Clodomiro Picado Institute

• The Clodomiro Picado Institute is administered by the University of Costa Rica and features such an impressive display of local poisonous snakes that it might be advisable to visit this attraction only after you have completed all the hiking you plan to do in the area. The institute sells antivenin serum and offers an educational program on how antivenin serum is made. On Fridays, the snakes are "milked" for their poison, which is then converted to serum.
  
  

Fraijanes Lake

• Fraijanes Lake is a small volcanic lake surrounded by the rain forests of Volcan Poas National Park that is used as a swimming hole by local ducks. It offers picnic facilities and a play area for children, but no overnight accommodations. The hiking trails that surround it will take you deep into the forest. On the weekends, you will see many locals and San Jose natives enjoying leisurely, all-day picnics. Don't plan on taking a swim though -- the water is ice-cold. The lake is about eight kilometers (five miles) from the park entrance.
  
  

Volcan Poas Volcano

• Volcan Poas volcano is one of the most visited attractions in Central America. It has two craters, one of which is nearly a mile in diameter. The other one, Botos Lagoon, is filled with clear, cold, blue water and is surrounded by dense tropical rain forest. Unconfirmed legends assert that in ancient days, virgins were tossed into it during religious rituals.
  
  Volcan Poas last erupted in 1910; however, the park was closed for a while in 1989 because of sulphurous emissions.
  
  Apart from volcano-watching, wildlife-watching is popular among visitors to the park because it contains dozens of species of birds as well as one type of squirrel that is found nowhere else in the world.