Zarcero

The park in front of the church at Zarcero, at around seventeen hundred metres in the highlands north of Naranjo, is filled with topiary: cypress clipped into arches over the paths, elephants, oxen, a bullfighter, a monkey on a motorbike, and a set of shapes that resist description. Evangelisto Blanco, who looked after the park, began shaping them in the 1960s and kept going for decades; the work has been carried on since. Behind them stands the church of San Rafael, painted pink and blue with a decorated timber interior. The village is dairy and cheese country and the air at this altitude is genuinely cold.

What you actually see

• The topiary arches - clipped cypress over the paths through the park.
• The animal figures - elephants, oxen and stranger shapes.
• The church of San Rafael - pink and blue with a painted timber interior.
• The highland setting - dairy country at 1,700 metres.

When to go

Year-round. It takes half an hour and works as a stop on the drive between San José and the northern lowlands. Mornings are clearer; the highlands cloud over through the day. It is cold here by Costa Rican standards, so bring a layer.

Honest expectations

It is a village park and takes half an hour; nobody should make a special two-hour drive for it alone. The topiary is eccentric rather than beautiful and opinions differ sharply. There is very little else in Zarcero. The road is winding and slow.

Nearby

Sarchí and its oxcart workshops are half an hour south; La Fortuna is two hours north.