Fortuna Things to Do

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Connie and I used Desafio to pursue our desire for hiking in the Rio Celeste at Tenorio National Park. It was a good hike, lots of great scenery, and led by a nice bilingual guide.
They picked us up at our hotel (Volcano Lodge) and we had a two hour van ride each way. Not sure how long it really takes because we kept stopping. Our guide spotted sloths, monkeys, iguans, toucans, parrotts, etc as we drove. We got out and got great pics and had close up views with his telescope.
The hike itself in November was muddy. From their website:

"Once we arrive to the Río Celeste National Park, you may use the facilities to get ready and look at the information booth provided by the Río Celeste National Park. We will then begin a hike through the dense, lush, tropical rainforest that surrounds the Río Celeste National Park. The hike is approximately 3-miles long and considered intermediate.

You and your naturalist guide go at your own pace and you'll learn interesting things about the rainforest along the way. We then arrive to "Los Teñíderos" where two rivers come together to form the celestial, turquoise blue water color that gives the waterfall its name "Celeste."

We'll return, walking back through the Rio Celeste National Park to the "Ollas" -- or mud baths -- and take a moment to relax in the natural hot springs.
For the grand finale, we then walk-on further to see the spectacular Río Celeste waterfall - the perfect place to take photos.
We finish off with a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and then head back to La Fortuna."

7 kilometers. Lots of up, mud, and rocks. Decent challenge for me.
Take clothes to change into afterwards. There is a rustic shower at the end. NO towel. I had my own soap. Bring decent shoes to hike in. Leave your flip flops behind. You will probably get your shoes wet. Bring rain gear. I also used dry sacks since my day pack is not water proof.
I did not bring my swim suit. I did see others do so.

The contact info I am providing is for the travel company that I used

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Arenal Volcano National Park is small but worth the visit. The entrance fee is only $6. The is a several kilometer trail that takes you onto the lava field which is very interesting. You can see smoldering rocks falling from the cone down the slope of the volcano.

They are open Sunday to Monday from 8am to 4pm

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Things-to-do list is very long according to tourist brochures and tourist offices. Unfortunately zipping amongst the trees and the tamer version of walking on hanging bridges to watch wild life does not appeal as very genuine. Even the venues are privately owned, hotel related, small sized “jungles”. How genuinely wild are the animals there? Well, if one gets into their shoes the only reason to stick around is to be fed. This is the end of savagery as we know it. As a good alternative cataratas offers the same bridges literally hanging over the ravines (as opposed to hanging bridges) and the authenticity of the forest is practically assured. For animal watching, even the tourist offices suggest you go to the Nicaraguan border where there are many more of them and the habitat is real. Or go even further upstream the Ticabus line to Tikal, Guatemala, where one can see howling monkeys peeing from trees and birds attempting to steal cameras.

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There are more volcano tours tha you can shake a stick at here. This is why you come here though. I chose one that did a hike to near the base of the volcano, then took us after to a thermal bath. $25. Very nice for the most part.

First they pick you up at your hotel, then drive to the beginning of the Toucan trail. You hike for about 45 minutes to a lookout spot and see the volcano, then dark falls and you ca see it spewing out red hot rocks. You ca hear it grumble and roar every 30 seconds or so. Then when you've seen enough, you hike back in the dark to the car.

Then we drove to a thermal bath area. They took us to a free secluded spot that tourists don't know about. It was very relaxing, and was rushing down very fast. We stayed there about 30 minutes ad felt great. Other tours go to nicer areas I guess.

Only thing I didn't like was he brought too few flashlights, ad they were the little ones that had little power. When the batteries died, he had no s[pares. We had to share these little flashlights and hiking rough terrain in the dark was not easy.

There's a river here where you can go white water rafting. They'll pick you up at the hotel and take you out to the Sarapiqui river. They give you the helmets, preservers and instructions on how to do it. it's basically lean left or right, ad paddle back or forward.

It was a blast! There were a few hairy moments, but not really, ad you're never in danger. There is a guy riding along in a kayak too, in addition to the guide on each raft. It lasts about an hour. I wish it was longer. It was class 2-3, not bad at all.

The guide, ours was 'Mey', is very knowledgeable and good. ask for him.

Halfway thru they stop at a spot, and give out pineapple and coconut cookies(poor mans pina colada), and let you jump off this cliff of about 10 feet. They photo you doing it and you float down the river to the pickup spot.

They also take photos with a high powered digital canon camera, and sell the photos on a cd at the end. It was $25, I passed on the price but the photos would have been cool.

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The most spectacular sight in the area of La Fortuna definitely is the Arenal Volcano. This volcano is the most active one in Costa Rica, with almost constantly some light -hardly dangerous- eruptions. At the crater it reaches an altitude of 1657 metres above sealevel, but this crater is almost never fully visible because it is often surrounded by clouds.

Because the Arenal is so active it is not allowed to enter the "security-line" around the volcano. It is very clear where this line is: a big circle around the crater is empty and black because nothing grows (yet) on the fresh lava. In a bigger circle around the volcano you can still see the damage that was done by it during the huge 1968 eruption, when 87 people were killed by the dangerous gasses. Craters are still visible; this is where large rocks smashed into the earth.

At night you can see the biggest spectacle at the southside of the volcano. From here you have the clearest sight of the crater and you have a good chance of seeing some red-hot lava floating down the mountain. You can book an organised trip from La Fortuna, most of the times in a package. Often a guarantee is given that if you don't see the lava, you can return the next day for free.

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At the southside of the Arenal Volcano you'll find the natural reserve "El Silencio", or The Silence. This area is the best place to see rainforest and wildlife in the area of La Fortuna. The park is devided in two parts. One part excists of green hills with only grass and trees, that go all the way to the bottom of the volcano. This is the part that was covered with lava and ashes during the big eruption of the Arenal in 1968. Today only lower trees grow here: the area clearly is still recovering for the disaster.

The other part of the part is completely different. Why it is called "El Silencio" here is ununderstandable, because in this lively rainforest you'll find all kinds of birds (even tucans) and several monkey-species in between the fascinating nature. Together these animals make a great, tropical noise. A walk through this part is really an adventure. All the time you have to look around and above you, because all the time you have the chance of spotting another monkey or bird. And even if you don't see any animals, the nature makes every step worth the effort: tall trees, colourfull flowers, wild streams: the forest here is very diverse.

I visited the park as a part of an organised tour. I believe the entrance is at least not more expensive then 5 dollars, and to get there you'd better charter a taxi from La Fortuna.

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One of the most-do's during a stay in La Fortuna is a visit to one of the thermal springs in and around the city. The two most famous ones are Tabacon Hotsprings and Baldi Hotsprings. Both use water that is naturally heated by the Arenal Volcano, and that is said to have healing power. During my stay in La Fortuna I visited the Baldi Hotsprings, as a part of an organized tour.

In Baldi Hotsprings you find 16 different pools that all lie in a fantastic surrounding. All the pools have different temperatures: from "pretty cold" to extremely hot! In these pools you find waterfalls, beds to lie on and seats to sit on, some jacuzzi's and a fast, high and dangerous waterslide. Some of the hottest pools and crazy: simply too hot to even walk in, but some of them are very, very nice. You should start with the coldest ones at the bottom of the complex and slowly work your way (litterly) up to the hotter pools

Besides the pools you'll find a nice garden at the top of the hill and a viewpoint from where you can see the Arenal clearly. There are two "wet bars" where you can get a"(ridiculously expensive) drink and a restaurant where you can get a lunch or dinner buffet.

Be prepared: all the prices here are at Western standards, different from the average level in La Fortuna.