Northern Costa Rica: Arenal, Monteverde & Caño Negro

Arenal is the shape most people picture when they think of Costa Rica.

The northern region is the one almost every first trip to Costa Rica includes, and with reason: a volcano you can see from your room, hot springs at the foot of it, a cloud forest two hours away, and wetlands full of birds an hour north.

Arenal stopped erupting in 2010. People sometimes arrive disappointed by that, and then stop caring by the second evening – the cone is still there, the hot springs are still heated by it, and the walking around the old lava flows is some of the best in the country.

The other thing to know is that La Fortuna, the town below the volcano, is a busy little tourist town. That is the price of everything being so accessible. If you want quiet we place you outside it, five or ten minutes up the road, where the view is better anyway.

The places

Arenal and La Fortuna

Hot springs, the La Fortuna waterfall, hanging bridges through the canopy, and a lake big enough to sail on. Two nights minimum, three if you want a day doing nothing.

Monteverde

Cloud forest on a ridge at 1,400 metres. Cool, often wet, completely different from everywhere else you will go. The road up is slow, which puts some people off and keeps it from being overrun.

Caño Negro

Wetlands near the Nicaraguan border, reached by boat. Caimans, turtles, monkeys and an enormous number of water birds. Almost nobody goes, which is rather the point.

The hot springs

The springs are fed by the volcano and they are genuinely hot. There are two ways to do them. The big spring complexes – Tabacón, The Springs, Baldi – are landscaped, have several pools at different temperatures and a bar in the water; they are enjoyable and they are busy.

The alternative is to stay somewhere with its own springs and use them at seven in the morning when nobody else is up. Arenal Kioro and Tabacón both work that way. On a honeymoon or an anniversary trip that is what we normally suggest.

There is also a free option: the river beside the Tabacón bridge, where locals sit in the hot water for nothing at all.

Birds, and the quetzal question

Monteverde is where most people hope to see a resplendent quetzal. It is possible, and the odds are much better between February and July when the birds are nesting and feeding on wild avocado. Outside that window we would rather send you to San Gerardo de Dota in the Central Valley highlands, where they are easier to find year round, than let you spend three cold mornings hoping.

Caño Negro, by contrast, is easy birding. Herons, jacanas, kingfishers, roseate spoonbills and the odd jabiru stork, all from a boat, without walking anywhere.

Where we put people

• Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa – direct volcano views from the room and its own hot springs. The one we book most.
• Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa and The Springs Resort & Spa – the two big spring hotels, both very comfortable, both busy.
• Lomas del Volcán – individual cabins with a volcano view, considerably gentler on the budget.
• Belmar, Monteverde – family-run, wooden, and the nicest place to sit in the evening up there.
• Monteverde Lodge & Gardens and Senda Monteverde – both a short walk from the reserve entrance.
• Natural Lodge Caño Negro – simple, and the only sensible base if you want to be on the water at dawn.

Practical notes

Getting there. Three hours from San José to La Fortuna. Arenal to Monteverde is the well-known jeep-boat-jeep crossing of the lake, about three hours and much nicer than the four-hour drive around it.

How many nights. Two at Arenal and two at Monteverde is the standard. If you only have time for one of the two, take Arenal – there is more to do and the weather is kinder.

The road to Monteverde is unpaved for the last stretch and slow. It is fine in a normal car in the dry season, but plan on it taking longer than the map says.

What to bring. A fleece and a rain jacket for Monteverde, swimming things for the springs, and shoes you do not mind getting muddy.

Talk to someone who lives here

Tell us roughly when you want to travel and what the rest of your trip looks like, and we will tell you honestly how many nights the north is worth for you – and whether it belongs at the start or the end. There is no charge for a proposal.