Let’s go on a journey, my journey. Deep in the mountains, we take our rainforest adventure to a cloud forest where it rains often and wild dogs roam. Where are we going? Simply; the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica. In May 2018, I took an unforgettable seven-day trip to the beautiful country of Costa Rica with my boyfriend and visited two locations, Arenal and Monteverde. Now, I want to share with you some highlights of my trip and links to all the fun!
Second, Monteverde.
As I mentioned in my post Exploring Costa Rica: Booking a Trip, we planned EVERYTHING through Pacific Trade Winds. We had transport to and from the airport, to both hotels and all our excursions.
To get to Monteverde from Arenal, you can choose two different options. You can either drive five hours around the volcano OR you can travel for three hours by boat jeep boat. We went with option two for only USD 25 each. This means of travel was a lot of fun. Even though we had to ride in a shared jeep (which is a giant tour bus) for two hours, the boat ride was beautiful and you got to see the country’s culture and natural beauty uniquely.
The driver Carlos even stopped at a local market so we could eat, use the bathroom, and just stretch our legs, and…he ended up being my hero by returning my cell phone after I stupidly left it on the van when we got off at our Hotel Poco a Poco. (This was the one meltdown during the vacation)
The hotel we stayed at was called Hotel Poco a Poco and was a lot more modern than our hotel in Arenal. This room came with one king-size bed, television, small balcony, toiletries, hot tub, pool, and restaurant on-site. We were also served breakfast included in our stay each morning which we selected from a menu each morning and was table served. Our hotel was within walking distance from the center of town, so we did not have to use a taxi during our stay here. An important thing to note about Monteverde though, the power shuts off for an hour each day including the water. Additionally, since you are in a remote location in the mountains, flushing paper down the toilet can close the septic system so waste bins are provided with reminders EVERYWHERE!
During our stay in Monteverde, we did two-night tours (one we booked ourselves) and a hanging brides tour with ziplining at Selvatura, a private conservation area sharing the same eco-corridor as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.
Selvatura Canopy and Guided Hanging Bridges Combo
Our excursion to the Selvatura Park in Monteverde was an absolute blast. It was very tiring and rained during our zip-lining portion, but it was well worth it. We started with the hike and hanging bridges at 8 am because the animals are more active in the morning. We saw a variety of birds, tarantulas, Howler monkeys, insects, and plant ecosystems native to the area. It was interesting being able to learn and see wildlife with a skilled guide and we lucked out again with it only being us two, another girl, and our guide during our tour. There was a total of eight different hanging bridges varying in length and you can see the entire rainforest canopy.
Our ziplining experience was wet, to say the least. (But fun) We had a larger group during this activity, with about fifteen other people and our five guides. We got an up-close view of life at the top and our adrenaline was high (literally) with fifteen different zip-lining cables and a Tarzan Swing during the tour. We didn’t choose to do the Superman option at the end of the zip line which is a full kilometer long (where you lay down on your stomach) but we did do the Tarzan Swing which was an elastic cable attached to the harness that allowed you to hold on and swing through the jungle back and forth over a small cliff. Another cool thing about this location is that the two popular movies were filmed here. The Lost World: Jurassic Park Two and Paddington Bear Two were both filmed in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. When you zip line, you can even see the old bridges below you where shots were filmed.
We did two separate night tours while in Monteverde, the Night Tour at Quality Trail (Which we booked through the agency), and the Kinkajou Night Walk we booked through the hotel. At first, I wasn’t sold on doing two different night tours because I figured we’d be seeing the same things on both, but I was happily proven wrong. Each tour was a small group of people and you are provided with flashlights and a guide that teaches you some interesting things.
The ecological conservation is breathtaking here and at night you can see animals that you normally wouldn’t be able to during the day. One particular that is the mascot for the country, the perezoso (sloth) is most active at night and we were fortunate enough to see one in action! As you’ll be able to see from the photos and video on my Instagram, we were only a few inches away from the notoriously slow and irresistibly cute sloth!
Other animals we saw were green venomous viper snakes, tarantulas, possums, and tropical frogs. In addition to doing a night tour on our last day, we spent the morning and afternoon shopping for all our souvenirs, exploring local eateries and we even took a fifteen-minute walk to a hidden ficus tree tucked behind a school little ways into the forest. One of our tour guides told us about the tree and it was scary but cool to climb inside this natural staircase. I advise you to be careful though, there are no harnesses and it was a tad slippery!
Restaurants and the Town
To wrap up this part of the trip, it wouldn’t be complete without sharing some of the food and local culture of Monteverde. Since our hotel was right outside the town, we walked to everything. Monteverde, in my opinion, is more modernized than Arenal with tons of beautiful wall art, gardens, and upscale dining. We ate at Taco Taco, Tree House Restaurant, and Tico u Rico during our stay. Of course, we had to get some sweets here too, so we went to Monteverde Ice Cream located across from the Tree House restaurant. One tip I would have is to visit Don Juan’s coffee. Costa Rica is known for its rich and delicious coffee, and this place was the absolute best! Also, just like Arenal, there are local shops with an abundance of locally handmade goods including bracelets, pottery, wooden pieces, and your normal tourist trinkets you’ll see everywhere in the country.
Overall, our trip to Costa Rica was amazing and Monteverde was a perfect way to end our trip. You’ll find so many fun things to do here to make your trip exciting and certainly memorable. Monteverde is a place to check out if you are planning to visit Costa Rica and with a forest full of clouds, beautiful art, amazing food, and adventure EVERYWHERE, what more could you want? Pura Vida!
With Love,
Lex Paige
