This is the perfect combination tour where you’ll end up relaxing at Baldi, one of the famous Arenal hot springs, after going on 3 different guided rainforest hikes; the first across 16 canopy bridges, the second hiking the Arenal Volcano, and the third going down to the stunning La Fortuna Waterfall. During this tour lunch and dinner will be provided.
After being picked up from your hotel, you’ll start your first hike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges, walking high above the tree tops across suspended canopy bridges held securely in place by steel cables. These bridges provide a first class view of birds in flight as they fly from tree to tree, as well as amazing views of the jungle canopy.
Your next stop involves hiking to the La Fortuna Waterfall. This 230 foot cascade of rushing water is a spectacular sight to see. You’ll hike down over 400 stairs with occasional look out landings surrounded by lush vegetation as you descend parallel to the waterfall before reaching the blue green pool beneath the falls. Here you can take a dip in the river or just rest on the banks listening to the roaring water and enjoying the view. Due to the many steps involved, this is an endurance hike and not recommended for those who are experiencing knee or heart problems.
Between tours, you’ll take a break and enjoy a delicious Costa Rican style lunch. Have you ever had a “casado”? It means “marriage” and is a hearty combination of traditional Costa Rican food usually including rice, beans, salad and choice of meat or vegetables - the perfect lunch to fuel this active day. Afterwards, you’ll head to your next adventure.
The Arenal Volcano hovers high over El Silencio Reserve, a private reserve perfect for wildlife and volcano viewing. You will be hiking on well maintained trails through the pulsating rainforest, alive with jungle sounds. This is a light workout with a chance to see interesting birds, plants and hidden wildlife with the help of your experienced nature guide. During this tour, you will also have the closest view of the volcano from the observation platform, an excellent place to take sensational photographs. You might be walking out over a dried up lava flow.
Last but definitely not least, your guide will drop you off at the luxurious Baldi Hot Springs, nestled at the base of the volcano, to enjoy a bit of relaxation after all of your athletic achievements. Baldi is a seemingly endless series of lavishly landscaped hot spring pools, fed by the volcano’s geothermically heated waters. Designed to duplicate the natural surroundings, you’ll find man made caverns, waterfalls, with many nooks and crannies to explore. One of the most creatively designed hot springs, Baldi also provides an elaborate area for kids plus at least two swim up bars. Take your time discovering the maze of varying temperature pools before indulging in a delicious buffet dinner in a lovely open-air restaurant. You will be picked up from Baldi at a prearranged time and taken back to your La Fortuna hotel.
This full-day tour covers all admission fees, lunch, dinner, bottled water, bilingual guides and total transportation. The combined time for this tour including round trip-transportation is typically between 6 and 8 hours. One way transport from your hotel may take between 15-45 minutes depending on its location. Enclosed hiking shoes REQUIRED for hanging bridges.
The Combination Tour Baldi with Hanging Bridges is available from Arenal, Arenal Zone 2, and Arenal Zone 3
5 and up
Latitude: N 10°29'17.34". Longitude: W 85°14'45.8"
07/09/2018
Everything was fantastic except Baldi. From the online description, it wasn't clear ahead of time that it would be a 15 hour day total. At Baldi, the buffet dinner was disappointing, and trying to change into swimsuits, then back to eat, made timing difficult. (To be fair, we should probably have picked 7 or 9 to eat, instead of 8, which didn't leave a long uninterrupted time block for the springs.)
After eating, it seemed inconvenient to change again to use the springs again, so we basically just waited an hour for the shuttle back to our hotel. We could have just taken a taxi, but didn't want to leave a van pick-up looking for us when we had already left.
07/03/2018
This tour was so much fun. Everything was planned perfectly so it went smoothly.
03/24/2018
It rained really hard and the lineups were long but the guide was awesome
12/11/2015
Wow. The hike on the Mt. Arenal lava flows was probably the highlight of our vacation! The weather cleared up perfectly for us, and although we never explicitly saw the top of the volcano, we saw 95% of it. If it wasn't specifically timed to have the hike at that time of day when the sun was just shy of setting, it should be in the future. Our photographs from that part of the combo tour were probably our best of the whole trip.
The hanging bridges and waterfall were also excellent, and swiming in the creek was a lot of fun.
That meal that we got from the local farmers was one of the best meals I"ve ever eaten in my life. I didn't think I would be able to keep doing activities I was so full, but it was worth it.
The Baldi hotsprings completly took us by surprise, we had no idea how many they had an hour extensive their network was. The swim up bars were really nice, although both of the drinks we got were ridiculously strong.
