Costa Rica Family Trip | Part 2 | La Fortuna & Arenal Volcano
Be sure to check out my post Costa Rica Family Trip | Part 1 for my travel, transportation and packing suggestions. Now, on to the meat of our trip!
La Fortuna, Costa Rica
The first part of our trip was spent in beautiful La Fortuna, home of the Arenal Volcano. La Fortuna a great place to relax and enjoy the natural beauty of Costa Rica and we loved the area for the beautiful countryside, hiking and the hot springs. The best time to visit La Fortuna is during the dry season, which runs from December to April. During this time, the weather is warm and sunny, with little rain. While we only spent 3 full days in La Fortuna, I believe that we could have spent a few more and found plenty to keep us busy.
We stayed at a fabulous Airbnb about 15 minutes outside of La Fortuna. I had lined up a driver for the major driving from the airport and then to our next destination, but we did not have a car during our time in La Fortuna. I asked the owner of the Airbnb whether we’d need a car during our stay and the answer should have been “yes,” but instead I went with his “I’m in town that week, so I’m happy to drive you wherever you need to go!” It was quite the experience driving around in his white box truck! If you are staying in the town of La Fortuna, you would be fine without a rental car, but if you are outside the town, then I would definitely plan to rent a car for your stay as it would be tricky to get cabs outside the city limits.
La Fortuna Airbnb Suggestion
I HIGHLY recommend our Airbnb. It was owned by a Cuban-national who has lived in Costa Rica for nearly 30 years. Mario was the best host and his property was just magical. I would say it was at this stop that we truly experienced Costa Rica. We felt like we had our own little treehouse on the mountain with the most beautiful views. Check out the property HERE.
La Fortuna Hot Springs
In addition to enjoying Mario’s beautiful property (which included milking cows and picking papayas at his papaya farm!), while we were in La Fortuna, we also planned a day to visit the hot springs which La Fortuna is well known for. While there are many public hot springs, I was glad that we decided to go the day pass route at one of the local resorts, the Tabacón Thermal Resort & Spa. For just $89 pp for the day, we had access to the hot springs for the entire day, dressing rooms/showers, spa access (treatments were an additional fee) and a delicious dinner at their restaurant. We loved the experience so much that we spent nearly the entire day going from hot spring to hot spring. It was one of our favorite days in CR. My daughter had an impromptu massage at the spa, which she said was fabulous, but do plan your spa appointments well in advance if you want to have guaranteed availability. We would have all visited the spa, but unfortunately, last-minute appointments were nearly non-existent.
We found that planning one major activity per day was enough for our family, but we are pretty content to veg out by a beautiful pool! By the time we added in driving time (always more than we thought it would be!), tour times and such, one activity seemed to take up a major part of the day. One day, I pre-planned two things and we were all dreading going to the second!
Mistico Park Arenal Hanging Bridges
While in La Fortuna, we also enjoyed the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park. This beautiful park outside of town (remember drive time!) had a hiking trail through the beautiful CR rain forest. We purchased the day pass for the hike when we arrived and the entire hike took about 2.5 hours once we got started. While you could hire a private guide, I don’t think it would have added much to the experience and we enjoyed being able to go at our own pace. The park has beautiful views of the Arenal Volcano at the end. Of note, it’s called Hanging Bridges Park for a reason – there are lots of suspended bridges, and while some were quite long and made you a bit hesitant, they did seem/feel safe, unlike some other parks we visited later! I would definitely recommend stopping by this park when in the La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano area. If you are planning on doing any hiking or trekking, be sure to wear comfortable shoes and bring plenty of water. I highly recommend these water bottles that can clip on your backpack/dry packs. I also purchased these water shoes for the trip, but they were so comfortable that I ended up wearing them for most of our hiking days since many of the hiking trails are wet and or muddy. I was surprised at how comfortable they were for every day wear!
Final thoughts on La Fortuna, Costa Rica
If you are looking for an adventure-filled vacation, La Fortuna is the perfect place for you. With its stunning natural beauty and endless activities, La Fortuna is sure to have something for everyone. We were very happy that this was a stop on our Costa Rica travel itinerary.
Next up, we will travel down the Pacific coast of Costa Rica to the Quepos/Manuel Antonio region. Stay tuned for the last leg of our adventure!