We were a little unsure about visiting was is apparently " the most visited National Park in Costa Rica". However we had a fabulous time in the park, seeing a lot of wildlife and avoiding most of the crowds.

We booked tickets in advance through the official website and arrived early at about 8am. We also chose not to have a guide. You are not allowed to take food or single-use plastic into the park. If you want to eat you need to go and sit in a cafe in a giant cage and buy expensive and not very good food.

We had a good walk on most of the trails around the park (some were closed). You do get a good sense of jungle and wild habitat on some of the more remote paths. We also had a nice long chill and a snorkel on a beautiful but quiet beach called Playas las Gemelas, where there was some coral and many fish. This was away from the crowds on the beaches on the peninsula where the monkeys are very bold and can take bags looking for food.

We managed to see a fair bit of wildlife too: deer, sloths, Coati Iguanas on the beach etc.

I think this place is well worth a visit and if you want to avoid the crowds, you can do this by going early ( or probably later in the day) and going to the less obvious places.

I think the Park service does a brilliant job, balancing the number of tourists with the need to keep a reduced impact on the park.