-La Amistad Biosphere Reserve: It is the largest misty forest in Central America and the largest protected area in the country. It has 199 thousand 147 hectares shared with Costa Rica and Panama and it is located northwest of Valle Central, on the mountains of Talamanca, in the Central Volcanic Cordillera.
The Reserve has been hardly explored in spite that it contains half of Costa Rica's flora and fauna species and the largest biodiversity in the country due to its difficult accessibility.
Besides, 8 of the country's 12 wild life zones are present within La Amistad, such as the bleak plateau, the upper mixed forest, the evergreen forest and the very misty forest.
130 orchid species and 10 thousand different tropical plant species registered inhabit this enormous and prodigal extension, along with 263 amphibious species and 400 birds'. There are also the jaguars (Pantera onca), pumas (Puma concolor), hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura), anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and salamanders (Salamandra salamandra), just to cite part of its fauna.

It was created as a National Park and declared Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1982. A year later it would be granted the title of Natural Patrimony of Humanity due to its exceptional value from the scientific and conservationist viewpoint, and for its natural beautifulness.
There are several indigenous reserves around La Amistad, such as the Chirripó, Tayní, Telire, Talamanca, Ujarrás, Salitre and Cabagra. There are interpretation trails, camping areas, restrooms and potable water within the Park.

-Barbilla National Park: It is an ample zone of misty tropical forest that houses an extensive variety of flora and fauna species, many of the them endangered such as the jaguar (Pantera onca), the puma (Puma concolor), the manigordo or ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), the danta or tapir (Tapirus terrestres), and the large tinamou on the limit of the Provinces of Cartago and Limon; besides rare species such as the tolomuco or tayra (Eira barbara), the giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) and the sun's heron (Harpyhaliactus solitarius).
Barbilla is part of La Amistad Biosphere Reserve and it was created as a Biological Reserve in 1982, a condition that remained until 1988 when it was declared National Park. It has an extension of roughly 12 thousand hectares.
The Park limits with the Chirripó Indigenous Reserve, inhabited by the ethnic group of the Cabécar people, the second largest ethnical group in the country. They have their own language and a very long history though currently their participation on Costa Rica's politics is rather marginal for they are isolated from the rest of the territory.
The access route is through the highway bound for Limon and the main entrance is three kilometres away from the City of Siquirres. From here you take the road to the hamlet of Las Brisas de Pacuarito, administrative seat of the protected area. You have to go along ascending trails with no signs whatsoever.
The Park has no infrastructure and no services to attend visitors. The most interesting sites are the Dantas River, the Ayil Lagoon and the Tigre Hill.