Santa Fe is surrounded by mountains that tempt hikers and birders to seek out trails through the montane wet forest and cloud forests of this 725-square-kilometre of national park, created in 2001 to protect a vital corridor for a wealth of wildlife. The more than 400 bird species recorded here include olivaceous woodpeckers, spectacled ant-pittas, slaty-capped flycatchers, and others whose names you may forget but whose beauty you will forever remember.

A trail up Alto de Piedra is signed in town; the track is usually muddy but the effort is well rewarded as you ascend past coffee farms into forest full of birdsong. Another trail ascends to the summit of Cerro Tute, where mists play amid cloud forests. These trails can also be talked on horseback by arrangement at the Hotel Santa Fe.