La Fortuna is one of the most popular and iconic tourist destinations in Costa Rica as it sits at the base of the spectacular (and active) Arenal Volcano. After exploring the Arenal Volcano and surrounding area then you might want to enjoy one of the many thermal hot springs in La Fortuna, but which springs should you choose?
La Fortuna, Costa Rica, is a popular tourist hub at the base of the iconic Arenal Volcano, offering a mix of adventure, relaxation, and stunning natural scenery perfect for a mid-trip stop on a Costa Rica road trip.
When you look at Santa Elena, Monteverde, and La Fortuna on the map, they appear to be very close together. However, in reality it takes around 2 hour and 47 mins to complete the journey as there is a volcano in the way of the direct driving route.
From Santa Elena, first you must drive down the mountain, before you can join up with the road which travels around the perimeter of Arenal Lake (87km long). You can only drive clockwise around Arenal Lake because of the position of the Arenal Volcano, making it ‘the long way round’ on the map.
The drive is however a very pretty one as you pass through lakeside villages, many offering German bakeries which was an unexpected but a popular stop for coffee and kuchen on the journey. There are beautiful views at every turn.
If you don’t have a car and want to travel between Monteverde and La Fortuna, Costa Rica, then the fastest way to get from A to B is to use the Jeep-Boat-Jeep tour.
The Jeep-Boat-Jeep tour is a door-to-door transportation service to take you from your accommodation in Monteverde to La Fortuna (or vice versa). It takes approximately 4 hours (1.5 hours to the lake from Monteverde, 45-minute boat crossing and 1.5 hours to La Fortuna) and departs twice a day in high season, and once a day in low season. You will need to be pre-book this travel option
Arenal Volcano is a young stratovolcano formed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate. Today, visitors flock to the area around La Fortuna for its stunning natural beauty and adventures. It is not a UNESCO site, but it is protected as part of the Arenal Volcano National Park. Find out how to explore it below:
Whilst you can see the near perfect conical shape of the Arenal Volcano from anywhere around the La Fortuna area (cloud cover allowing), you can also visit the Arenal Volcano National Park to walk on short trails through secondary forest and lava fields from previous eruptions. You can book a guided tour of the Arenal Volcano National Park which is the best way to pick up information about the history of the Arenal Volcano and lots of volcano facts.
it is both illegal and dangerous to climb the volcano outside of these arrangements as the top of the volcano attracts a lot of snakes on the warm ground.
Take a guided hike around La Fortuna, enjoying sights like the La Fortuna Waterfall, and end your journey with a hot springs soak and a cheeky cocktail. We didn’t do this tour, and decided to do it DIY – but if you have a shorter amount of time in La Fortuna than we did, this is definitely worth the condensed tour!
While the above tour covers the cost of waterfall entry, usually it is £22 per person. Which can be bought online or at the entry point.
We booked a small group cycle tour around the base of the Arenal Volcano and onwards to the head of the Arenal Lake. It was an undulating ride and so mountain bikes were welcome. It was quite hard work on the legs but the views of the Arenal Volcano that day were spectacular.
There can be quite a lot of cloud cover around the Arenal Volcano in the Costa Rica rainy season and so a sighting of the full volcano at this time of year cannot be guaranteed.
The volcanic hot springs in La Fortuna are a welcomed result of the area’s geothermal activity. Unlike the hot springs found in Iceland, these ones allow you to be surrounded by rainforest.
There are lots of hotels with volcanic hot springs in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, varying from hostels to luxury hotels. We stayed at the Arenal Springs Resort & Spa (less ‘eco-lodge’ and more ‘resort hotel’ this time) which had numerous pools, cabanas, and a swim up sushi bar. We wanted to enjoy some relaxation after all our booked activities and the hotel’s 39 degree Celsius hot pool was perfect to ease our aching legs after the cycle ride around the Arenal Lake.
You don’t have to stay in a hotel with hot springs in La Fortuna to enjoy a thermal water experience, as there are over 12 swimmable volcanic thermal pools in the La Fortuna area. Some suggestions are:
As we had never done river tubing before – tackling small rapids in individual rubber rings – we decided to give it a go on the outskirts of La Fortuna.
We booked our tubing experience through our hotel and were given instructions to head to the designated meeting place on the edge of town. Once we had checked in and signed waivers, then we were loaded onto a tractor (different!) before being driven down a bumpy forest track to the river.
We were given a safety briefing on the riverbank and issued with protective helmets decorated with palm leaves, life jackets and big blue doughnut rings before being invited to enter the river. For our session of river tubing, we tackled the river in sections, carefully navigating our way through the rapids – some more gentle than others. It was fun, and not as stressful as white-water rafting, however we all fell in at some point, so expect to get wet!
Most of the resort hotels are situated along the road into La Fortuna. The town itself was a chaotic hub of restaurants, cafes and tour operators, but there were plenty of shops in town (souvenir and holiday or activity wear) where you can buy provisions easily – we needed to buy water shoes and there were plenty.
We ate lunch at the Organic Fortuna restaurant and a dinner at Don Rufino’s Restaurant which were both good, although Don Rufino’s was on the expensive side.
As it was the half way point of our Costa Rica road trip, we used the El Almendro Laundry Service in La Fortuna who took a large bag of washing and turned it around for us in 3 hours for about $12 USD which was great.
If you are travelling off-season, like we did, you really don’t have to book any activities before you arrive in La Fortuna, as there are so many tour operators and your hotel will also probably be able to help. However, if you’re travelling in peak season, you will definitely need to book ahead. Just do your research beforehand to work out what you fancy doing and then book according to the weather when we are there.
I had pre-booked a Sloth spotting tour for one of our mornings in La Fortuna but, to be honest, we didn’t need it as, by the time we arrived in La Fortuna, we had be lucky enough to spot over 6 sloths in great positions in Manuel Antonio National Park. That said, it was on the La Fortuna sloth spotting tour that we saw a baby sloth rolled up in a ball in a tree; baby sloths look whiter as they are not covered in as much green algae as adults.
La Fortuna was a great stop on our Costa Rica road trip, partly because of its stunning position by the Arenal Lake and Volcano, and also because of the variety of activities on offer.
We arrived in La Fortuna in the middle of our Costa Rica road trip which was a perfect time to enjoy some relaxation in the hot springs in La Fortuna – we felt rejuvenated after our stay in La Fortuna and ready to tackle the next part of our Costa Rica road trip to Tortuguero National Park in search of turtles.
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La Fortuna is one of the most popular and iconic tourist destinations in Costa Rica as it sits at the base of the spectacular (and active) Arenal Volcano. After exploring the Arenal Volcano and surrounding area then you might want to enjoy one of the many thermal hot springs in La Fortuna, but which springs should you choose?
When you look at Santa Elena, Monteverde, and La Fortuna on the map, they appear to be very close together. However, in reality it takes around 2 hour and 47 mins to complete the journey as there is a volcano in the way of the direct driving route.
From Santa Elena, first you must drive down the mountain, before you can join up with the road which travels around the perimeter of Arenal Lake (87km long). You can only drive clockwise around Arenal Lake because of the position of the Arenal Volcano, making it ‘the long way round’ on the map.
The drive is however a very pretty one as you pass through lakeside villages, many offering German bakeries which was an unexpected but a popular stop for coffee and kuchen on the journey. There are beautiful views at every turn.
If you don’t have a car and want to travel between Monteverde and La Fortuna, Costa Rica, then the fastest way to get from A to B is to use the Jeep-Boat-Jeep tour.
The Jeep-Boat-Jeep tour is a door-to-door transportation service to take you from your accommodation in Monteverde to La Fortuna (or vice versa). It takes approximately 4 hours (1.5 hours to the lake from Monteverde, 45-minute boat crossing and 1.5 hours to La Fortuna) and departs twice a day in high season, and once a day in low season. You will need to be pre-book this travel option.
Whilst you can see the near perfect conical shape of the Arenal Volcano from anywhere around the La Fortuna area (cloud cover allowing), you can also visit the Arenal Volcano National Park to walk on short trails through secondary forest and lava fields from previous eruptions. You can book a guided tour of the Arenal Volcano National Park which is the best way to pick up information about the history of the Arenal Volcano and lots of volcano facts.
Note – it is both illegal and dangerous to climb the volcano outside of these arrangements as the top of the volcano attracts a lot of snakes on the warm ground.
We booked a small group cycle tour around the base of the Arenal Volcano and onwards to the head of the Arenal Lake. It was an undulating ride and so mountain bikes were welcome. It was quite hard work on the legs but the views of the Arenal Volcano that day were spectacular.
Note – there can be quite a lot of cloud cover around the Arenal Volcano in the Costa Rica rainy season and so a sighting of the full volcano at this time of year cannot be guaranteed.
There are lots of hotels with volcanic hot springs in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, varying from hostels to luxury hotels. We stayed at the Arenal Springs Resort & Spa (less ‘eco-lodge’ and more ‘resort hotel’ this time) which had numerous pools, cabanas, and a swim up sushi bar. We wanted to enjoy some relaxation after all our booked activities and the hotel’s 39 degree Celsius hot pool was perfect to ease our aching legs after the cycle ride around the Arenal Lake.
You don’t have to stay in a hotel with hot springs in La Fortuna to enjoy a thermal water experience, as there are over 12 swimmable volcanic thermal pools in the La Fortuna area. Some suggestions are:
As we had never done river tubing before – tackling small rapids in individual rubber rings – we decided to give it a go on the outskirts of La Fortuna.
We booked our tubing experience through our hotel and were given instructions to head to the designated meeting place on the edge of town. Once we had checked in and signed waivers, then we were loaded onto a tractor (different!) before being driven down a bumpy forest track to the river.
We were given a safety briefing on the riverbank and issued with protective helmets decorated with palm leaves, life jackets and big blue doughnut rings before being invited to enter the river. For our session of river tubing, we tackled the river in sections, carefully navigating our way through the rapids – some more gentle than others. It was fun, and not as stressful as white-water rafting, however we all fell in at some point, so expect to get wet!
Most of the resort hotels are situated along the road into La Fortuna. The town itself was a chaotic hub of restaurants, cafes and tour operators, but there were plenty of shops in town (souvenir and holiday or activity wear) where you can buy provisions easily – we needed to buy water shoes and there were plenty.
We ate lunch at the Organic Fortuna restaurant and a dinner at Don Rufino’s Restaurant which were both good, although Don Rufino’s was on the expensive side.
As it was the half way point of our Costa Rica road trip, we used the El Almendro Laundry Service in La Fortuna who took a large bag of washing and turned it around for us in 3 hours for about $12 USD which was great.
You really don’t have to book any activities before you arrive in La Fortuna (well in the ‘green season’ anyway), as there are so many tour operators and your hotel will also probably be able to help. Just do your research beforehand to work out what you fancy doing and then book according to the weather when we are there.
I had pre-booked a Sloth spotting tour for one of our mornings in La Fortuna but, to be honest, we didn’t need it as, by the time we arrived in La Fortuna, we had be lucky enough to spot over 6 sloths in great positions in Manuel Antonio National Park. That said, it was on the La Fortuna sloth spotting tour that we saw a baby sloth rolled up in a ball in a tree; baby sloths look whiter as they are not covered in as much green algae as adults.
La Fortuna was a great stop on our Costa Rica road trip, partly because of its stunning position by the Arenal Lake and Volcano, and also because of the variety of activities on offer.
We arrived in La Fortuna in the middle of our Costa Rica road trip which was a perfect time to enjoy some relaxation in the hot springs in La Fortuna – we felt rejuvenated after our stay in La Fortuna and ready to tackle the next part of our Costa Rica road trip to Tortuguero National Park in search of turtles.
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