Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna, Costa Rica Travel Guide

Without a doubt, the most popular and well-recognized of Costa Rica’s volcanoes is Arenal, a symmetrical cone-shaped volcano that dominates the fertile landscape of the National Park. This volcano was the most spectacularly active in Costa Rica. Until recently, it was the country’s most active volcano with an average of 41 eruptions per day. Although the Arenal Volcano is currently in a resting phase. For 30 years hotels in the region touted their views of the lava flows and red hot boulders ejected from the volcano glowing in the darkness. No one can predict when this quiet cycle will end and the glowing red-orange cone will once again dominate the night sky but even when it’s not erupting spectacularly the peak is still an imposing and beautiful sight.

The 12,016 hectares (29,692 acres) Arenal Volcano National Park is located within the larger 204,000 hectares (504,094 acres) Arenal Conservation Area, which protects some 16 reserves between the Tilarán and Guanacaste mountain ranges.

Nearly 75% of the total bird species that have been identified in Costa Rica can be found here, including the resplendent quetzal. Also other creatures as the two and three-toed sloths, white-faced capuchin monkeys, coatis, jaguars, deer, and snakes. While you cannot hike up the volcano itself, we recommend hiking through Arenal Volcano National Park with a bilingual naturalist guide in search of old lava flow and wildlife.