La Fortuna
Arenal erupted without stopping for forty-two years and then, in December 2010, quit. Below the cone you rappel down live waterfalls in the morning and sit in a free volcano-heated river after.
La Fortuna in a nutshell
La Fortuna: what to expect
Every figure here is drawn from 87,000+ stops planned in Costa Rica on Stippl.
La Fortuna is the town and Arenal is the volcano, and you cannot climb the volcano, so what you do instead is everything around it. Canyoning drops you down live waterfalls, the biggest single rappel about seventy metres. La Fortuna Waterfall is five hundred steps down and swimmable at the base. The Místico hanging bridges run three kilometres of canopy up to forty-five metres above the forest floor, the hot springs sit between thirty-five and thirty-eight degrees, and the Bogarín Trail in town is where you see sloths.
Almost nobody passes through La Fortuna. Under two stops in a hundred here carry no night, the lowest rate of any destination we measure in any country, and the town turns up on close to three of every five Costa Rican trips. The only two places in the country that fall below what trip length predicts are the two airports, which is a neat way of seeing which places are destinations and which are doors.
Split each of your 3 days in half. Adventure in the morning and hot springs in the afternoon is what almost everyone ends up doing. Río Celeste is ninety minutes each way and caps its visitor numbers, so it needs deciding in advance. You will want a car, because most of what you came for is fifteen to thirty-five minutes out of town, and pair the stop with the Pacific coast rather than expecting a beach here.
Who La Fortuna is for
Adventure travellers
first and foremost: this is where the canyoning, rafting and ziplining are
Families.
Sources are unusually consistent: the waterfall, hanging bridges, hot springs, chocolate tours and sloth walks all work with children, and one zipline operator takes them from age 3
Wildlife travellers
for sloths, toucans, monkeys and the red-eyed tree frog on night tours
Both halves of the day
the pattern every source describes is adventure in the morning, hot springs in the afternoon
Not a beach destination
and sources say so plainly: pair it with the Pacific coast rather than expecting one
Not without transport
most attractions are a drive out. Most attractions are a 15–35 minute drive out, and the sources that recommend the town centre do it on the grounds that everything else is worse without a car
When to go to La Fortuna
Dry season
December–April
the marketing definition; the real dry months are February and March at 81–124 mm.
Green season
May–November
260–462 mm a month, sixteen to twenty-three rain days. Fewer people, lower prices, more persistent cloud on the cone.
The booking peak
December–March
34.9% of trip starts, peaking in January
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Things to do in La Fortuna
Canyoning.
Rappelling down live waterfalls, the highest single drop in the area being about 70 m / 230 ft. Multiple operators; family-friendly versions exist that lower children under guide control. One source rates it the best thing they did in the country
Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges.
A 3.2 km main trail with six hanging bridges and ten fixed ones, up to 45 m above the forest floor, plus a 1.5 km short route and a 250 m accessible trail. 1.5 hours self-guided, 2.5 hours with a guide, and every source that took a guide says the guide was the point
La Fortuna Waterfall.
70 m, reached by 500 steps down a cement path with railings and rest points, 20–30 minutes each way. You can swim at the base, though the current under the fall is strong
Hot springs.
Geothermally heated to 35–38 °C. The free river beside Tabacón is named by four independent publishers; go early, and expect a parking attendant who wants a tip
Lava-field hikes.
Arenal 1968 and Mirador El Silencio are private reserves whose trails cross the 1968 flow with the cone above; sources rate both above the national park's own trails
Sloth walks.
Bogarin Trail is in town, has bird feeders at the entrance and is the one every source names; La Fortuna Hikes and Trails and Sloth's Territory are the alternatives
The neighbourhoods of La Fortuna
La Fortuna town centre
budget
The walkable grid around the church and the park: hostels, sodas, tour desks and the cheapest beds. The best-connected part of the area and the only one that works without a car
The town's own sloth trail and the free river rope swing are both a walk away.
Volcano road (Arenal Volcano area)
first views
The road west toward the park, lined with hot-spring resorts and lodges facing the cone. The views are here and so are the prices; a car is close to essential
Geothermal hot springs at 35–38 °C and lodges looking straight at the cone.
Lake Arenal
couples
Cabins and small lodges on the lake 25–45 minutes west, quiet and scenic. Sources are frank that it is a pain without a car and that parts of the lake are two hours from town
Cabins and small lodges on the lakeshore, quiet and scenic, 25 to 45 minutes west.
El Castillo
quiet stays
A village on the lake's south side, ~30 minutes out, with the Butterfly Conservatory and volcano views
The Butterfly Conservatory and volcano views from a village on the lake's south side.
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Where to stay in La Fortuna
The volcano-road resorts are the destination's signature stay, most with their own hot springs included in the room rate
La Fortuna town centre
The walkable grid around the church and the park: hostels, sodas, tour desks and the cheapest beds. The best-connected part of the area and the only one that works without a car
Volcano road (Arenal Volcano area)
The road west toward the park, lined with hot-spring resorts and lodges facing the cone. The views are here and so are the prices; a car is close to essential
Lake Arenal
Cabins and small lodges on the lake 25–45 minutes west, quiet and scenic. Sources are frank that it is a pain without a car and that parts of the lake are two hours from town
El Castillo
A village on the lake's south side, ~30 minutes out, with the Butterfly Conservatory and volcano views
What to eat in La Fortuna
National default plate: rice, beans, salad, plantain and a protein
Rice and beans fried together, the standard breakfast
Coffee dripped through a cloth sock, tasted on farm walks
Cacao grown locally, tasted and ground on farm walks
Tex-Mex-style burrito, plus smoothies
Fruit bowls and smoothies
Fresh fruit blended with water or milk
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La Fortuna customs and what not to do
1968 made this town
the eruption is its founding event. It destroyed villages on the volcano's west flank, created the lava fields the reserves are built around, and started the tourism the town now lives on
The waterfall is the town's
the town's own development association, and the ticket money goes into local schools and community projects rather than to a private operator
The Maleku are from here
and a cultural presentation is offered at the Ecocentro Danaus reserve
Pura vida does three jobs
Pura vida does three jobs
Daily budget in La Fortuna
Budget
≈€47–75
Dorm bed or basic cabina, sodas for most meals, public buses with the occasional shuttle, one paid park every other day, free beaches and the free hot-spring river
Mid-range
≈€105–170
Mid-range hotel or small eco-lodge double, a share of a rental car with its mandatory insurance, a paid activity most days and restaurant dinners
High-end
≈€300+
Resort or signature lodge, private guides, hot-springs day passes, private transfers and the higher-end adventure operators
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Fun facts about La Fortuna
A 42-year eruption, and it is over. Arenal erupted continuously from 1968 to December 2010, one of the longest continuous eruptive periods on record, and the town's entire tourism economy was built during it and now runs without it
The waterfall is community-owned. ADIFORT, the local development association, runs it and reinvests the gate in the town's schools
The park protects two volcanoes, not one
The Springs Resort has been a filming location for two American reality series
A ceiba over 400 years old stands on the El Ceibo trail in the national park
The advice and the behaviour match exactly. Guides say three nights; 39.1% of our travellers book exactly three, the tightest single-value concentration anywhere we cover
Local tips for La Fortuna
Paved from San José
The road from San José is paved the whole way, so no 4×4 is needed
Rent a car
A car is strongly recommended. Attractions sit 15–35 minutes out, going early is how you beat the tour buses, and the alternative is a tour with hotel pickup
One road does want an SUV
The last stretch to Arenal Observatory Lodge is rough, potholed gravel
The jeep–boat–jeep
The Monteverde jeep–boat–jeep is a scenic crossing rather than a transfer, and it is both faster and nicer than the road
Safe and walkable
The town is safe and walkable, including with children
Current under the fall
The waterfall pool has a strong current directly under the fall; the calmer water is downstream
La Fortuna questions, answered
Usually first, straight out of San Jose. La Fortuna carries 15.2% of everything planned in Costa Rica on Stippl, second only to the capital, and the standard loop runs from here to Monteverde and on to the coast. Build that order into Stippl and the drives stay short.
Three nights. The La Fortuna stops planned on Stippl run to 3 nights, and it covers the hanging bridges, a hot spring evening, the waterfall and one full day out. Five to seven if Rio Celeste or Cano Negro are going in as well.
Usually. 58.0% of the trips that include La Fortuna stay inside Costa Rica on Stippl, well above the national figure, because it sits in the middle of the country rather than near a border. It is a stop for people doing Costa Rica properly rather than passing through.
No. Arenal's eruptive period ended over a decade ago and the volcano has been quiet since, so the glowing-cone photographs you have seen are historic. What you get instead is a near-perfect cone whenever the cloud lifts, and hot springs that the magma below still heats.
La Fortuna is the town you sleep in; Arenal is the volcano and the national park about twenty minutes west of it. Hotels and tour operators use the two names interchangeably, which is why a booking that says Arenal can mean anything from the town centre to the far lake shore.
The free river under the bridge if you want nothing but hot water and company. Baldi for families and slides, Eco Termales for quiet at a middling price, Tabacon for the most natural setting, The Springs for the volcano view. They all sit on the same road west of town.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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