Costa Rica’s Monteverde offers a completely different vibe to other areas of the country, it feels slower, quieter and the cloud forest certainly takes centre stage. We spent two nights here and the change of pace offered a welcome respite for the buzz of our previous stop, La Fortuna. And don’t misunderstand, Monteverde doesn’t lack fun, you can find adventure everywhere, but its cool, misty climate brings a calmer, perhaps more laid back vibe. We loved it.
Getting there
Just a quick note on getting to Monteverde, our trip was self-drive and the route from La Fortuna to Monteverde was one of the trickiest sections to navigate. As you get nearer to Monteverde, the roads become potholed and less maintained, and as you start the ascent into the cloud forests, the roads incline and become quite winding and undulating. Time is the key on this one, and my advice is to ensure you give this trip as much as possible. It’s also best completed in daylight. You can get my full thoughts on our Costa Rica self-drive here if you’d like more insight.
We left La Fortuna mid-morning and stopped at Macadamia Y Café, a lovely spot which looks out over Arenal Lake, Costa Rica’s largest body of water. This place is a fab hunger pit stop, it does the best cold coffee and cookies we had anywhere in Costa Rica. True to its name, and an explanation for the floor covering in the outdoor seating area which is completely covered in macadamia shells, the macadamia iced latte and cookie were both excellent – the cookie was fudgy and gooey in equal measure. A big chef’s kiss for us.
We’d also hoped to stop at La Piedra del Indio Waterfalls – a run of four falls that looked beautiful in photos – but we arrived in the early afternoon and discovered the tour needed a minimum of two hours. With our cautious heads on, and still half of the drive to Monteverde to complete, we skipped this in favour of ensuring we got to Monteverde with daylight on our side. We really were disappointed not to have managed this so if you’re making the same trip, and want to stop off, ensure you factor in the time to do so.
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Montaña Hotel Monteverde for two nights. This apartment-style property was right in the cloud forest, sitting at 4,500 feet above sea level. Its grounds are spacious and our apartment location at the edge of the property meant we had spectacular views of the forests and out over the horizon. It was particularly beautiful as the clouds rolled in during the late afternoon.
Montaña Hotel was just a quick drive, 5-10 minutes, from the main street of Monteverde and there were several walking routes into parts of the forest directly from the site.
Our two nights here included breakfast, and the hearty buffet options were a great way to start the day.
The hotel grounds were also home to countless species of humming bird. I’d spend the first half an hour of my morning sitting on our terrace, watching these tiny birds flit from flower to flower. The terrace of the breakfast room also offered a great viewpoint for hummingbird spotting, with nectar pots hung across its beams attracting them daily.
Treetopia and the Sky Trek zipline
Monteverde is all about cloud forest adventure and whilst you’re here you’re going to want to explore it in full. The best way, in my opinion, is from way up high so that you have a birds-eye-view of its stunning canopy.
Treetopia Park is a maze of hanging bridges and ziplines built deep within the cloud forest, and it’s easy to enjoy a full day here as there are several different activities to take part in – all test your nerve in varying degrees so if you’re into thrill seeking, this place should definitely be on your list. We spent a solid day exploring here, from 9am until around 4pm.
Our first adventure took us out onto the park’s hanging bridges as part of a nature tour. Covering four of the six bridges, including the newest glass bridge, which opened just four months before our visit, we traversed the rainforest at eye level with the canopy. Viewing nature, and the forest’s flora and fauna, up close and personal made this tour so interactive – you could almost touch some of the things being discussed by our guide (this isn’t allowed of course, but that’s literally how close we were to the action). Although we didn’t spot much in the way of wildlife on our first run, we did head back to the bridges in the late afternoon and spotted two armadillos running through the undergrowth, which was another big tick on our list. We’d heard so many people talk about these in La Fortuna and hadn’t managed to spot one. Monteverde gave us two sightings in the same day!
In between the hanging bridges we took to the Sky Trek tour to test our nerves on some of the highest ziplines I’ve ever seen – the highest is set at a whopping 328 feet above the canopy and the longest is 2,460 feet in length. You really are at the top of the rainforest, and at points you can clearly see the Pacific Coast. Insanely high! There are seven ziplines in total and every one of them seems a little hairy at first but once airborne, the flight is something I’ll remember forever. As the lightest, my son would often pair with one of us to ensure the weight load could make it across the length of the zipline. Some of the lines were paired flights as standard and the smallest in the pair would wrap their legs around the other and hold on tight!
My son loved this activity so much, and he was by far the most fearless. The Sky Trek finishes with Vertigo, a jump with freefall from a platform 80ft above the ground. He was the first up, closely followed by his dad. My daughter and I took our photography role very seriously for this one – with our feet firmly on the ground.
I should also give the photography team at Treetopia a much deserved mention – they are on hand throughout the Sky Trek tour to capture all of the fun. We didn’t even realise most of the photos were being taken, which is great because they really capture natural shots. I love all of our photos, you can literally feel the fun we had.
Chocolate, coffee, and a night walk
I love to ensure we really experience as much as we can whilst away so once Treetopia was done, I booked us in for a chocolate, coffee, and wildlife night walk with Don Juan Tours. I’d heard great things about this company, both from reviews online and others in Costa Rica but I have to say, this tour over delivered on its promise. And it was mainly due to our guide; his enthusiasm and intricate knowledge of every part of the coffee and chocolate production process was impressive.
I thought this one might be a little tougher to get the kids involved with, but they really enjoyed learning the chocolate-making process from scratch – trying raw cacao pods, then peeling and grinding the dried pods into a paste themselves. And of course, the taste testing went down a treat.
This activity ended with a night walk through this working plantation’s grounds. We were lucky enough to see another sloth lazing in the trees, lots of frogs and insects and this time a kinkajou, which passed right above our heads along a wire crossing.
The Bat Jungle
I want to give this exhibit a little mention as it filled an hour for us on our day of arrival in Monteverde. And, although small, it does a really important job of rescuing and rehabilitating injured bats for re-release into the wild. We viewed 35 bats across seven species flying through large glass-fronted exhibits. And they have some really interesting facts and figures to take in – alongside a bat skeleton and several other artefacts.
All they ask is a $10 donation each, and the kids genuinely loved it – more than I expected they would going in.
Eating out
Monteverde’s main street offers plenty of restaurant choice. We opted for pizza on this occasion, and found a small restaurant that served us huge pizzas. We actually took a whole one back to the hotel with us, as we just couldn’t finish it.
Word of warning though – do not leave any food out in the cloud forests (well any rainforest actually). The following morning we had a steady stream of ants enjoying our margherita pizza. I guess it could have attracted a lot worse.
Monteverde’s ‘town’ also offers lots of cafes and coffee shops, some nicely sized super markets, and plenty of souvenir shops – which both of the kids seemed to be obsessed with.
Was two nights enough?
Just about. Between Treetopia, the night walk, and the Bat Jungle, we filled the time completely without feeling rushed. We didn’t have any downtime though, so for a slower pace, perhaps some pool time and a few more rainforest walks, you could definitely stay here another night – Monteverde is most certainly the kind of place where it wouldn’t have gone to waste.
Keep planning your trip:
- 12 Nights in Costa Rica: Caribbean to Pacific by Car
- Tortuguero National Park: Sloths, Turtles, and a Rainforest That Never Goes Quiet
- Self-Driving Costa Rica: What to Know
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