Costa Rica: Arenal, Monteverde and a Night on the Pacific

1. Day 1: From the airport to Arenal

   Juan Santamaría International Airport to Zarcero, then La Fortuna

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in La Fortuna
   Day 1 details

   Your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the arrivals hall at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO), in Alajuela, and we leave at about 1 pm. There is no night in San José: the airport sits on the right side of the city for the north, so we head straight up through coffee country into the Central Volcanic range. After about an hour and a half we stop in Zarcero, a hill town at about 1,700 m known for the clipped cypress topiary in the park in front of its church, for a coffee and a stretch. From there the road drops through dairy pasture and cloud into the northern lowlands, and the cone of Arenal Volcano appears ahead if the clouds allow. We reach La Fortuna, our base for two nights, at about 4:30 pm. After time to check in, the guide briefs the group on the days ahead, then we walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner of Costa Rican dishes such as casado and fresh fruit drinks.

   Included

   • Group pick-up at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) at about 1 pm
   • Coffee stop in Zarcero
   • Welcome briefing with your guide in La Fortuna
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free time in La Fortuna before dinner

   Activity: Land by about 11:30 am to join the 1 pm departure. If your flight lands later, arrive the day before and we will quote a night near the airport.

   

2. Day 2: Arenal at opening, hot springs at dusk

   La Fortuna to Arenal Volcano National Park, then La Fortuna Waterfall and the hot springs

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in La Fortuna
   Day 2 details

   Arenal is a cone of about 1,630 m that erupted without warning in 1968 and stayed active until 2010. Its summit is often in cloud by late morning, so we are at the gate of Arenal Volcano National Park when it opens at about 8 am. A licensed naturalist walks us through regrown forest and over old lava flows, now covered in ferns and shrubs, to a viewpoint over the volcano and Lake Arenal. The trails are mostly gentle, about 3 to 4 km in all, and the naturalist carries a telescope for the toucans, howler monkeys and coatis we may meet. We are back in town by noon, and lunch is your choice. At about 2 pm the van runs to La Fortuna Waterfall, roughly 70 m high, dropping into a forest pool, for anyone who wants it; the rest of the afternoon is free. As the light goes, we drive a few minutes to a hot spring park, where water heated by the volcano runs through pools in gardens. Dinner is included at the springs.

   Included

   • Arenal Volcano National Park from opening with a licensed naturalist: forest trails, old lava flows and the volcano viewpoint
   • La Fortuna Waterfall entry
   • Evening entry to a hot spring park near La Fortuna, with dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Canyoning, whitewater rafting or ziplining around La Fortuna in the afternoon, booked at the operator's own price

   Easier option: Skip the waterfall and spend the afternoon at the hotel pool before the hot springs, or stay at the waterfall viewpoint at the top.

   More active option: Walk down the roughly 500 steps to swim in the pool below the waterfall, then climb back up.

   Free time: Lunch and the afternoon free in La Fortuna

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on gentle park trails in the morning; the waterfall steps are optional. Bring swimwear and a change of clothes for the hot springs.

   

3. Day 3: Across Lake Arenal to Monteverde

   La Fortuna by road to Lake Arenal, by boat across the lake, then by road up to Monteverde

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Monteverde
   Day 3 details

   There is no direct road from La Fortuna to Monteverde, and the drive round Lake Arenal takes about four hours, so we cross the lake instead. After breakfast, at about 8 am, a short drive takes us to a dock near the Arenal dam, where a covered boat carries the group and our bags across the water, with the volcano behind us when the sky is clear. Lake Arenal is a reservoir, the largest lake in Costa Rica, formed when the dam was finished in 1979. On the far shore our van meets us for the climb into the Tilarán hills, the last stretch on a winding road, to Santa Elena, the village beside the Monteverde reserves at about 1,400 m. We arrive around midday, and lunch and the afternoon are yours: a café, the village, or a rest before the evening. At dusk we go out with a naturalist on a two-hour guided night walk in a private reserve, torch in hand, looking for sleeping birds, tarantulas, tree frogs and, with luck, a sloth or a kinkajou.

   Included

   • Van and boat crossing of Lake Arenal, with road transfers either side
   • Guided night walk with a naturalist in a private reserve near Santa Elena

   Optional experiences

   • A coffee and chocolate farm tour or a butterfly garden in the afternoon, booked at the operator's own price

   Free time: Lunch and the afternoon free in Santa Elena

   Activity: The night walk is about 2 hours on forest paths; bring a warm layer, as Monteverde evenings are cool.

   

4. Day 4: Cloud forest and hanging bridges

   Santa Elena to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, then a hanging-bridges park

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Monteverde
   Day 4 details

   The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve opens at 7 am, and the first hour is the quietest and the best for birds, so we are at the gate when it opens. With a licensed naturalist and a telescope we walk about 3 km of the reserve's trails under trees thick with mosses, bromeliads and orchids, listening for the metallic call of the three-wattled bellbird and looking for the resplendent quetzal, seen most often from about February to June. The reserve was founded in 1972, with land from the Quaker families who settled here in the early 1950s. Lunch back in Santa Elena is your choice. In the afternoon we walk the hanging bridges at a canopy park nearby: a loop of trail and steel suspension bridges at treetop height, which shows the cloud forest from the level where most of its life happens. If cloud or rain closes in, your guide swaps the morning and the afternoon. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve from opening with a licensed naturalist
   • Hanging bridges at a canopy park near Santa Elena

   Optional experiences

   • Ziplining through the canopy, booked at the operator's own price

   Easier option: Skip the hanging bridges and spend the afternoon in Santa Elena, or at the hummingbird feeders by the reserve entrance.

   More active option: Stay on in the reserve after the guided walk and take the longer trails to the continental divide viewpoint; the van collects you in the early afternoon.

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   Activity: About 3 km in the reserve and 2 to 3 km on the bridge trail; paths can be wet and the air is cool and damp.

   

5. Day 5: Down to the Pacific at Manuel Antonio

   Monteverde to the Tárcoles River bridge, then Manuel Antonio

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Manuel Antonio
   Day 5 details

   Today is the longest drive, about 4 to 4.5 hours of driving over 190 km, the one day past our four-hour guide, because no shorter road links the cloud forest to the coast, so we break it in two. We leave Monteverde at about 8 am and wind down out of the hills to the Pan-American Highway, then south towards the Pacific coast road. Our first stop, after about two hours, is the bridge over the Tárcoles River, where large American crocodiles usually lie on the sandbanks below, in plain view from the walkway. A little further down the coast we stop for a sit-down lunch together, then follow the coast road past Jacó and through oil palm plantations to Quepos, and up the hill to Manuel Antonio. We arrive in the middle of the afternoon, and the rest of the day is for the sea: swim in the hotel pool, or walk down to Playa Espadilla, the long public beach just outside the national park, for the sunset over the Pacific. In the evening the group sits down together for a farewell dinner near the coast.

   Included

   • Drive from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio with your guide
   • Crocodile stop at the Tárcoles River bridge
   • Sit-down lunch on the coast road
   • Farewell dinner in Manuel Antonio

   Free time: Late afternoon free on the beach or by the pool

   Activity: About 4 to 4.5 hours of driving, split by the Tárcoles stop and lunch.

6. Day 6: Manuel Antonio at opening, then fly home

   Manuel Antonio National Park, then the coast road and Route 27 to Juan Santamaría International Airport

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 6 details

   Manuel Antonio National Park is small and popular, with a daily cap on visitors, so we buy tickets ahead and go in at 7 am, when it opens, the air is cooler and the animals are most active. Your naturalist sets the telescope on whatever the forest gives us: two- and three-toed sloths, white-faced capuchins, squirrel monkeys, iguanas and agoutis. The main trails are flat and wide, and we walk for about two and a half hours to Playa Manuel Antonio, a curve of pale sand between forested headlands, before heading back to the hotel to change. The park closes one day a week, and we set our dates around it. We leave at about 10 am and take the coast road and Route 27 over the hills, about three hours and 175 km, with a sit-down lunch on the way. We reach Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) at about 3 pm, allowing for Route 27 traffic, so book a flight leaving after about 6 pm, or ask us for a night in San José.

   Included

   • Manuel Antonio National Park entry from opening, with a licensed naturalist
   • Sit-down lunch on the drive back
   • Drop-off at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO), or a central San José hotel if you are staying on

   Easier option: Skip the park and take a last slow breakfast and swim at the hotel until the van leaves.

   Activity: About 3 km on mostly flat park trails. The park does not allow some foods and single-use plastic, so pack light. Book a flight after about 6 pm; for an earlier flight, ask us to quote an extra night.

Wildlife and weather: December to April is the drier season on the Pacific side; May to November is the green season, with sunny mornings, afternoon rain and fewer visitors. Monteverde is cool and misty in any month, and Arenal's summit is in cloud more often than not, which is why we look early. Wildlife is wild: sloths, monkeys and toucans are seen on most trips, but we cannot promise any one animal.

• La Fortuna2 nights
• Monteverde2 nights
• Manuel Antonio1 night