La Fortuna is a hot spot for tourists, and deservedly so. Two full days was not enough time! There’s much to like and do in this beautiful area situated about three hours northwest of San José in the Central Valley of Costa Rica – hiking, zip-lining, whitewater rafting, horseback riding, plus hanging bridges, hot springs, wildlife tours and more.

Let’s start with La Fortuna’s most iconic attraction – Arenal Volcano. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, you can’t miss it unless the mountain is obscured by clouds (a frequent occurrence). The photo at the top of the article was taken from the grounds of our hotel. The view below is more distant:

And close up from a lava field on the Las Coladas trail in Arenal Volcano National Park:

The hike was neither long (less than 3 miles out and back) nor difficult (~600 feet elevation gain), but on this hot and humid day, it required a good amount of exertion. The reward at the top was the view.

A few fun facts about Arenal:

• Elevation – 5,358 feet
• Youngest volcano in Costa Rica – less than 7,000 years old
• Most recent eruption phase – 1968-2010
• Classified as active, but dormant for past 14 years

The guided hike in Arenal was the second leg of an all day tour that began with a trek to the base of Fortuna Waterfall and ended with a relaxing soak in the Tabacón River Hot Springs.

First glimpse of the waterfall:

And 524 steps later, at the base:

The pool at the bottom was rocky, and the water was ice cold, but like others, I decided to take a quick dip. I was prepared – swimsuit base layer, hiking clothes on top – so it was easy to shed my shirt and shorts, and stow them in my day pack. And it was there that the saga of the missing shorts began.

The plan was to let my swimsuit dry during the 524 step climb back up before adding my hiking attire to the mix, but alas, my shorts were nowhere to be found at that point (human error – mine, I’m afraid). Not wanting to spend the rest of the day in a swimsuit (ugh), I mentioned my dilemma to one of the guides, who mentioned it to another guide who then volunteered to run back down and do a quick search at the base of the waterfall.

And wow, he did run. One thousand forty-eight steps and 7-1/2 minutes later, I was reunited with my shorts! My heroic guide spent the next ten minutes trying to catch his breath. Here’s a photo of Augustin later in the day after he had fully recovered. He got a very generous tip.

By the way, the waterfall is breathtaking in person and deserves a spot on your La Fortuna itinerary.

The final leg of the tour was a nice soak in the earth-warmed current of the Tabacón River. An hour of geothermal bliss, complete with complimentary mud facials, as demonstrated by a mother-daughter duo in our group.

So that was Day 1 in La Fortuna. Day 2 was all about coffee, chocolate and sloths, in that order.

Coffee is Costa Rica’s third largest export product – bananas and pineapples are #1 and #2. On our tour with Josef, we learned, we watched, and we sampled. Light roast, medium roast and dark roast. Drip prep, French press and Costa Rico’s preferred style – pour-over coffee prepared using their signature coffee-making apparatus.

Other samples – coffee wine (tasted better than it sounds) and coffee candy.

By that point, we were fully caffeinated. So we moved on to chocolate – more caffeine, plus sugar!

Once again, we learned, we watched, and we sampled. Samples included a pure chocolate heart-shaped truffle, hot chocolate, a tasty Nutella-like concoction, and the grand finale – pure cocoa powder mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, raw sugar, and raisins that had been soaked in sugar cane alcohol. It was all delicious and super rich.

Friendly advice that we failed to heed – you don’t have to finish all of the samples!😋

As a bonus, we also learned how to extract juice (guarapa) from the sugar cane plant – the old-fashioned way. It required audience participation – Bill’s technique could use a little work.

After indulging in coffee and chocolate (with no real food to balance things out), we embarked on the sloth tour with a new tour guide, who led us on an hourlong walk through the forest and pointed out sloths (of course), birds, frogs, termites, spiders and various types of ants.

Without his expertise, we would have missed all of those creatures. Sloths, both two-toed and three-toed, were plentiful, but despite our best efforts, the photos were once again subpar.

Most of our sloth photos looked like this:

Also . . .

Later, we watched the rain from our cozy front porch and walked to dinner during a break in the action. There were several restaurants within walking distance, but our favorite was Soda El Tornito – a small eatery featuring Costa Rican cuisine (comida típica).

There were numerous options for excellent lodging in the La Fortuna area. Our choice was Hotel Negra del Arenal, a small property with around 20 little bungalows located at the edge of town.

Everything was wonderful – the room, the people, a made-to-order hot breakfast, and the secluded setting with lush vegetation. The mature plants attracted a nonstop parade of birds, including hummers, which could be found most anywhere between sunrise and sunset. Bill snapped a nice photo of a toucan just chilling in a tree.

Wrapping up our too-short visit to La Fortuna, here are a few additional photos from the grounds of our hotel.

We had a great time! Adios for now from us and the friendly guy leading the horses through town. Next stop – Monteverde.

If you would like to be notified when future articles are published, please enter your email address below. Thanks for following along!