Central Highland of San Jose

The Journey to see the Quetzal Bird

The road becomes challenging to drive as you travel up the mountain south of San Jose but it is still passable. We had a reservation at Trogon Lodge near San Germaine. There are numerous lodges, cabins and hotels to stay at in this area. This is not as commercialized as Monteverde and is a cloud forest in the area. Recently with the heavy rains portions of the road have had landslides so you need to be careful when driving. The areas of concern are well marked and some repairs had been made.



The National Parque is located on the main highway before the turn toward Trogon Lodge.


The lodge was an excellent choice. We had a quiet room up the hill with a wonderful balcony that allowed us to watch the hummingbirds feed on the bushes near our room. The central highlands are cool at night in February and the temperature did get down to 4C. There were gas heaters that the staff light in the rooms each night and we were provided with hot water bottles nightly to warn our bed. The meals were good as served buffet style, they even catered to my lactose
intolerance. We eat breakfast and dinner each day at the lodge.

Hummingbird feeding on the flowering bush.

Male Resplendent Quetzal Bird

Since we came to this area to see the Quetzal bird we were up at 5:30 am to start our adventure. First a quick coffee and then we were off in the dark.  What we ended up doing was drivings along the road back towards the main highway. Everyone stops on the road and walks around looking for the elusive bird. The morning we went there must have been between 30 and 40 people all looking for the male Quetzal to see the beautiful long tail.

We found lots to do in the area. We hiked to the waterfall on the lodge property and did all the trails. Farther down the road is a nice area to hike to another waterfall and bird watch.








When we drove out toward the main highway again we stopped at Maria's Cafe. There is a bird feeder around back that attracts a variety of colourful birds.

The biggest challenge driving into the lodge was the road going from the highway to the lodge is narrow and extremely steep in a few areas. Be sure to gear down. If you are not comfortable with the drive you can always arrange a driver.

If you continue south on the number 2 highway to Palmar Sur and get to  Drakes Bay and then continue on highway 34 to San Antonia where you can visit Manuel Antonia National Park. Give yourself enough time to visit each area before returning to San Jose and on to your next destination.