Costa Rica - Arenal Volcano Trip

WARNING: ZONE OF HIGH VOLCANIC RISK

that said...let us begin.

The Arenal Volcano is a 1657-meter high very active andesitic stratovolcano in north-western Costa Rica (10.5N, 84.7W), around 90 km north-west of San José, in the province of Alajuela, canton of San Carlos, and district of La Fortuna. It is the most active volcano in Costa Rica, and ranks in the top 10 of the world.

The tour starts in San José, where you have to take a $6 bus straight to La Fortuna that leaves at around 6:15am from down town San Jose (San Carlos Bus Terminal). The trip takes around 5 hours. There are other buses at later hours to San Carlos, where you will then have to take another one to La Fortuna (left picture). In La Fortuna there is nothing much to do. There is a Mega Super where you can get almost anything, a Burger King, and many other small shops. Around the Park there are many tourist offices. In case you want to go to mass on a Sunday, times are 9am or 7pm (no 11am mass). From here you can go to any of the many hotels, however the side of the volcano seen from La Fortuna is the "green side", in other words, no lava. In the other side (or close to) are some other hotels but are very expensive. (the cheap ones can cost $40 a night, while the expensive ones $200). La Fortuna is about 20km from the Volcano, but there is another town in the side where you have a better sight, called El Castillo, around 9km from the Vocano. In that town there is also a Snake Zoo, with many varieties of snakes, butterflies, spiders,etc.
Note: just in front of the entrance to the National Park is a place where you can pay a small fee to put your tent, sleeping bag or whatever, and by doing so you will save lots of money, and be really close to the Volcano...
Anyways... once you get to the Arenal Volcano National Park (yeah, the Volcano is there...) you will have to pay: Costa Ricans - 1000 colones adults and 300 children. Anyone else: $10 adult / $1 kids. Kids are 12 or under.

Ask for a map (if they don't give it to you). They are available in several languages - English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and German. If you want your passport stamped with a nice seal from this park (every national park has its own seal) you have to ask the guy in the counter.



Once inside, there are 3 places to visit. The first one is Heliconias Trail, which takes around 30minutes to finish. You dont have to take this trail, but if you want to see birds and other animals I recommend it. Please remember to enter the park at 8am when it opens, since there will be no tourists and your chances to see animals are higher. Park closes at 4pm but no one enters after 3pm. If you will do this trail, leave your car in the first parking lot (and also the safest since it is just behind the entrance office). If you just want to do the second trail - Coladas Trail - there is a second parking lot further ahead. Coladas trail is aprox. 2km, and takes around 45 minutes each way (you have to come back thru the same trail). PLEASE DO NOT BE STUPID, DO NOT GO PASS THE WARNING SIGNS - YOU CAN DIE. BESIDES, YOU CAN GET IN TROUBLE WITH THE PARK RANGERS. At the end of Coladas Trail (next picture), you will be able to walk over dry lava from one of the last mayor eruptions. You can also watch (if it is not cloudy) the lava rocks falling from the top. You can also hear them as they are rolling down - and of course listen to the noises from the volcano (which can also be heard from several kilometers away). There is also an excellent sight of the Arenal Lake from here. The third place to visit is "the mirador", you can drive there. It is special for sightseeing.
At night , with a clear sky you can see the lava rocks rolling down. It is a MUST SEE. The best place is "the bridge", which is right in front of the side of the volcano where lava comes down. Any local can point you out to that place. The guys in the National Park can be very helpful with any directions.






Arenal Volcano as seen at night from "The Bridge".





The next thing to do (a must) is to visit the Tabacón Hotsprings. You have 2 choices, paying $65 to the Tabacón Hotel, or just cross the road from that hotel and entering "Tabaconcito", which used to belong to Tabacón but is now FREE. It is free because the government kicked them away, since rivers are just like beaches "non private and national patrimony". There is an entrance gate which is closed, so just go around it. Inside you will see the old facilities, such as some ranches, a restroom, and several benches. Please note that since no one is giving maintenance to this place any more, the restrooms are no longer usable, and there is no electricity. There is also no security provided - you go at your own. However, locals say that it is very safe, even at night. If you plan on staying after sunset, bring a good flash light. There will be other places offering hot springs, but most are just pools with no running water... and the cheapest places charge you at least $30. Tabaconcito is the most natural thing you can get, the real river, with very warm and nice water.

There are several waterfalls!

Another interesting place to visit is the Arenal Dam.
When they built this, the Arenal Lake was formed, flooding several villages. When I went there in early january 2009, a 1hr boat trip had a cost of around $30 for the 6 of us, so each of us only had to pay $5. However, the first price they gave us "considering you are students, costa ricans... " was $60. Only 3 of us where costa ricans, so if you go there, try going with a costa rican who can do the talk and negotiate, and you might get a 50% discount like we did.

The trip is pretty nice, they will give you the history of the region, and take you to see birds and other animals, like iguanas. You can also get a very good sight of the Volcano from the lake. (see picture below) (the 2 pictures to the left were taken from the dam)

The Arenal Dam Itself

If you have never visited a dam before, this is a good start. Comming from La Fortuna, to the left side Arenal Lake, to the right side, the dyke. You can walk freely across the road that goes over the dam, and is an excellent place to take pictures. To visit the other side of the dam, and get to see the tunnel, you will need permission since it is a restricted area. There is an office where you can ask the police officer to let you in. In my case, I am civil engineering student, so I told him to please let me in since looking at the structure from that side interested me a lot and that I was not going to stay a lot down there... he was very kind and allowed me to go down to the tunnel. (Note: I was not asked for a student or any other ID card...)

If you are lucky enough there might be students from some university on a field trip and the gate to the 200m tunnel be open...if not, then you can still walk inside until you reach the gate. Remember to look up - the bats!





There are many other nice things to do, such as canopy, walking in many other trails, etc. There is also a boat you can take to Monteverde - another popular tourist destination.