Costa Rica Guide
The Valle Central and the highlands
Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve
Some 40km by road northwest of Alajuela, LOS ANGELES CLOUD FOREST RESERVE (8am–5pm) is a less crowded alternative to the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Climbing from 700m to nearly 1400m, Los Angeles' twenty square kilometres contains a number of habitats and microclimates, including dark, impenetrable cloud forest, often shrouded in light misty cloud and resounding with the calls of monkeys.
There's no official puesto in the reserve, and entrance fees ($12 self-guided; $24 with guide) must be paid at the Villablanca Cloud Forest Hotel and Spa reception which can also provide details on bird-watching tours, night tours (both $24), horseback rides ($32) and zip-line canopy adventures ($42) in the reserve. From here, two rather short, easy trails provide a good introduction to the reserve, following along wooden boardwalks covered with non-slip corduroy. A third, much longer trail (8km), for which a guide is obligatory, takes you to the junction of the rivers Balsa and Espino. This trail follows paths that are not fitted with corduroy (and therefore quite slippery) through changes in elevation and correspondingly different vegetations.
The hotel grounds also contain a small chapel called La Mariana, built by the reserve's former owner, ex-president Rodrigo Carazo, to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. The building, plain on the outside, has a unique, colourful ceiling covered with 840 hand-painted tiles depicting traditional and religious ceremonies throughout Latin America.
Los Angeles lies roughly 40km northwest of Alajuela by road, and is best reached via San Ramón. From San Ramón it's about 20km north; take a right fork opposite the hospital towards La Fortuna and follow the road until you reach the hamlet of Los Angeles Norte, from where the Villablanca and reserve are well signed. If you don't have your own transport, a taxi from San Ramón to the reserve costs approximately $15. You can stay in the reserve at the 
Villablanca Cloud Forest Hotel and Spa ( 
461-0300, 
www.villablanca-costarica.com ; Price: $151 and above), which has 34 exquisite en-suite casitas, plus a fine-dining restaurant and spa. Guests have free access to the reserve and the hotel also organizes tours to San Ramón, Arenal Volcano, La Paz Waterfalls and more.