Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Heat-stunned PUNTARENAS, 115km west of San José, has the look of raffish abandonment that haunts so many tropical port cities. What isn't rusting has long ago been bleached to a generic pastel. Old wooden buildings painted in faded tutti-frutti colours line the town's cracked, potholed streets and mop-headed mango trees provide the only shade from the relentless sun. Most vacationing Costa Ricans have abandoned its dodgy beaches and somewhat tawdry charms in favour of the ocean playgrounds of Manuel Antonio and Guanacaste, and foreign tourists, who never spent much time here anyway, come only to catch a lancha or ferry across to southern Nicoya or to go on a boat trip to pristine Isla Tortuga.