda Monteverde Hotel
Monteverde
Visit the Senda Monteverde Hotel and experience nature like never before!
★★★
A boutique hotel at Monteverde with naturalist guides on staff, where the Three-wattled Bellbird and the Resplendent Quetzal are named on the lodge's own pages.
Photo: Trapp Family Lodge
Monteverde
An Intimate, Welcoming Chalet in the Heart of Monteverde
★★★
The closest hotel to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, with trails from the property that lead straight into it, so the reserve is a walk and not a drive. Six of our 45 recent birding itineraries sleep here, level with Arenal Observatory for the most.
Photo: Trogon Lodge
San Gerardo de Dota
Enjoy the Cozy Cabins at this Charming Family Lodge in the Cloud Forest
★★★
Wooden cabins on a family farm about 2½ hours from San José, with a clear river running through the property and the quetzal walks starting from the gate at first light. The lodge our birding reviews name more than any other, 29 times.
Photo: Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel + Retreat
Bajos del Toro
Experience the Cloud Forest
★★★
A cloud forest hotel at Bajos del Toro that presents itself as a birding destination, with more than 400 species named on its pages and the El Silencio de los Ángeles cloud forest reserve beside it.
Keep going: add more birds, lodges or tours, then turn your Wishlist into a trip.
