Top 7 adventure activities near Arenal, Costa Rica

For travelers in search of a little adrenaline, the Arenal region of Costa Rica serves up adventure any way you like it.
The area around the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica, about 80 miles north of San Jose in the center of the narrow country, is known as the adventure capital of Costa Rica. With a diverse landscape that features erupting volcanoes, rainforests full of life, and cascading waterfalls, it’s a land perfect for active explorers. Here are the top adventure activities in the area.

Volcano Hikes

Just over 10 miles west of the small tourist town of La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano National Park is home to the big daddy of Costa Rican volcanoes. Those papier mâché volcanoes you made in 4th grade, with their perfectly formed cones, were probably modeled on Arenal. It’s everything you expect a volcano to be – lush and green on the bottom, gently sloping up its black rock sides to a pointed top with a near constant wisp of smoke wafting from its mouth.

Arenal isn’t the only volcano in the area, but it is the most impressive. It’s the youngest and most active. It’s been erupting daily since 1968.

On clear days (which are never guaranteed in the rainy season from May to November) you can see it from miles around and its fiery lava lights up the night sky like a fireworks show. Guides will lead hikes into the rainforest around the base of the volcano, though you can also drive yourself to the observation deck for a day or night viewing.
Rainforests and Wildlife Park Visits
The National Park surrounding Arenal includes a cloud forest and several thousand acres of rainforest filled with greenery, tropical plants, elusive colorful birds and butterflies, chattering monkeys, and dangerous reptiles and amphibians like crocodiles and poisonous tree frogs. You could hike through through these lush jungles with a guide, but there are other ways to see the forest.

The hanging bridges, a collection of walkways elevated above the canopy, provide a bird’s eye view of the forest. The walk is not strenuous (perhaps except for those afraid of heights) and can be done during the day or evening. An aerial SkyTram also elevates passengers to an observation deck in the rainforest canopy. Once there, you can peer out over the jungle or dine with a view of the volcano at the restaurant. To get back down, return on the SkyTram, take a shuttle, or for a quick return to ground level, zoom down the zipline.

For wildlife sightings closer to earth, visit the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge. The wetlands area, about an hour and a half from Arenal near the border with Nicaragua, resembles the Everglades of Florida with a few more dangerous residents. In addition to turtles, three-toed sloths, iguanas, several kinds of monkeys and thousands of species of birds, you may also see crocodiles and freshwater sharks.

Ziplining
You’ll find no shortage of companies that offer ziplining tours through the jungle canopy. Prices range from $30-$60 per person depending on the number of cables and other extras offered with the package. Canopy Los Cañones operates on the property of Hotel Los Lagos and is a mid-priced option for a zipline experience that includes transportation from your hotel, 15 cables, and unlimited time in the hotel’s hot spring pools post-activity.

Each cable line is different and presents a new challenge. On some, you’ll coast slowly along a nearly flat line from platform to platform as you look for glimpses of toucans and howler monkeys. Other lines are much more steep and fast, making for an exhilarating pass over the blurry green landscape.

Waterfalls
While the rainforest is dotted with hidden waterfalls, you may have a hard time stumbling upon one on your own. Instead head to La Fortuna waterfall. It may be the area’s most famous falls, but it can still be nearly empty of other people, especially in off season. You can hike there on your own by following the signs and paying a small entrance fee, or book a trip with any one of the tour operators offering trips from La Fortuna town.

The trek down from the road to the falls is strenuous, so save your strength by riding there on horseback instead of hiking. Anywhere Costa Rica matches riders to the appropriate horse, and then leads them on an hour-long ride to the falls, where they dismount and head down to the pools to swim before heading back.

Canyoning
If swimming in the runoff of a waterfall and watching it rain down from above isn’t enough, try Canyoning. Pure Trek Canyoning Adventures leads outings that combine hiking and rappelling with waterfalls – basically you rappel down the side of a cliff through the waterfall – in an activity called canyoning.

The PureTrek adventure will have you rappel down one rock wall and four waterfalls over the course of four hours. You’ll also hike through the rainforest to and from the trails, and enjoy a “Tipico” lunch, usually rice and beans with pork or chicken.

White Water Rafting
The Desafio Adventure Company offers a variety of tours, including white-water rafting. They offer full and half-day trips on class 2-3 and 4-5 rapids near Arenal. All gear is supplied, and the river is dam-controlled so the water levels are perfect all year round.

You can also combine a half-day of rafting with other adventure activities, such as kayaking or sport-fishing on Lake Arenal, cave spelunking, mountain biking, or canyoning, or with more relaxing outings like volunteering, bird watching or wildlife refuge visits.


Hot Springs
Arenal is also known for its hot springs and there are several options to chose from, ranging from the pricey, elaborately-landscaped pools at Tabacón Hot Springs Luxury Resort, to the bare bones ones frequented by locals at Los Laureles. A good middle option is Baldi, which has over 20 hot springs of varying temperatures, a restaurant, three bars, water slides, and a spa.

Okay, relaxing in a hot pool isn’t exactly an adventure sport – unless you count dodging creepy couples at the swim-up barbut after all that activity, you muscles will appreciate the soothing soak.

The Cadillac of ziplines – Kapalua Sunset Zipline Tours


Even if you’ve been on a zipline before, you probably haven’t seen anything like the Kapalua Adventure Sunset Zipline Tour. First of all, as you may have noticed in the title, they offer a sunset trip, which means that you not only see stunning scenery in an adventurous context, but you see it under the sexy colors of the Hawaiian Sunset.

The zip course features sit-down harnesses — it’s like zipping in a hanging chair — and most of their tracks are tandem, meaning you can zip with a friend next to you or, if you’re the competitive sort, race.

Beyond the spectacular views and comfortable seats, the course itself is rather impressive on its own. It towers at 1,400 feet above sea level and has ziplines up to 2,300 feet long. It also includes a ropes course, a rock wall for climbing, a giant swing between two 60-foot telephone poles and a suspension bridge that looks like San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge (see gallery). They have retired military vehicles to transport you up the luscious mountainside, and can provide windbreakers for that high-altitude wind.

Even the first-timers in my group felt safe and comfortable — you know, once they got the first line out of the way. And everyone was floored by the scenery. Check out the gallery and send it to your friends or spouse for vacay leverage.

Visit their website to book a tour or charter your own, and be sure and ask about the Full Moon package if sunset isn’t enough for you and you’d prefer to fly through the dark.
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This trip was paid for by Kapalua Resort & The Ritz-Carlton, but the views expressed within the post are 100% my own.

Tips for traveling to Costa Rica (or anywhere) in rainy season

When I heard that flights from Chicago to San Jose, Costa Rica were going for just $260 per person this Fall, I immediately called my husband and asked if we could go for Labor Day weekend. Despite the fact that neither of us has ever expressed a burning desire to go to Costa Rica, he agreed. What can I say – we’re suckers for a deal.

We knew that prices were so low for a reason. May to November is rainy season in the country, but we figured “rainy season” just meant a few showers each day. We also assumed it would mean not just cheap flights, but also cheaper accommodations, deals on tours, and fewer tourists. In some ways, our assumptions were right on. And in others, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t consider a trip to Costa Rica, or anywhere for that matter, in rainy season. Just take into account these tips to make the most of your time during wet weather.

Know That It’s a Crap Shoot
You could be there during one of the weeks when the rain is unseasonably light or perfectly predictable, with light showers covering the area each day in the afternoon like clockwork. The week before our trip (and, as this video shows, the week after), we were told, the area we stayed in (the small town of La Fortuna, at the base of Arenal volcano) enjoyed near-constant clear skies, warm temps and low humidity. For the three days that we were there however, it rained several times each day. It rained in the morning, it rained in the afternoon, it rained at night. Just when we thought the clouds would clear completely, they would descend again and obscure any traces of sun. One day, powerful thunder storms shook our hotel and we watched lighting illuminate the darkness through our skylight for hours before the rain finally reduced to a slight drizzle that lasted until 10pm. You might be there for a week of perfect weather, or you may wind up getting soaked like we did. More likely, you’ll experience a bit of both on your trip.

Rent a Car
With such a short amount of time in the country, we couldn’t rely on public buses or shuttles (though they are normally a great budget option). And since we’ve given up our credit cards (a move we only regret one the very rare occasion when we want to rent a car outside of the US), our options were to hire a private driver as we did, or to fly from San Jose to Fortuna. Given the torrential rainstorms we saw, I was very glad that we didn’t opt to fly on Nature Air. We would have spent hours waiting for the weather to clear for our flights or, even worse, had to fly through the downpour.The small prop planes are scary enough to me. Renting a car is the best option, especially if you choose to stay in a small town like Fortuna. There’s not a whole lot to do in town and if you don’t have a car, you’ll need to book organized tours to do most activities, many of which may be a bust due to the weather. Which brings me to my next point. . .

Don’t Book Activities in Advance
We only had three days in Costa Rica, and we wanted to make the most of it, so we opted to book some of our tours in advance. We really shouldn’t have bothered. By my rough count, there are at least three tour operators for every house in Fortuna. There was a tour agency on every corner, in every hotel, at every restaurant. And most offered the exact same services or trips to the exact same places at the exact same prices. And every single one wants your business. Waiting to book activities until we had arrived might have given us the chance to negotiate prices, and it would have allowed us to change plans when the weather didn’t cooperate.

One night, we’d booked an evening tour to Arenal, our chance to see the lava flowing against the darkened sky. As we hadn’t seen the top of the volcano for more than five minutes (on our first afternoon in town) in three days, we should have known the tour would be a bust and tried to cancel. Instead we held out hope. Maybe the sky was clear on the other side of the volcano, where the lava flowed. Maybe the clouds would part just in time. Maybe the tour guides knew more than we did, and knew that every night at 7pm the clouds did lift and Arenal was visible from the one place we’d be. As it turns out, the guides did know better than us. They knew that there was no chance in hell we’d see lava but that we didn’t know that, and would still pony up $30 each to go look at a volcano shrouded in gray. After standing there for 40 minutes among a crowd of 50 people, looking at a solid wall of clouds, my husband and I were pretty annoyed. We realized that we should have just canceled the tour when we had the chance, and that if we’d had a rental car, we could have driven out there on our own.

Choose Your Hotel Wisely
My husband and I attempted to tough it out during much of the rain. We wandered around the town during even heavy precipitation, but when pouring rain combined with booming thunder, we retreated to our hotel, the lovely Las Colinas. I’d debated between booking a more expensive place with a pool or going for an ultra-basic hostel with little more than a bed. In the end, I’m so glad we settled on the $70 per night honeymoon suite at Las Colinas. Though we never saw the whole volcano from our deck (as the website promised), when we were stuck in our room for hours due to storms, we were so grateful for the extra amenities. We popped a few Imperial beers in the mini-fridge, pointed the TV towards the giant jacuzzi tub, and sipped and soaked while catching up on Spanish MTV and English-language episodes of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” as the storm raged outside. Had we booked the fancy hotel, the pool would’ve been wasted on us; had we gone the cheap route, we’d have been bored cooped up in our room with nothing to do. So, choose your hotel knowing that you may be spending more time in your room than you would have liked.

Pack Appropriately
I’ll be the first to admit that, while I have my city-trip packing down to a science, when it comes to packing for less urban destinations, I kind of suck. This is how I’ve ended up caving in Iceland in skinny jeans and knee-high boots, and how I found myself hiking a muddy trail in Costa Rica in 90 degrees temps with smothering humidity in jeans and running shoes. Rainy season means rain. It means mud. And it means you will get wet. Pack a rain parka, lightweight and waterproof or quick-drying pants, sturdy boots with good traction for hiking, and sandals with a bit more structure than my Old Navy flip flops. Ladies, definitely bring a dress or skirt for hot nights, but leave the heels at home. Don’t bother with a blow-dryer or make-up (your hair will frizz no matter what and make-up will just run off your face), but don’t forget extra hair ties, a hat, and an umbrella.

Do Your Restaurant Research
My tried and true method for finding a good restaurant on a whim is to look for one that is busy (and not just full of tourists). It’s a strategy that has worked well everywhere I have gone, but in Costa Rica, it failed. Not because we went to a busy restaurant that wasn’t good. But because no restaurants were busy. Every place we walked by, from the center of town to the outskirts, was dead. We never saw more than 2-3 groups in any given place at once. When we talked to the owner of Lava Lounge, our favorite bar, he said that we were there in the few weeks when the town was totally empty of tourists. He said things would pick up a little in the next few weeks, but not much. So, if you are looking for nightlife, look elsewhere. We also found that, as we’d heard, the food in Costa Rica wasn’t much to rave about. We had a few good meals, but nothing stood out as mind-blowing. One waitress we talked to said she preferred to eat at home; the food her family made was much better than anything served in a restaurant. We should have asked to come over for dinner.

Accept that You Will Get Wet
The first night, my husband and I tried to wait out the rain. We quickly realized we’d be spending our entire trip inside if we did that. Bring good rain gear and resign yourself to the fact that you will get wet. We got rained on while walking around town. We got rained on while horseback riding. And we got rained on while zip-lining. And…we survived. Actually, we had a great time. The sooner you accept the fact that you are going to get wet, the more fun you’ll have.

Resolve to Make the Most of It
This goes for a trip to Costa Rica or a trip anywhere around the world. Sometimes, trips are perfect. Most plans go smoothly, and the ones that don’t end up adding a new, and often better, dimension to your experience. But sometimes things just don’t work out the way you’d dreamed. In those times and on those trips, try to make the most of it. Sure, I would have preferred a little less on rain on my trip to Costa Rica, but zip-lining through the canopy as fat rain drops plop-plopped on the leaves around me was an unforgettable experience. And over the course of three wet days, I learned a lot of valuable lessons about traveling (anywhere) in rainy season.

Five things to do in Orlando (except … that)

This is the only time you’ll see the expression “theme park” in this post. Orlando has a lot to offer outside that. So, if you’re headed down there for a convention or a family trip, keep these other attractions in mind, and explore the depth this city has to offer. Plan ahead, and you can avoid the “Mouse” trap!

  1. Make a glass, buy some art: Go to Keila Glassworks, and look for the guy with the dredlocks down to his ass. Check out his art: it’s stunning. Charley Keila, the genius behind the place, offers glassblowing classes, so ou can get a taste of the act of creation.
  2. Stay in an “art” hotel: Pass on the major chains, and stay at the EO Inn. Don’t sweat the fact that it doesn’t have a restaurant; that’ll force you to get out and find a place.
  3. Drink at a bookstore: Urban Think! has a bar in the bookstore. Grab a book (I suggest Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood, the latest by Michael Lewis), and chill for a bit at the bar.
  4. Try to fly: Strap on a harness, climb a ladder and let the wind whip through your hair. Grand Lakes Orlando has zip lines that stretch for tk meters.
  5. Leave: Get out to Winter Park, and see the upscale side of the Orlando area. Cruise the lakes on the Winter Park Scenic Boat Tour, and then wander along tk-street. Stop for a glass of wine at one of the wine bars that dot the sidewalk.

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Zip through Orlando at Grand Lakes

Climb, zip and traverse: Grand Lakes Orlando‘s newest attraction can be summarized succinctly, but what really happens is far more interesting. Based at the headwaters of the Florida Everglades, this destination has created a unique experience that leaves guests hanging – and flying and swinging. Put on a harness, and you can experience 25 climbing and traversing structures that are suspended 15 feet to 55 feet from the ground. The 40-foot swing and 600-foot zip lines are among the standouts on the course.

Grand Lakes Orlando offers several packages designed to scratch your particular itch while appealing to both individuals and families. The Open Session Adventure gives you 2 ½ hours on the course (at a bargain price of $60 for adults and $45 for children). If you prefer a bit of exclusivity, schedule a private event. Up to eight people can be accommodated for a two-hour experience, where you can enjoy the suspension apparatus in a high-touch service environment. Climbing and rappelling classes are also offered.

This is a side of Orlando that many miss. Skip the Mouse for an afternoon, and put your body to work in a setting that blends the natural and synthetic seamlessly.