Fringed by emerald mountains, Laguna de Arenal is a svelte platinum gem of entrancing beauty, enticing camera-toting visitors seeking pleasure in its picture-postcard appeal and proving the adage that a fine jewel is made complete by its setting.

Costa Rica’s largest inland body of water occupies a depression that forms a gap between the Cordillera de Guanacaste and Cordillera de Tilaran. The lake, covering 124 sq km, lies to the east of the continental divide at an elevation of 548 metres above sea level. It is topped by mountains shimmering every shade of green in the clear light. To the north, primary tropical wet forest clambers up the steep slopes, dark and foreboding and raucous with the screeching of monkeys and birds.