Arenal Volcano National Park Costa Rica

The arenal volcano

The Arenal Volcano is a huge and beautiful volcano inside the Volcano National Park. Unluckily the volcano does not errupt anymore. Not many years ago you could see lava running down the volcano.



But the beautiful nature around the National Park is almost as good as a active volcano.
The volcano has two different sides. On side of the volcano is covered with ash and stones which are getting slowly overgrown by nature. Most of the trees have been destroyed by lava and thousand of anymals have died. This is a very surrealistic area and you are not allowed to walk up to the crate, because it is very dangerous. The volcano is still very unstable.

The dark side of the arenal volcano

The volcano crate seems to crash and collapse from time to time and even people died during that. There are videos of people walking up a crashed plane on the arenal and finding hot lava stones on their way. Here you can actually see "flying" lava stones. So don't go past the allowed paths.

The area around Arenal volcano is dangerous.

The other side of the volcano did not suffer so bad from the erruptions and is covered with trees and nature. If you are lucky, you will be able to see to volcano without any clouds like on the first picture. The next picture shows the volcano covered in clouds. It is made just 10-15 minutes later. As you can see the weather can change quickly here.

15 Minutes later the volcano is covered in clouds

Trails & Senderos in Arenal National Park

Right at the ranger station you will get a map with the available trails/senderos you are allowed to walk in arenal national park. Have a look at this picture of the map. You can walk almost all trails one after another and you might be finished in 2-3 hours. 

Trails/Senderos in Arenal National Park

Good to know:

Arenal Volcano, in Spanish Volcán Arenal, is an active andesitic stratovolcano in north-western Costa Rica around 90 km northwest of San José, in the province of Alajuela, canton of San Carlos, and district of La Fortuna. The Arenal volcano measures at least 1,633 metres (5,358 ft). It is conically shaped with a crater spanning 140 metres (460 ft). Geologically, Arenal is considered a young volcano and the age is estimated to be less than 7,500 years. It is also known as "Pan de Azúcar", "Canaste", "Volcan Costa Rica", "Volcan Río Frío" or "Guatusos Peak".(read more on wikipedia)

15 minutes difference at the arenal volcano

Manuel Antonio National Park

A beautiful beach at Manuel Antonio

Park Manuel Antonio is the smallest national park in Costa Rica. It is not only the smalles national park in Costa Rica, but also the most beautiful one. And it is the one with the most tourists. The park is crowded with hords of tourists each day. I have nowhere in Costa Rica seen anything like this. My holiday was in the rain season, where normally only a very small amount of tourists is out there. Sometimes we were even the only guests in our hotel :) But in Manuel Antonio City and the park are really a lot of tourists from all over the world.

Entrance of Manuel Antonio National Park

How to get to Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio National Park is the most crowded area in Costa Rica. Near the Park entrance all parking spaces can be rent. People will stay on the side of the road or walk on the road to call you in for their parkings. I drove all the area to turn and finally parked there. I had to pay 3000 Colones and my car should be save for the day. The best way would be to leave your car at your hotel. But remember not to leave anything in your car. You can check the map below for the parking area. Before you go, buy some fresh water. You can also buy it at the entrance, but its very expensive.

The beaches of Manuel Antonio

This national park has the most beautiful beaches in Costa Rica. Most of the tourists do not come for the animals and the nature, they just come for the awesome beaches. And it is true, the beaches are beautiful. There are multiple beaches around Manuel Antonio. The first beach after the main trail through the jungle is the most crowded beach. On the map you can see the other beach right next to this one.  Its a five minute walk and less crowded.

Manuel Antonio beach

Book a tour for the park
You are allowed to walk on designated trails through the park. Please do not leave the trails. Your best chance to see a lot of animals is booking a tour. It costs like 20 dollars. There will be a lot of people selling your some strange tickets for tours.

A baby sloth

Try to get near the entrance of the park (check the map) and get to the house of the official guides. Book a tour with one of these guides. These guides carry a small but powerful telescope. Equiped with this gadget and 5-10 other tourists you will walk the same way as all other tourists without a tour, but your guide will show you every animal.
On our tour we saw some Boa Constrictor hanging in the trees, a lot of smaller Snakes, a huge crowd of howler monkeys in the trees, capuchin monkeys, Spider monkeys and even a sloth with its baby!

A sleeping howler monkey

Map for Manuel Antonio Park

Here on this map you can check all the explained positions at Manuel Antonio like the beaches.

Good to know

Manuel Antonio National Park, in Spanish the Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, is a small National Park in the Central Pacific Conservation Area located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos, Puntarenas, and 132 km (82 mi) from the national capital of San José. Established in 1972 with a land area enumerating 1 983 ha (the smallest of any Costa Rican national park), it is the destination of as many as 150,000 visitors annually and well known for its beautiful beaches and hiking trails. In 2011, Manuel Antonio was listed by Forbes among the world's 12 most beautiful national parks. (read more on wikipedia)