Trips Itineraries from "La Fortuna" near Arenal

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Arenal Area

La Fortuna is a town located at the foot of the "Arenal" Volcano.

The town has one main street with a church, a park, several restaurants, souvenir shops, and many tourist agencies.

Some Travelers usually visit for a day or two on the way between Tortuguero and Manuel Antonio or between San Jose and Tamarindo. In contrast, other travelers have discovered the potential of the town,  where within a drive of up to an hour and a half, there are plenty of hiking options, adventure activities, attractions, and pampering hot spring sites, staying for an entire week or even longer.

In this article, I will present a variety of the attractions in the area, and you can also book the tours and excursions of your choice here from the successful Viator website. I will also present recommended hotels in the area from which you can choose and book here through the Booking website.

 

La Fortuna:

Arenal Volcano:

 

The reason for the tourism boom in La Fortuna is, of course, its location next to the dormant Arenal Volcano, which until not many years ago was active and could be seen from many places in town. A significant number of hotels were built in such a way that all their rooms overlook the impressive peak.

 

There are many options to experience the volcano, ranging from hiking to cycling, horseback riding, and ATV tours.

But in addition to Mount Arenal, there is a huge selection of attractions and activities in the area, ranging from visiting various animal reserves to visiting authentic farms, plenty of adventure activities such as ziplining, rafting, and canyoning, to relaxation and pampering in large, impressive, and delightful hot spring parks.

Booking Tours from La Fortuna on Viator:

♦ Recommended Hotels in La Fortuna and the Arenal Area

In "La Fortuna" you will find a selection of hotels at all price levels and of all types: from amazing resorts full of pools and facilities immersed in tropical vegetation to modest guest houses.

You can stay in lovely hotels at quite modest prices. The service in hotels at a level of 3 stars and above is high quality and includes many treats; for example: animals made of folded towels will wait for you on the bed accompanied by fruit or delicacies.

 

Recommended Hotels in the Arenal Area:

Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort – A spacious five-star hotel that includes baths based on hot spring water, a sauna, luxury spa treatments, and 5 swimming pools, all immersed in tropical vegetation.

Nayara Springs – One of the most impressive and successful hotels in the area in my opinion. For adults only. A luxury boutique hotel rich in tropical vegetation, pools, amazing restaurants, and a spa site.

 

Hotel Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa – A five-star suite hotel overlooking the Arenal Volcano. It also has pools based on hot spring water, beautiful pools, and high-quality restaurants.

Mountain Paradise - A four-star suite hotel near the Nayara Springs hotel, with great pools, a spa, and spacious suites all overlooking the Arenal Volcano. Many suites have a double Jacuzzi on the balcony.

Arenal Springs Resort & Spa - A 4-star hotel whose rooms overlook the Arenal Volcano. The hotel has a pool, a spa site, and a restaurant.

Montana De Fuego – A hotel with four-star suites and cabins spread over a wide area. The hotel has a restaurant with a wonderful view, a pool, and several pools with spring water.

Hotel Lomas del Volcan – Cabins all overlooking tropical gardens, at a three-star level. The hotel has a pool and a Jacuzzi. The hotel has a restaurant. A beautiful 1.5 km nature trail passes through it.

 

Tilajari Hotel Resort - A 4-star hotel immersed in tropical gardens next to the river with a high-quality restaurant overlooking the river, a pool and Jacuzzi, tennis courts, internet, and free parking.

The hotel is located in San Carlos about 30 km east of the Arenal Volcano Park. It is a perfect hotel for spending time and traveling in Costa Rica. You can live there for a whole week and take star trips from it. It is located on the banks of the San Carlos River, two and a quarter hours from San Jose Airport.
The hotel is spread over a huge area where you can experience the abundance of animals and vegetation of Costa Rica: birds of all colors and species, iguanas, squirrels, orchids, heliconias, and more. The hotel has a small lake, stables, tennis courts, football, and of course a pool and Jacuzzi.
From it, you can go within a drive of up to forty minutes to a scenic river cruise, stormy rafting, ziplining and cable car, hot springs, cocoa and coffee experience, animal rescue center, and many other trips by boat, car, horseback riding, and on foot by day and night.
The hotel has a restaurant with diverse and excellent food located next to the river in a lovely landscape.
The rooms are large and spacious, some of them have a view of the river and some of them have a view of the lake and Arenal from a distance. The newer Superior Junior Suites are especially recommended. Everything is clean and well-maintained, the service is excellent, and all tours and transfers can be organized through the hotel. The price is very attractive! In short: a dream vacation.

Attractions and Guided Tours Not to Be Missed in the La Fortuna/Arenal Area:

River Rafting at various levels:

A special, interesting, and recommended experience in Costa Rica is a visit to the Proyecto Asis Wildlife Rescue Center located about a half-hour drive (27 km) south-east of the city of La Fortuna near the Arenal Volcano. Fascinating guided tours are held there, one lasting two hours without feeding the animals and the second lasting 3.5 hours which includes participation in feeding the animals (recommended!).

Booking the short tour without feeding (lasts about two hours):
Wildlife Rescue Center Tour in Costa Rica

 

The goal of the place is to rehabilitate animals injured for various reasons and to collect animals that were kept in private homes as pets contrary to the law, while trying to teach them to survive alone in nature or to give them better shelter and food at this site.

Details about the place and the tours held there in the article: Wildlife Conservation and Rescue Center in Costa Rica - Proyecto Asis

 

♦ Booking guided tours from La Fortuna: Night tour, Sloths and Rio Celeste (from Viator):

Night tour following frogs and other animals at "Arenal Oasis" Wildlife Refuge:

Arenal Oasis is a small nature reserve where you will see a display of frogs considered one of the largest in the country located in an open area. More than 28 species of frogs have settled in the pond in the reserve and on the night tour you can experience their active nightlife (including watching them mating) and the variety of colors and shapes.

 

Besides frogs (and frog eggs), you can see a variety of other animals and plants: an armadillo hiding among the trees, mammals active at night, a snake on a tree looking for frog eggs, various reptiles, ant trails, including giant ants and glowing mushrooms on dry branches. The duration of the fascinating tour is about three hours.

Another successful place to see frogs and also butterflies is at the Arenal Natura Ecological Park where there are butterfly gardens and a frog reserve. A modern and successful place where you will see all the colorful and special types of frogs of Costa Rica.

The Metamorphosis tour in the project passes through the largest butterfly display in Costa Rica and demonstrates the life and reproduction stages of butterflies, frogs, insects, and plants and their influence and importance in preserving the rainforest.

Video of frogs and reptiles on a night tour:

Night tour in a secondary forest with Pedro

A guided night tour in Costa Rica to watch nature in its full glory: while hiking in a tropical forest, watching frogs in a variety of colors and sizes.

 

Hourglass Treefrog:

 

 

Various reptiles, including snakes, iguanas, many insects, ant trails, active night birds and sleeping day birds, possums, and more. All accompanied by fascinating explanations from the knowledgeable guide Pedro. Everything within about a ten-minute drive from Hotel Tilajari inside a secondary forest located on a private farm situated on a peninsula at the meeting point of two rivers. Private tour with a driver, guide, and assistant guide at a modest price for a tour of more than two and a half hours. For further details: Sigalit Bar.

 

River Safari Raft Float

A cruise of about 3.5 to 4 hours starting at eight in the morning. The guide Pedro (who guided the previous night tour). You start the float on the Rio Penas Blancas river at a point located about a fifteen-minute drive from the recommended Hotel Tilajari. You float with the current in the river in a rubber boat to a private farm located on a peninsula at the confluence with the Rio San Carlos river.

 Rio San Carlos and finish it in a town called Boca De Arenal.

 

Floating down the river current with only the guide steering the raft with an oar. Along the way, you watch the flora and fauna with interesting explanations from Pedro. You see many types of birds and also many groups of monkeys on the trees and also crocodiles in the water. On the way, you pass local fishermen and also locals including children bathing in the river even though there are crocodiles in it.

 

 

 

The tour includes a visit to the farm of a farmer named Mauricio and you visit the house where two of his old aunts live, who prepare fried bananas, cheese slices, and slices of sweet coconut bread for the guests, which is delicious like cake, accompanied by good coffee. Mauricio tells (translated by Pedro) about his family history, about his grandfather who lived to be 102 and who bought the large farm area when he was young. You take a tour of the modest farm whose kitchen has a stove heated with firewood, the floor is made of earth, the old toilets are outside the house and also the new ones intended for visitors. Cows graze in the yard.

 

Arenal Hanging Bridges Park

A 3 km tour in a tropical forest, which includes crossing over 15 hanging bridges of various lengths from 5 m to 100 m reaching a height of up to 60 m, watching forest animals: mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects. This is a wonderful way to experience the rainforest from a successful viewing angle.

La Fortuna Waterfall

Waterfalls with a height of about 75 meters located about 5 km from the center of the town of La Fortuna. You reach the falls by a short but steep trail. The descent takes about 10 minutes and the ascent about 20 minutes. You can also reach the falls on a horseback riding trip. You can visit independently or as part of a tour that also includes climbing the "Toucan Trail" to the Arenal Volcano.

 

Tour and Meal at an Organic Ecological Farm

Visit Finca Burio for an authentic local experience. The farm, located about five minutes from the city of Fortuna, is owned by Don Juan, a Costa Rican farmer who works with traditional methods and is a master in organic crops. Don Juan (or one of his guides) will lead you through plantations of exotic organic fruits and vegetables, some of them unknown, and tell about the uses of these crops in cooking and industry and their health benefits.

Annatto seeds, fruit of a tree called Achiote used as food coloring:

Fruit (inedible) in the shape of udders named Solanum mammosum also known as nipplefruit:

You can pick the vegetables and fruits that will make up your meal at the end of the tour. You will discover that it is not at all easy to pick the "Yucca", the root used for preparing many local dishes (including delicious chips).

The farm also has a cow and two pigs from whose waste gas is produced. The guide will also explain this process.

The farm itself is located in a beautiful primary forest, which naturally attracts many species of birds and other animals.

Later in the tour you will witness the fascinating process of preparing "Guaro", a strong drink produced from sugar cane, and with your own hands you will prepare and taste the local Dulce drink also produced from sugar cane extraction.

To conclude you will enjoy a healthy and delicious organic lunch prepared by Don Juan's wife Yamileth. The duration of the tour (not including the meal) is about an hour.

 

Lake Arenal

An artificial lake created by a dam located at the foot of the Arenal Volcano. This is the largest lake in Costa Rica with an area of 85 sq km and a depth of 60 meters. You can go kayaking, or "SUP" Stand Up Paddle, windsurf or fish. The view from the lake is impressive: green hills and the Arenal peak. The area around the lake is popular for horseback riding or mountain biking.

Hot Springs and Water Parks

Arenal has an impressive selection of high-quality hot spring parks. It is recommended to spend time in at least one of them. It is desirable to arrive at the springs park in the afternoon (when the heat of the day subsides at the end of a trip and activities) and stay there in the evening when they are illuminated with many lights. The leading sites are:

"Baldi" Hot Springs BALDI

At the hotel site Baldi Hot Springs Hotel & Spa with 25 pools, from 35 degrees up to 67, waterfalls and water slides. A very large, impressive, and enjoyable complex. Especially recommended for families.  

Tabacon Hot Springs

A very large, impressive, and enjoyable complex. A high-quality site adjacent to the hotel of the same name. Especially suitable for travelers without children. Highly recommended to have dinner at the adjacent hotel restaurant. A combined ticket for entry and meal can be purchased.

"Kalambu" Hot Springs and Water Park Kalambu Hot Springs Water Park

A fairly new attraction in Arenal (opened in 2014). This is the largest hot spring park in Arenal which includes a variety of modern water slides, a water play area for young children and also thermal pools, Jacuzzis, a swim-up bar and of course a restaurant, all immersed in plenty of well-maintained tropical vegetation. Very successful for families!

Paradise Hot Springs

Paradise Hot Springs baths are located about 5 km west of the city of La Fortuna near Arenal. A successful, smaller and calmer hot spring site, suitable for those looking for a quality and intimate place to relax with fewer people and fewer attractions.
In the baths complex there is a restaurant where a meal can be combined before or after the baths, a locker room, showers, lockers, and towels can also be provided.
The baths are divided into two main areas with several pools at different temperatures and sizes with stone lying chairs in the water, massage waterfalls, water currents and bubbles in some of the small pools. The water temperature in the various pools are 27, 34, 36, 37, and 38-40 degrees. The place is immersed in much vegetation, lounge chairs around the pools and next to one of the pools also a nice bar.

From "La Fortuna" you can join full-day tours at impressive nature sites:

A day trip to "Rio Celeste":

The meaning of the name "Rio Celeste" is "Sky Blue River" and indeed the highlight of the visit to the park is a rushing river with intense turquoise water along which you walk during part of the trip.

The trip starts in the Tenorio Volcano National Park, located about an hour and a half drive from La Fortuna. The trip includes an approximate 4-hour walk along 7 km in a tropical cloud forest to Los Teñideros - the famous confluence of tributaries of Rio Celeste.

During the walk in the forest among giant trees and many ferns you will notice variety of animals near you ranging from monkey troops to frogs in many colors, for example: the "Blue Jeans" which is half red and half blue or the "Commando" green frog with black spots, butterflies, birds and giant insects to snakes.

Don't worry, the knowledgeable guide will look after you and you can safely hike in a recommended experiential nature trip. The most impressive area along the route, which is reached after descending about a hundred steps (which you also climb back up afterwards) is a trip inside a crater of an extinct volcano with the river flowing through it.

You reach near a waterfall inside the crater falling into the turquoise water. The way back goes through a route rich in ecological wonders to the OLLAS-openings in the ground, where you can dip in healing mud baths and hot springs while watching the view of the Tenorio Volcano. In certain places in the river there is a spring of hot water 70 degrees! During the dip in the hot water the guide will treat you with a selection of fresh and refreshing tropical fruits. Part of the route crosses several times over the river over rope bridges.

 

Tour for Bird and Animal Watching with Giovanni:

You don't need to go far from La Fortuna and Arenal to see up close an abundance of fascinating animals typical of Costa Rica. If you take a tour with Giovanni you will see many animals and also learn a lot. Giovanni is an exceptional guide who is a phenomenon and a local legend in the La Fortuna area, a native who knows the area like the back of his hand. Giovanni will let you in on the secret paths of La Fortuna, find rare animals for you and countless birds. He knows and is able to imitate the whistles of over 100 birds and remembers by heart the location and number in the bird guide of hundreds more. A fascinating tour with a walking encyclopedia for the fauna and flora of the area. Forest conservation is very important to him and also showing the wonders of nature in his living area. He will go out of his way so that you see all types of Toucans, that you won't miss any frog or monkey or sloth and he is delighted when he manages to find and show you what you seek. He goes around with a giant telescope, so you will also succeed in seeing animals in distant treetops or a tiny frog in a thicket of bushes.

During the tour he will treat you with fruits he picks for you in nature, ranging from bananas and guavas to wild carobs (even if he is required to climb trees to get the desired fruit...).

 

In the article: Special Attractions and Tours in Costa Rica a detailed description of three other successful star trips from La Fortuna:

Cultour – Culture and Traditional Agriculture

A wonderful and highly recommended tour where you will learn about the local culture and traditional agriculture through personal experience and many tastings. The tour takes place in a village called Casona Rio Fortuna

Chocolate Tour Tirimbina

An experiential tour teaching how chocolate is made. Located in a rainforest in Sarapiqui: The tour starts with a walk across the longest hanging bridge in Costa Rica and a walk of about a quarter hour on a forest trail until the cocoa plantations. There you will learn a lot about the interesting plant and step after step you will prepare with your own hands tasty cocoa and also high-quality chocolate.

Canoeing in Cano Negro

Cano Negro is a spacious river flowing between rich and dense tropical vegetation in northern Costa Rica on the border with Nicaragua at a distance of about an hour and a half drive from Arenal. The place is known for the wide variety of animals living in it, ranging from a huge variety of birds, monkeys, caimans (a type of small crocodile), sloths, iguanas and many other reptiles. Most tourists cruise the river in a motorboat while watching the animals and hearing explanations about them. A much more special and successful way to visit the place is by a guided canoe trip.

Booking Tours for a Cruise in the Cano Negro Reserve from Viator:

♦ Recommended guided motorboat cruise in Cano Negro: Wildlife Boat Trip Caño Negro The tour lasts about 9 hours.

 

♦ It is more recommended to do the Canoe Cruise in Cano Negro: Caño Negro By Canoe. Without the engine noise, with fewer people. Floating down the current and paddling mainly for steering. A great nature experience!

 

 

 

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