One of the great things about Costa Rica is how many natural landmarks there are to explore. Rainforests, waterfalls, hot springs and of course, volcanoes. Costa Rica currently has five active volcanoes: Arenal, Irazu, Poas, Rincón de La Vieja, and Turrialba. At the Poas Volcano National Park, you can walk right up to the ledge of one to see the crater yourself.
Due to its proximity to the capital, the Poas Volcano is a popular attraction for those flying into San José.
About the Poas Volcano
The Poas Volcano is an active volcano 8,848 feet above sea level in the central region of Costa Rica. It’s located within the Poas Volcano National Park–one of Costa Rica’s most visited national parks.
The main crater is easily accessible by a short trail and viewing platform overlooking the volcano. Apart from the main crater, you’ll also get views (depending on the cloud coverage) of the Von Frantzius Cone and have the option of taking a trail to Laguna Botos, a nearby inactive crater.
The 600,000 year old crater is 1,050 feet (320m) deep and nearly a mile wide. In the center of the crater is an acidic lagoon with a milky robin egg blue color (so specific, I know) or sometimes white color. The blue coloring is due to its extremely low pH level of nearly zero and sometimes even reaches below zero.
The Poas Volcano is active and has had varying degrees of activity throughout history. An eruption in 1910 saw a cloud of ash reach 8,000m high (over 26k feet)! In 2017, the park was closed for an extended period of time due to geothermal activity. And I think some of the trails were even closed for safety reasons the year we went but were opened by the time we visited.
How to Get There
The Poas Volcano National Park is located an hour northwest of San Jose. The easiest way to get there is to rent a car and drive yourself. If you don’t have a rental car, there’s a bus available that leaves in the morning and returns in the early afternoon. But you’d be restricted to the return time and it does take longer.
Another option is to take a tour to the volcano. They’ll pick you up right at your hotel and have a guide showing you around, but you’ll probably pay 10x as much. And this national park is one you can very easily explore on your own.
Parking:
Once you show your ticket at the entrance, you’ll wind through the park a little bit until you get to the parking lot. Parking is an additional fee and I think we ended up paying around ¢2,500 (about $4.50), though online it says ¢2,000.
Visiting the Poas Volcano
If you only want to see the main crater, you can spend about 40 minutes at the Poas Volcano National Park. If you want to do some of the trails as well, you’ll want to have about 2 hours.
Cost + Hours
The Poas Volcano National Park is open from 8:00am to 4:00pm, but you do need to buy tickets online in advance. You cannot buy tickets at the entrance. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $5 for children (ages 2-12). When you purchase your tickets online, you are required to choose a time slot. Time slots are every 20 minutes with the last one being at 2:00pm.
I had read online that they were very strict about letting people in after their allotted time slot. However, we had chosen the earliest one (8:00am) and the gates weren’t even open yet. By the time they opened and we inched through the line to the entrance, it was definitely after 8:00am. But just as a precaution, I’d make sure to arrive before your time slot.
I had also read that your time slot or group was limited to a certain number of people and that a guide would be leading you to the rim for 20 minutes and back. This was not the case when we went in August 2022.
How to Buy Tickets: You’ll need to purchase tickets online in advance from the SINAC website. Create a login (you can switch to English) and choose your time and date. You’ll need to show your ticket receipt at the entrance.
*Make sure to save your login information! Several other top attractions require advanced ticket purchases, such as Manuel Antonio National Park, Irazu Volcano National Park, Braulio Carrillo National Park and several more!
When to Go
The best time to visit the Poas Volcano is during the dry season, which is December to March. You’re more likely to have a sunny day and better visibility! We happened to visit Costa Rica in August–in the middle of rainy season. We knew the visibility odds weren’t great but we decided to try our luck anyway.
The main thing you’ll want to keep in mind when visiting is the weather. If there’s high cloud coverage, you might not be able to see the crater at all. During the rainy season, you’re more likely to experience cloud coverage. Also, the higher you get, the colder it gets.
The Trail to the Crater
The walk to the Poas Volcano’s main crater takes about 10 minutes on a paved road. It’s a quick, flat walk and easily accessible for visitors. There’s no incline to get there as the drive puts you right at the top.
There are some giant leafs along the path, but other than that, it’s a simple road to walk down.
At the end of the road you’ll find the entrance, which is another paved section that leads right up to the volcano.
Main Crater
The main trail takes you within 300 feet of the edge where there’s a viewing platform overlooking the crater. Alas, when we arrived, our cloud fears were confirmed: it was a complete white out.
On a clear day, you can walk right up to it and back if you wanted to. But on days like this, it’s always recommended to wait at least 20 minutes to see if the weather changes.
On our drive up, the weather was actually pretty clear with blue skies quite literally everywhere else except over the Poas Volcano. The clouds seemed to just sit over that area so we were hopeful that they might move on and you could see them moving quickly over the crater.
Next to the crater, you’ll find a few safety zones in case there is an emergency situation. It actually came in handy to block the wind while we were waiting out the clouds because it was extremely cold at the top. So cold that we were both ready to bail pretty quickly.
(Rainy season is a bit weird and unpredictable weather-wise. Some days we were in swimsuits, but up here we felt like we needed coats!)
There’s also areas where you can see recent explosive sequences. Deposits are left from prior explosions with layers of ash occurring as well. While the 2017 eruption didn’t leave a deposit, you can see the impact of blocks that hit the viewpoint.
Since there was nothing to see except a cloud of white, we were just about ready to leave but then the clouds opened up for a split second. And I mean a split second.
It renewed our hope and we stuck it out a little longer to see if it would clear again. And it did for a few seconds each time. While we didn’t get to experience the full view, we were able to see the milky blue acidic pool.
Botos Lagoon
We didn’t end up staying to take any of the trails (which were opened when we went) since the visibility was so bad, but you can opt for exploring some other parts of the park. There’s actually an inactive crater that’s right next to the main crater. The trail is .9 miles from the main overlook and will take you to the Botos Lagoon, which is a crater lake.
There’s other short trails to take, including a cloud forest trail where you can keep a look out for different birds.
Facilities
When you first walk in, there’s a building that has a few facilities. You’ll find restrooms, a small gift shop and a cafe inside. This is your only stop for the restrooms as there aren’t any once you start on the trail.
What to Wear
We visited in August, which is during rainy season. Temperatures cool off after the rain and even though it wasn’t raining at the time, we still didn’t have that dry heat. And combined with the higher altitude, it was pretty cold for us. While we weren’t the only ones in shorts, we felt drastically unprepared. Luckily we had long sleeves easily available, but it. was. cold. It’s also very windy at the top so it’s helpful to have a windbreaker.
If you go during the dry season and end up going on a sunny day, you’ll want to bring sunscreen and layers in case it’s cooler at the top.
Other than that, we didn’t bring anything with us besides a camera. Since the trail is so short, there’s not much else you need!
Things to Know
- Tickets need to be purchased online in advance through the Sinac website (unless you are going with a tour). You’ll have to create a login to purchase and make sure you save it because you’ll likely be purchasing tickets through here again. Several top attractions only have tickets available through this website.
- Visibility of the crater is NOT guaranteed–make sure you go on the clearest day possible.
- Closures can happen at any time due to volcanic activity.
- Pets are not allowed here.
Where to Go Next
- La Paz Waterfall Gardens – a wildlife refuge and nature park with 5 waterfalls to explore.
- Rio Agrio – a waterfall hike with beautiful scenery
- La Fortuna – A fun town near Arenal Volcano with hot springs and a waterfall.
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