Ever considered a Costa Rica road trip? Read on to learn more about the fifth day of our eight day road trip across the Northern part of the country. Did you miss Day 4? Catch up here!
We spent our fourth night in Liberia at Hotel Javy. It was another comfortable and quiet night for us which is exactly what we needed for our early morning. We pack up and make our way down to the front desk for breakfast. And it is the best breakfast yet! (P.S. it was included with our stay). A delicious spread of rice and beans, scrambled eggs, sausage, a slab of cheese and some fresh cut fruit. This is exactly what we need to kick off a day full of hiking.
Rincon de la Viejo National Park
From Hotel Javy, we have about a half hour drive to Rincon de la Viejo National Park. This volcano is a protected area where the majority of the province’s water is stored. The name ‘Rincon de la Viejo’ translates from Spanish as ‘the old woman’s corner’. This is derived from a local legend referencing a witch doctor that was said to live near the volcano.
The National Park is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including the national flower (the Purple Orchid) as well as armadillos, butterflies, monkeys and hundreds of species of birds. The park is essentially made up of two main areas for adventurers to explore: Sector Pailas and Sector Santa Maria. We only visit the former on this Costa Rica road trip.
Travel Tip: Rincon de la Viejo National Park has a daily visitor limit of 200 people, so you’ll want to get into the park early to ensure you aren’t turned away.
Escondidas Waterfall Trail
As you make your way along the road towards the western entrance of the National Park, you’ll come to a gate. Here, a guard will emerge and supply you entrance tickets to this private road (priced at ₡700 per person). You’ll continue up a gently sloping road all the way to the main parking lot. Here, we take a moment to pack our bags for the first half of the day in preparation for our hike.
As we enter the main building, we bear left to pay the admission fee ($15 USD per person). Next we, we check in with one of the park rangers about the trails. Anyone entering the park has to ‘sign in’ and ‘sign out’ for safety purposes. Each of the trails also has designated hours. We decide to start with the Escondidas Waterfall Trail, a 4.3 km trail to elevation which the ranger claims is much less busy. And so begins our hike which will take us up along the volcano over 1,500 meters.
The trail winds through the jungle for a couple km before you hit a fork where you can decide to continue towards Catarata La Canreja (the low road) or make the uphill trek to Catarata Escondidas. As we begin the incline, the forest begins to thin into almost desert like conditions with a complete change in flora. Further up, the trees begin to disappear and we find ourselves in a clearing with views for days! It isn’t an easy hike, and we only encounter a few other couples on the trail.
We Went Chasing Waterfalls…
Once at the top of the trail, there are actually three waterfalls for your viewing pleasure. The first you’ll see on your left is a smaller one which feeds into one that is SEVERAL stories up. If you’re a thrill seeker, you can peek over the edge. We actually saw some monkeys in the trees off in the distance at this spot as well. Follow the arrows to continue to the end of the trail, where you’ll fimd the last waterfall. You’ll follow a blue rope down to the rocks for this on. Take a rest for a moment, soaking in it’s beauty.
The Pailas Trail
We make our way back to the main building in about half the time and head to the car to refresh our water and snacks. Next, we’ll venture onto the Pailas Trail, a 3 km loop of fumaroles, mud pots and another (seasonal) waterfall.
Fumarole – an opening in a planet’s crust which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen sulfide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumarole
This trail is more of a ‘paved’ gravel walkway, making it a little more friendly for walking. Along the trail are six markers which identify points of interest. You’ll see steaming and boiling, sulphuric mud pots, which will take you into a Jurassic like world. You can almost imagine the dinosaurs emerging from the woods, as you explore these ancient, volcanic openings.
Just as with every other region in Costa Rica, there are plenty of guided tours available in the Rincon area as well.
Driving Liberia to La Fortuna
As we make our way to the end of the trail, it begins to sprinkle, just in time for our ~3 hour commute to La Fortuna. Driving in the rain has been a theme for us on this Costa Rica road trip, but we can’t complain. After all, it is the rainy season. As we near the Arenal region, the sun begins to set and it is another dark, windy drive to our next destination. We carefully navigate the curves of the road around Lake Arenal, and can only imagine how beautiful this drive must be during the day.
Volcano Side Accommodations
We arrive at our hotel for tonight, Hotel Los Lagos, well after dark. After checking in, we navigate our way to our room to unpack before heading out to grab a bite. We venture into ‘town’ for dinner and find ourselves at a restaurant offering ‘typical’ meals. ‘Typical’ is Costa Rican for ‘local’. Kat orders pan-fried snapper and Phil, chicarrones. Each of our favourite tropical dishes! The plates come with a side of tostones (fried green plantain cakes) and salad.
When researching all the hot springs and various hotels in the area, this hotel was one of the more appealing for it’s price range and proximity to Arenal Volcano. With over a dozen pools right on site and an extensive breakfast buffet included, this stay was well worth the $95 USD. Our only regret is we didn’t take advantage of the entire time we were allowed on the resort (a side effect of having too busy of a schedule). Note: there is no WiFi in the rooms here and they have a towel rental system in place that isn’t stellar.
We make our way back to the resort to take advantage of the hot springs before they close at 10pm. We find ourselves at the swim up bar indulging in pina coladas contained in pineapple vessels, followed by sangrias. The other couple at the bar is from New England (go figure!) and visiting on their honeymoon. We close the bar down chatting it up with them and head back to our room for the night.
Tomorrow we’ll be exploring the area local to Arenal Volcano before making our way east, to the Caribbean! Next up, Day 6 of our Costa Rica road trip.
Have you ever had the pleasure of soaking in a natural hot spring?
