La Fortuna is a popular town in Costa Rica because of its proximity to the Arenal Volcano. The volcano is front and center while walking through the town and you can get great views no matter where you are. Because of how close it is, La Fortuna is surrounded by hot springs, so it’s a great place to go to relax and enjoy nature. And in the middle of the rainforest, you’ll find the La Fortuna Waterfall.
The waterfall is located within a biological reserve and is 70 meters high. On a clear day, the water will be a dark greenish turquoise and the basin is covered in bright green moss. It’s a popular attraction in Costa Rica–it’s located in a well-visited tourist town, it’s not far to get to and the hike is pretty mild.
Getting to the La Fortuna Waterfall
The town of La Fortuna is located to the northwest of San Jose and it takes about 2 hours 45 minutes to get there. It’s a bit of a drive so we stopped along the way and saw the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, the Poas Volcano and Rio Agrio.
The waterfall is located about 3.1 miles (5 km) outside the town of Fortuna. It’s a quick drive on paved roads if you have a rental car or you can catch an Uber to it if you don’t have a car. It is possible to walk to the waterfall if you don’t mind spending the time.
My husband knew someone staying in La Fortuna and they were planning on walking before we offered to give them a lift.
Parking: There’s a large parking lot in front of the entrance and no additional fee to park there. (Sometimes you get surprised with a double fee, but that’s not the case here.) There’s no attendant but there are a lot of people coming and going and it’s right in front of the entrance to buy tickets.
The La Fortuna Waterfall Hike
Cost + Hours
The entrance fee to the La Fortuna Waterfall is $18 for adults. You can buy tickets there using cash or card or online ahead of time. I’ve seen most sites say that a children’s ticket costs $5, but on their site it says that children under 8 are free. Either their site hasn’t been updated to reflect current prices or they’ve been changed recently.
The waterfall is open from 7:00am to 5:00pm. We went around noon and it was moderately busy near the waterfall but pretty empty on the trail.
Facilities
Once you get past the entrance, there are a few facilities available before hiking down to the waterfall. There is a restaurant, souvenir shop, restrooms, showers and lockers at the top. If you need to change, do so before you start as there aren’t any facilities once you start on the trail down.
There’s also a small orchid trail, butterfly trail and plant nursery near the entrance that you can walk through as well.
The Trail
The hike to the La Fortuna Waterfall is self-guided and consists of 500 steps. The way down to the waterfall takes about 15 minutes but the hike back up takes around 30 minutes, depending on how many stops you take.
Photo Op: Next to the trailhead is a viewpoint of the waterfall from a distance. It’s a great spot for photos!
The trail to get to the waterfall is mostly stairs with a few metal walkways. The way down is quick and easy but…it’s also the way back up.
The Waterfall
The trail leads you right out in front of the waterfall but you’ll quickly see that there aren’t really any spots to spread out in front of it. At the bottom of the waterfall, there are large slippery (and jagged) rocks to climb over. This is also where people put there stuff. Essentially, you’ll be trying to find a flat rock to sit on if you want to be in front of the waterfall.
Can you swim here?
Yes! The La Fortuna Waterfall allows visitors to swim at the base of the waterfall. Most people tend to just drop their stuff by the rocks and jump in.
We went to Costa Rica in August and the water was colddd.
Because of the rocks, you’ll want to make sure you have water shoes that are close-toed. The rocks are wet and slippery from the waterfall mist, so be prepared to scramble.
You can swim close-ish to the waterfall but there is someone on duty at the base of the falls that will yell at you if you get to close to the waterfall. So you can swim around it, but you can’t swim up to it or through it (safety measures).
Shallow Pools
The water in front of the waterfall is deeper and sitting on the rocks isn’t too pleasant. But if you head to the left, there are some shallow pools that are calmer and sandier. While it does have a little bit of a bank, don’t expect to be able to set out towels. The area is small and mostly used for people walking back and forth from the stairs.
There is a place near the trees that people put their belongings and some hooks you can use. Somehow we still found it a little difficult to keep our things clean as we were mostly putting them on logs, wet rocks and sandy patches. Still, it’s a great spot to cool off after the walk down.
Before you head back up, there’s another little lookout you can walk up to that gives you another view of the falls. Space is pretty limited at the bottom, so I wouldn’t really plan on bringing lunch here or anything. It’s a place to explore and cool off.
How long should you spend there?
About an hour or so is long enough to hike to the La Fortuna Waterfall and spend some time swimming. It depends on how long you want to spend swimming of course, but it’s a fairly short hike to do. There also isn’t much room to spread out. The waterfall is surrounded by jagged, slippery rocks and the swimming area doesn’t have much of a sandy bank. There’s enough room to set your stuff down but that’s about it.
The way back up will take a little longer as you have about 500 stairs to tackle again. It’s a bit of a struggle but there are lots of places to stop and rest along the way.
If you need a little motivation, there are sloth signs along the way that tell you just how many steps you have left to go with an encouraging little phrase. I found them cute and funny because I usually saw them as I was taking a break heaving with my hands on my knees.
What to Bring
There’s a few things that I thought were essential when hiking to the waterfalls in Costa Rica:
- Water shoes – I love these because you can hike in them too! No need to bring shoes to change into.
- Swimsuit
- Water bottle – they have a fountain where you can refill yours.
- Quick Dry Towel – lightweight so it’s not bulky to hike with.
- Waterproof Phone Case
- Dry bag – perfect to keep all your things dry while you take a swim (especially by the waterfall since there’s so much spray!)
- Microfiber Cleaning Cloth – For your phone camera or DSLR. As you can see from the picture below, it isn’t very clear because the spray from the waterfall covered my lens pretty quickly. A good cloth is essential for the waterfalls.
Is it worth visiting? The waterfall is one of the most popular attractions in La Fortuna and one that you can swim in, which makes it a little more unique than some of the other waterfalls in Costa Rica. The entrance fee is a little steeper than others but it’s a beautiful spot to enjoy and swim at.
Where to Go Next:
La Fortuna is a great town to explore with lots of things to do. Check out some of those places below or head to the full 10-day Costa Rica Itinerary!
- El Salto – the rope swing over a pool of water next to some (free!) cascading falls.
- The hot spring river – the natural (and also free) hot spring river that you can soak in.
- Rio Celeste waterfall – this bright blue waterfall is about 1.5 hrs from La Fortuna.
PIN IT FOR LATER
Leave a Reply