Visited in March 2016.

All seasoned travelers have had at least one disappointing trip. At some point, things start to seem familiar or even worse, inferior to what you’ve already seen and you start questioning your choice of destination. I hate to admit it, but this happened to me in Costa Rica. By the middle of my trip, I was feeling somewhat underwhelmed. I had not seen as many animals, as I had expected, had little interest in many of the activities on offer, and was starting to question whether coming to here was the right decision. And then on my fourth morning in country, I was on the bus to La Fortuna from Monteverde, we turned the corner and there was Arenal in all its glory. What a sight! It made me remember why I love travelling so much and why I had wanted to come here to begin with.

One thing to prepare for in going to see Arenal is that you might actually not get a good view of the volcano. Fellow tourists in Liberia and Monteverde on the way to La Fortuna, had mentioned that the volcano was mostly covered by clouds during their stay. According to one of the guides I had in the course of my trip, the volcano is fully visible about 80 days a year. The rest of the time, it can be covered by clouds and glimpses of the caldera are rare. And there is no “good time” to see Arenal, as even during the dry season there is still a very good chance of clouds and rain. So my expectations were low.

Getting to Arenal from Monteverde was very enjoyable using the Taxi-Boat-Taxi service  and cost only $25 USD. It’s worth keeping in mind that  the Arenal is probably one of the most visited sites in Costa Rica, but most tourists come here first (for example, from San Jose) and then go on to Monteverde, Guanacaste or the Caribbean coast. I did the reverse and went to Monteverde first, then on to Arenal and this turned out to be the better option. There were only two other passengers on the bus from Monteverde and only three of us on the boat across the lake. Going the other way, the boats and buses appeared full. And as we drove by the wind turbines on the hills above lake Arenal, the sky was clear and the majestic volcano was fully visible.

Lake Arenal is an artificial lake, created in 1973. Before Arenal erupted in 1968, it had been dormant for over 400 years and the locals did not realize it was a volcano. The unexpected eruption resulted in 87 casualties and the destruction of 3 villages – Tabacón, Pueblo Nuevo and San Luís. At its most active, the volcano flung huge rocks, some weighing several tons to great distances, burning crops and creating craters in agricultural land up to a kilometer away. It was this damaged land that became the site of Lake Arenal, as the government changed direction of several rivers, built a dam and flooded the area. The lake is now source of electricity of the country. Arenal went dormant in December 2010, but now all the infrastructure of the surrounding areas is located at a safe distance from the volcano.

There are plenty of room and board options in Lake Fortuna, the closest town to Arenal and the National Park, and that’s where I stayed, but if money is not an issue for you, the best place to stay in the area is the Arenal Observatory Lodge, which stands right in the park and benefits from fantastic views of both the volcano and the lake.

The number one activity, here is, of course, hiking and there are great options for this right from the Lodge. In fact, many Arenal hiking tours start at the Lodge’s manicured botanical gardens, where you can meet many of the park’s habituated residents. We saw spider monkeys, a family of white-faced coati, hummingbirds, the famous red-eyed tree frog and a lot of orapendulas (or gold pendulum birds) to name a few.

The levels of difficulty can vary greatly depending on your hiking route and objectives, with climbing the Cerro Chato, an extinct volcano to see lake formed in its caldera, being one of the more difficult hikes in the area that I have heard about. But there are routes in the park that are more like a walk in the park. There are multiple other tours you can take, both in the area itself and in the neighboring parks.

My advice is don’t try to book too many tours and activities in advance – there are multiple options for booking tours both in the Arenal area and further afield and the best thing to do is to play it by ear, depending on the weather and your interests on any particular day. There are many travel agents in La Fortuna offering zipline, canopy tours, rafting, horseback riding and a score of other activities.

For animal lovers one tour I found quite enjoyable both here and in Monteverde was a night walk. Many insect, frog, reptile and mammal species are nocturnal and are much easier to see at night. There are several options for this in la Fortuna and I chose the one at the Arenal Oasis, a local lodge and wildlife park. It was a very good experience.

Another must in the area is a trip to the local hot springs. Given the volcanic activity here, there are plentiful hot springs resorts near Arenal and La Fortuna: Baldi Hot Springs, Tabacon Hot Springs, Eco Termales Hot Springs to name a few.  Some of these hot springs resorts, like Baldi Hot Springs are large hotel and spa complexes with multiple pools of varying water temperature, restaurants, swim up bars and children’s playgrounds. Others, like the Eco Termales, are smaller and actually cap daily admissions to avoid overcrowding. This site has a good list of the many hot springs resort options to compare and decide which one you want to go to. However, if you want to try the hot springs experience without paying an entrance fee, you can always go to Rio Chollin for an absolutely free hot springs experience. This is an open area and there are no change rooms or lockers here, so make sure you leave your valuables with your car in the nearby parking lot and better tip one of the vendors hanging out here to watch over your stuff. There is theft in Costa Rica,

I went to Baldi Hot Springs after my hike in the National Park and it was a very enjoyable experience, not dissimilar to the onsen resorts in Japan, except not segregated by gender.