La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano Day 7-11
We had a nice breakfast at the JW Marriott then hit the road on a 4.5 hour drive east to my favorite spot in Costa Rica. The drive was a bit annoying in that it is slow, you get stuck behind so many trucks on 1 lane curvy mountain roads. But it wasn't tool bad. On the way end, we made a small detour to see Rio Celeste, which was worth it. It took us around 45 minutes round trip to hike to in and back. We saw our first monkeys, a snake, a lizard and a frog.
Our hotel, Casa Del Rio, was an AMAZING eco-lodge we booked on airbnb. It was a bungalow with an overized king bed and a twin with a huge bathroom and the best part, a private hot tub on our secluded deck. My 5 year olds favorite pat is the waterslide which launched you out in into a plunge pool with a waterfall, across from a hot tub.
There was another larger pool on the property as well, along with a spa where we got a couples massage out in the open near a little lake. It is walking distance into the town of La Fortuna amd a 20 minute drive up to the Arenal Volcano and other adventure activites.
The Town: La Fortuna is ADORABLE. SOOOO many amazing restaurants, from casual lunches to romantic dinners, ice cream joints and plenty of souvenier shops. Just as you head out of the town, up the mountain to the volcano, you hit 2 great Natrure trails, Sloth Nature Park and Boggain Trail. We walked up to the Sloth Trail and did a monring tour where we hired a guide. They bring a scope with them and are able point out so many animals that would be impossible to find without them. From sloths, high up in the trees, to tiny frogs, we even saw a boa constricter that had just eaten a turkey.
Adventures: We opted for 2 "tours", the first was ziplinging at Sky Adventure Arenal Park (day 8). We chose this ziplining over the others as the tram ride up looked so epic, and it toutes the longest and highest zipline. I was terrified but our daughter really wanted to do it so ofcourse we couldn't say no. They let her tether behind me, holding around my shoulders and her feet around my waist. This was an unexpected surprise, I was super happy about it and I know it made her (and me) more comfortable. We took a sky tram up a mountain then zip lined down 8 cables, the longest at 2500ft reaching 50mph… above the trees with views of a lake and volcano. After our terrifying and exhilarating zip line experience we had lunch with one of the most epic views to date over looking the volcano, then hiked for 2 hours across hanging bridges to a couple waterfalls at the Sky Walk which is on the same property.
Our second adventure, which ended up being the favorite of our entire trip was Pacos Horsebackriding at Mistico Park (day 10). All three of us rode on our own, even my 5 year old (almost 6). I am very comfortable around horses as I have a lot of experience, ad I have taken London riding 3 times prior. These were all walked by lead, but I felt confident in the guides as they promised to keep 1 with just her the whole time. I also knew how to control my horse so I stayed by her. I only reccomend letting a younger one ride alone if you are a confident riderand you know your child is calm and will listen. My husnad is not a fan or riding, or so he thought but this ended up being his favorite excursion as well. They have hanging brdges on site along with zipling at Mistico, but as we had already done this somewhere else, we had a nice lunch on site then headed out. On the way out there were a ton of white nosed coatis that were so cute and so sweet, they literally come right up to you and one jumped in our car as we got out to see them and acidentally left it opened, lol. We opted to check out a free natual hot spirngs on the way back to town.
You will notice a sign just before one of the most well known hotsprings, Tabacon. There is a spray painted sign saying "Free Hot Springs" and some road side parking on both sides, the hot springs is just down to the right, you will not miss it as it is busy. Please note the big thing in Costa Rica are guys in safety vests trying to wave you to park and they say they will watch your car. I reasearch ed this ahead of time, so just know you DO NOT have to pay them. TIP***Make sure you go to any attration knowing this and drive all the way to verify there is not a parking lot already on site as they will try to stop you far down a road saying it is full and to park. Worse case is there is no lot or it is full and you double back. If you want you can give them a few bucks but in this instance, we were only staying an hour and I parked before a guy even came over to me. So I said, no I am good, I parked here. before. And he then repeated, "ok, next time." This was a cool experience, although it is packed so you need to walk up the path sometimes to find an open spot. Bring watershoes as the water moves fast in some spots and lots of rocks.
As mentioned, this was our favorite of all 3 regions, there are endless adventures taking you into the jungle, to a hot spring, on an ATV or zipline seeing countless animals and I highly reccomend at least 4 full day here (we had 3 full and a half on ether side and wish we had more).
Feel free to check out the full Costa Rica adventure photo album here.
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