El Avion is an open-air restaurant built around the fuselage of a Cold War cargo plane, perched on the ridge between Quepos and the entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park. The fuselage itself serves as a bar — climb the steel ladder, find a seat in the cockpit, and order a beer in the captain's chair. The main dining terrace below offers wide views of the Pacific and reliable, if not extraordinary, Costa Rican seafood: ceviche, mahi-mahi, garlic shrimp, cold beer.
It is firmly a tourist place and the prices reflect that, but the setting is genuinely memorable, especially at sunset. Aim to arrive an hour before dusk for a drink in the plane, then move down to the terrace for dinner. Reservations are sensible in high season.