2 days in La Fortuna / Arenal Volcano 🌋, Costa Rica

After leaving our jungle house in San Juanillo we headed inland to the Arenal Volcano. There are a ton of activities in the La Fortuna / Arenal area of Costa Rica. We picked the following for our 2 days, 3 nights here:

  • Don Olivo chocolate farm tour

  • Mistico Hanging Bridges

  • Baldi Hot Springs

  • Arenal Observatory Lodge

We stayed in an AirBnB apartment in La Fortuna, a few minutes walk from the center of the little town. A different (not necessarily better) experience than at some of the more remote lodges. However, it was lovely to walk to dinner (and ice cream!) each night, allow the girls to play with local kids at the Central Park in the evenings and just spend some time exploring La Fortuna central.

This video is WAY too long, sorry! I offered Scarlett and Nora the chance to watch it tonight as a bonus few minutes before going to sleep 💤... even with that incentive they were saying “when is this done?” about 2/3 of the way through it!

Some (approximate) video timing markers (and another indication that the video is too long) in case a particular experience is of interest:

Mins 0-1 La Fortuna (town) + Arenal Observatory Lodge

Mins 2-3 Baldi Hot Springs

Min 3 Fortuna Park + Volcano view

Mins 3-6 Mistico Hanging Bridges

Mins 6-8 chocolate farm tour

This has turned out to be a great time of year to be here. It is shoulder season, heading into the low season. No reservations are required for anything, and the days tend to be overcast with periods of sun and some refreshing spells of rain.

Overall, this has been a great and busy few days in the Volcanic heart of Costa Rica. We have switched our team into tourist mindset, which is different from the calm hanging out experience of the past month. We are looking forward to spending next week on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica near Cahuita. It will be a new area of Costa Rica for us all.

Michael Waite