How to Spend 4 Days in La Fortuna, Costa Rica
In early May, to celebrate my husband Tim’s birthday, we took a trip to Costa Rica to see what that “Pura Vida” was all about. We spent 9 nights in the country, with the first 3 days in San Mateo near Buen Camino Bike Park (because Tim insisted he must go mountain biking on his birthday), 1 day split between San Mateo and La Fortuna (mostly a travel day), and the other 4 full days in La Fortuna. I’ll save the San Mateo portion of the trip for another blog post, as this one is going to focus on everything we did in beautiful La Fortuna!
I came away from this trip feeling incredibly rejuvenated, so if that’s something you’re going for then here is our full day-by-day itinerary with tips on where to eat, swim, hike, explore and spot the most incredible wildlife!
Getting Around La Fortuna: Flights & Car Rentals
We flew from Denver (DIA) to San Jose (SJO), with a layover in Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW). The flight on our end was pretty smooth, although a minor delay had us arriving in San Jose at around 11pm and unfortunately the Avis rental car place closed…so we panic rented a car from Economy Rent a Car. In that moment, I was kicking myself for not renting a car that you could pick up directly at the airport.
The drive from San Jose to and from La Fortuna isn’t terrible, but it can be slow. It took us a little over 3 hours with a couple bathroom breaks in between. The main highway and road leading to La Fortuna is in pretty good condition, but you have to be alert for wildlife, pedestrians, dogs, etc. and also the crazy drivers that will pass slow cars by veering into the left lane without really being 100% sure that there is no oncoming traffic around the bend. It kept us on our toes but honestly was not as scary to drive late at night as I expected.
The drive itself is also stunningly beautiful. Expect to pass little neighborhoods with fresh fruit stands, spot toucans swooping into view, beautiful vegetation and flowers, and lots of little restaurants called “sodas” where you can grab a quick, authentic Costa Rican lunch. These are often family-run and serve food prepared in traditional styles: meat, plantains, veggies, rice and beans. They’re delicious!
What to Wear in Costa Rica (May/Rainy Season)
We were in La Fortuna from May 4-9, and it was pretty hot and humid. It was never cold, even in the evenings, which was a shock to the system coming from Colorado, with our cool evenings and dry, warm days. It did in fact rain every day, but the heavier downpours wouldn’t start until around 3pm. If you’re hiking in the jungle, the canopy of trees is basically nature’s umbrella. The only downside is that we didn’t see much of the Arenal Volcano, so if that is something you’re really stoked about then I would recommend coming during the dryer months (December—April).
Here were my essentials for packing:
Swimsuits: Bring multiple swimsuits — we took a dip in the pool and/or hot springs at Arenal Manoa every single day.
Clothes: Costa Rica is pretty laid back and you will get sweaty almost immediately due to the heat and humidity, so even though I brought some nicer dresses and a jean skirt, I only wore my althleisure clothes. Bring at least one long pair of light pants to protect you from bugs during some of the rainforest hikes. For my girls that love taking photos, Costa Rica is VERY green so I’d recommend wearing white or light colored tops that really pop in those rainforest hike photos :)
Cover-ups: Sun shirts for hikes and to protect from bugs, and long linen pants and button up shirt to wear at dinner in evenings to protect from mosquitoes.
Footwear: I rotated between four pairs of shoes:
Teva Hurricane XLT2 Sandals were my go-to from hiking, to hiking down to a waterfall, walking around downtown, and they were so incredibly comfortable. Tim had the same pair and wore his almost everywhere, too!
HOKA Speedboat Trail-Running Shoeswere great for traveling and hiking, plus close-toed shoes are mandatory on certain trails (especially if you do a nighttime safari walk or hike in the Arenal Volcano National Park area).
Birkenstocks with the rubber sole for the pool, beach, and walking to dinner in the evenings.
Other essentials:
Sunglasses
Sunscreen
Wide-brim hat or cap
Bug spray (the strong stuff)
Waterproof dry bag
Rain jacket
Small backpack
Refillable water bottle (you’ll want to drink a lot of water and it would be super wasteful to constantly buy and throw out plastic bottles)
Stay at Arenal Manoa Resort and Hot Springs
Watching sunset at our private pool with beautiful views of the Arenal Volcano
We had an incredible experience at the Arenal Manoa Resort and Hot Springs, which is less than 15 minutes away from downtown La Fortuna and less than 30 minutes from some of the best attractions in the area. The property has also earned Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice recognition, an award given to hotels, restaurants, and attractions that consistently receive strong traveler reviews and rank within the top 10% of properties on TripAdvisor.
They made us feel so welcome upon our arrival, greeting us with a coconut ceviche with plantain chips, chocolate fondue with fruit, and various other treats! There were literally balloons in our bedroom and a little celebratory colorful banner and birthday cake for Tim.
We stayed in one of the three villas, which came with its own private pool, hot tub, expansive patio area surrounded by beautiful gardens, two bedrooms and full bathrooms, outdoor and indoor showers, a kitchenette with a fridge, coffee maker, electric kettle and basic dishware.
On the property, there is also a hot spring and pool area. There’s one main pool with a beautiful little poolside bar that serves yummy drinks, and there are 7 total guest-only hot spring pools. Most of them were hot but there were two cooler pools. There’s a more lively main hot springs area that includes a swim-up bar, sushi bar, jacuzzi, kids’ pool, happy hour specials, and views of Arenal Volcano. They also have quieter rainforest-style thermal ponds if you want something that feels a little more tucked away and peaceful.
There are several options for onsite dining at the Arenal Manoa. La Saca is the main restaurant and serves the included breakfast buffet, along with lunch and dinner menus that blend Costa Rican tradition with a more creative, elevated approach. Breakfast is included with every stay, which is always a win when you’re trying to fuel up before a waterfall hike or hot springs day.
Beyond La Saca, the resort also has Ohashi Sushi by the hot springs, which serves fresh handcrafted rolls in a relaxed poolside setting, and Alambique Pizzeria, which serves wood-fired pizzas with sweeping views. You can also order room service, which we did a few times because it was hard to beat dining in our own gorgeous space while watching the sun set and cap off the day with a dip in our private pool.
The staff were incredible! We had a designated member of the team checking in on us every time we saw him on the property or in the dining area, providing us with thoughtful recommendations on things to do in the area and just asking us what we did that day. It was also super easy to communicate with the front desk through WhatsApp — they would reply literally within 1 minute if I had any questions or wanted to place an order for room service.
Even the housekeeping/maid service was charming — not only did they tidy up the rooms each day, but they would make a cute little animal out of the towels to the point where Tim and I were literally excited to see what animal they’d create for us at the end of every day.
When we checked out, the team stopped by the villa to give us a little goodbye bag with water bottles, fruit, and cute little keychains. Staying here went above and beyond my expectations, and I highly recommend it when you visit La Fortuna.
Itinerary Overview
This itinerary covers 5 nights and 4 full, non-travel days in La Fortuna with a healthy mix of activities and relaxation: lots of time observing and photographing sloths, toucans, lizards, and more; hiking with epic volcano views, beautiful waterfall vistas, incredible food, not to mention an amazing stay at Arenal Manoa Hot Springs Resort & Spa — which enriched our Costa Rican vacation so much!
Day 0: Arrival
Today we made the ~2 hour drive or so from San Mateo to La Fortuna, arriving at the hotel by around 3pm. After unpacking and generally just gawking at the view from our villa, we went to grab a late lunch at the Ohashi Sushi. We then simply relaxed at our pool and prepared for an adventurous full day in La Fortuna the next day.
Day 1: Coffee and Chocolate Tour + Nightwalk
Today we did a morning tour at Don Juan Arenal to learn about the history and production process for coffee and chocolate, two of Costa Rica’s biggest exports. The tour cost about $62 per person and took about 2 hours split evenly between chocolate and coffee. We also saw a little agouti mom and baby scurrying around the property during the tour. The path was paved but outdoors, so apply your bug repellant beforehand and get ready for that humidity! One highlight was definitely making our very own chocolate bar that we picked up at the end of the tour. I would absolutely recommend this experience, whether you’re with a family, by yourself, or as a couple. Book our exact tour here.
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel for some lunch and relaxed at our pool before our evening adventure: a nighttime wildlife walk!
We conveniently booked the rainforest night walk through Arenal Manoa, which included transportation to a nearby private reserve where we hiked with a guide and searched for wildlife after dark with a guide.
Over the course of the walk, we spotted an active sloth climbing high in the trees, several frogs, including the iconic red-eyed tree frog and a poison dart frog, a bullet ant, and even a fer-de-lance snake. The fer-de-lance is one of the most well-known venomous snakes in Costa Rica and is considered especially dangerous because it’s a pit viper with highly potent venom and often lives in areas where humans may encounter it. Needless to say, seeing one with an experienced guide was equal parts terrifying and incredible. We also saw a bullet ant, which gets its name from the intense pain of its sting that’s famously compared to being shot. There’s no way I would’ve spotted any of these creatures without a guide because they are so well camouflaged!
The experience took about three hours total and ended up being one of the most exhilarating things we did in La Fortuna. There’s something so surreal about walking through the rainforest at night and realizing just how much comes alive after sunset.
And between the venomous snakes, spiders, bullet ants, and poisonous frogs, this walk made me realize that not going off trail in Costa Rica isn’t just a Leave No Trace principle, it may just save your life.
Day 2: Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
In the morning, we visited Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park, which was a beautiful and easy way to experience the rainforest from above. The main trail is about 3.2 km, or 2 miles, and includes 16 bridges total: 6 hanging bridges and 10 fixed bridges. While we did the tour self-guided, I would highly recommend going with a guide especially if you want help spotting wildlife — we saw birds, a tarantula, and another snake and lots of lizards. I’d also recommend booking a timed entry reservation in advance, especially if you want an early morning slot, which is usually better for cooler temperatures, fewer crowds, and wildlife spotting.
The hanging bridges definitely make this experience worth it, with some reaching up to 148 feet / 45 meters! So you really get that dreamy treetop perspective without needing to, you know, become a bird.
We then grabbed a delicious lunch in town at Italiassimo and went back to our hotel to just chill and relax, especially as the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in. We also had an incredible dinner at La Saca this evening — I’d highly recommend trying the flank steak, blue fish, and pear and fresh burrata salad!
Day 3: Mirador El Silencio
We started the morning with a delicious breakfast delivered to our room — Tim had the eggs benedict and I had the tostadas, a trio of three delicious toasts. We also had an incredible fruit plate, green juice and coffees. Arenal Manoa continued to blow us away!
After breakfast, we geared up for an adventurous hike at Mirador El Silencio, a private reserve near Arenal Volcano known for its rainforest trails, lava fields, and volcano viewpoints. The reserve has several trail options, with routes that weave through tropical forest, open pasture, and old volcanic rock from past Arenal eruptions. Depending on which route you take, hikes here can range from a shorter viewpoint loop to a longer trek of around 5 miles.
This is where rainy season had its drawbacks: we didn’t get many clear views of the volcano, and it rained off and on throughout the hike. But honestly, this still ended up being one of my favorite things we did in La Fortuna because we saw so much wildlife, really unique landscapes and barely any other people on the trail.
We saw several coatis, which are these cute, highly social animals related to raccoons. They use their long noses to forage through leaves, soil, and open grassy areas, which is exactly what we watched them doing along the trail. We spotted about three of them moving through the open spaces, casually living their best little rainforest lives.
Toward the end of the hike, we also saw an anteater, which felt like such a lucky sighting! Costa Rica is home to several anteater species, and they use their long snouts and sticky tongues to feed on ants and termites. Between the coatis, birds, lush forest, and surprise anteater appearance, this trail felt like a genuine rainforest hiking experience.
The other fascinating part of Mirador El Silencio is that the trail crosses old volcanic rock from Arenal Volcano’s past eruptions. Arenal was one of Costa Rica’s most active volcanoes for decades after its major 1968 eruption, and walking across those old lava fields gives the hike this really cool mix of rainforest beauty and volcanic history. Even without a perfectly clear volcano view, it was such a memorable way to experience the landscape around Arenal.
Day 4: La Fortuna Waterfall + Bogarin Trail
We started our day with another beautiful and nutritious breakfast at our villa! This time I tried the egg white omelette and Tim had the rancheros, along with another gorgeous fruit plate, green juice, and coffees.
We then did the highly recommended La Fortuna Waterfall, which currently costs $20 USD for foreigners and is open daily from 7am–5pm. The visit can be pretty quick if you’re just going down, taking photos, and coming back up, but I’d plan for around 1.5–2 hours if you want time to swim, relax, and take your time coming back up the stairs.
We had a bit of a later start and didn’t get there until around 11am, so I was worried it would be way too hot and crowded since everyone says to go right when it opens. And yes, it was definitely busy but we still had such a great time!
To reach the waterfall, you take around 530 stairs down through the forest, with railings and rest areas along the way. Going down is easy enough; coming back up is where your quads start firing up a little bit!
Swimming is typically allowed when conditions are safe, but staff may restrict it depending on weather, water levels, or current conditions (they will let you know when you walk through the entrance). There’s a main waterfall swimming area, which is powerful and stunning, but there’s also a calmer swimming area nearby along the river.
There’s also a small café, ice cream, a souvenir shop, and a butterfly garden on the property, so it’s a nice place to spend a little extra time before or after visiting the falls. Don’t forget to bring sandals or water shoes, a swimsuit, towel, and water. You can also bring a change of clothes and use the changing rooms and showers on-site.
After this, we grabbed lunch and set off for our second adventure of the day: Bogarin Trail. I really wanted to see and photograph more wildlife on our last day in La Fortuna, and this trail did not disappoint.
Bogarin Trail is super convenient if you’re staying near La Fortuna. It’s located just west of the main downtown area, roughly a 5–10 minute drive from the center of town, and from Arenal Manoa, it was only about 10–15 minutes by car. So this is an easy one to squeeze into a La Fortuna itinerary without committing to a huge excursion.
The trail itself is an easy, mostly flat rainforest loop that’s around 2–2.5 km long, depending on which paths you take. You can do it in about 45 minutes to an hour if you’re moving steadily, but I’d plan for 1.5–2 hours if you’re stopping for photos, watching the trees closely, and trying to spot wildlife. The official Bogarin Trail site describes the self-guided visit as a 2-hour experience through a 2.5 km tropical forest trail, which felt accurate for actually slowing down and enjoying it.
We did it self-guided, but this was another place where a guide would have been incredibly helpful. Sloths are very good at looking like furry blobs of leaves high up in the trees, and the naturalist guides know exactly where to look. There are more than 25 sloths living in the reserve, plus birds, frogs, and other wildlife, and guided tours typically help visitors spot more animals than they would on their own.
That said, we still had amazing luck on our own. We had our first up-close encounter with toucans and saw multiple sloths, including a mama and her baby, all of which single-handedly made Tim want to become a wildlife photographer.
A few practical notes: self-guided entry is around $20 USD, while guided tours are more expensive. When we visited, our self-guided entry was also good for 24 hours, so you could technically come back later if you wanted another chance at wildlife. The trail is generally open during the day, with the official site showing self-guided and guided time slots from morning through late afternoon.
I’d recommend bringing a camera with a good zoom (I used my 70-200 mm lens), binoculars, bug spray, and shoes with good traction — although the trail is wide enough that I didn’t think close-toed shoes were necessary. And if seeing sloths is a big priority for you, go slowly, look up often, and ask reception where they’ve been spotted recently before you start the trail!
Feeling exhilarated by our wildlife encounter, we went back to the Arenal Manoa to relax, grab some delicious sushi for dinner, and start packing for our trip home the following day.
Day 5: Departure
After waking up with views of the beautiful Arenal Volcano outside of our window, it was time to have one last delicious breakfast and then say goodbye!
Things to Know
There were a few things that would be helpful to know when visiting Costa Rica. I certainly wish I knew some of these before going!
Anticipate that nearly every activity costs money, including short hiking trails near La Fortuna. Tourism is a major part of the area, so most attractions are privately managed or require an entrance fee. That said, the upside is that every trail, waterfall, hot spring, and nature preserve we visited felt incredibly well maintained, organized, and thoughtfully preserved. So while the costs can add up quickly, it also felt like those fees were helping support the infrastructure that makes these places so accessible and beautiful to visit.
Plan your bigger outdoor activities earlier in the day. Afternoon thunderstorms and heavy rain are common, especially around La Fortuna, so it’s smart to start early and assume you’ll be wrapping up most hikes, tours, or outdoor activities by around 2–3pm.
Speaking of rain, pack your waterproof gear! Even when the weather looks decent, bring a lightweight rain jacket or poncho, quick-dry clothes, and a waterproof bag or backpack cover. La Fortuna is one of the rainiest regions in Costa Rica, and once things get wet, the humidity makes them very committed to staying wet.
Dress appropriately for night wildlife tours. If you’re doing a night walk, wear long sleeves, pants, and closed-toe shoes. The jungle is very much alive after dark, and while that’s the whole point, you do want a little barrier between you and the various insects, amphibians, and mystery creatures having their evening commute.
Hire a naturalist guide at least once. Guides know exactly where to look and can spot animals you would absolutely walk right past. Sloths, for example, are super hard to see because they sleep high up in the trees, barely move, and often look like little greenish-brown clumps of moss.
Be mindful about bug spray. Apply insect repellent indoors, in bathrooms, or at designated areas before heading onto trails. Try not to spray it directly in the rainforest or along hiking paths so you’re not introducing unnecessary chemicals into sensitive ecosystems.
Hydrate more than you think you need to. Costa Rica is humid, and you will sweat so much. Bring plenty of water, especially for hikes, waterfalls, and nature walks. On a positive note though, your skin will look dewy, hydrated and amazing.
Bring binoculars or a zoom lens for wildlife. A lot of the animals you’ll see are high in the trees or tucked into dense vegetation, so binoculars make a huge difference! For photography, I brought my 70–200mm lens and was really glad I had it for birds, sloths, monkeys, and other wildlife sightings.
Bring a little cash. Cards were widely accepted in the places we visited, but having small bills or colones are helpful for tips, parking, roadside stops, and smaller vendors. You don’t need to carry a ton, but a little cash goes a long way when you suddenly need it.
Slow. Down. I think my absolute favorite part of this trip was that it wasn’t one of my usual trips with a crazy itinerary. Tim and I kept joking that this was our *actual* honeymoon as opposed to our crazy adventurous honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands. I really enjoyed waking up, having a lovely breakfast while watching all the tropical birds, going on leisurely jungle explorations, and ending the day by going for a swim at the pool and soaking in the hot springs. Not to mention, wildlife sightings take time and patience. Although there is a lot of wildlife here, it’s not a zoo and animals can be shy.
I hope this post helps you with planning your own trip to La Fortuna! As always, feel free to drop a comment or connect with me on Instagram if you have more questions :) Pura Vida!
