Costa Rica 2024: La Fortuna Waterfall

This was the fourth day and the day we leave the La Fortuna/Arenal area. Before we do that, we had to visit the famous La Fortuna Waterfall first. The same one that we failed to visit the day before because we arrived late and it had to close earlier than normal due to inclement weather.

Around 9:30 am we were pulling into the parking lot. There was a bit of a drizzle, but nothing to worry about.

I noticed major improvements in the facilities. The stairs going down to the waterfall has been equipped with railings and been fixed. I remember they were uneven blocks of rocks and the railing was a bit puny. So, it's much safer now to take the 500 steps to reach the waterfall and the river.

After taking a dip in the cold river water, we hiked back up those 500 steps.

Pleased with the strong railings now.

As we were leaving the area, we passed by Soda La Hormiga, which was one of the highly recommended spots to eat here. We have in fact tried to come here for dinner one time, but they were already closed. Thus, despite not really hungry (although we were all in the "I can eat" mode), we stopped. I needed some coffee to go along with a little snack I intend to get here.

I had plantains and fries.

My husband went with prawn rice, their seafood paella version. Twas really tasty. Glad he got to power up with this one because he had a long drive today.

The drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio National Park (our hotel is a few yards away from the national park) is approximately 139 miles (224 km) and takes about 4 hours and 30 minutes in normal traffic.