Costa Rica Guide

travel information and maps

  • Vacation Planning
  • Best Trips Ever>>
  • More Fun Than Humanly Possible
  • Costa Rica
    • Top Ten
    • Best Time to Visit Costa Rica
    • Things To Do in Costa Rica
    • Maps
    • Transportation
      • Rental Cars
        • Advantages of Driving
        • Disadvantages Driving
        • Code of the Road
        • Navigation & Drive Time
        • Rental Insurance Explained
        • Can’t Get There
      • Airports
        • Flights Worth Taking
        • LIR or SJO
        • Airfare Deals
        • Domestic Airlines
        • Domestic Air Tips
      • Taxis
      • Bus Schedule
    • Food
      • Typical Menu
      • Batidos & Refrescos
      • Gallo Pinto
      • Tamales
      • Ceviche
      • Ensalada Palmito
      • Sopa Negra
      • Vinagre Chilera
    • Weather
      • Seasons in Costa Rica
      • Current Storms in Costa Rica
    • Regions
  • Nature & Wildlife
    • National Parks
    • Wildlife Refuges
    • Ecozones
    • Best Places to See Wildlife in Costa Rica
  • Practical Info
    • Health & Safety
      • Health Tips
        • Altitude Sickness
        • Chikungunya
        • Natural Disasters
      • Crime
        • Cons & Rip-offs
        • Corruption
        • Violent Crime
    • Will My Phone Work?
    • Packing List
    • Passports & Docs
    • Money – How To?
    • How Much Does it Cost?
    • Travel Tips
  • Stories
    • Photos
    • Trek Across Costa Rica
    • Sendero de Oro
    • Quebrada Gata
    • Bicycle Touring
    • About Us
  • Move to Costa Rica
  • Free Travel Pack
no obligation custom trip plan & price quote

1-866-816-0197

· Copyright © 2023 ·

Tenorio Volcano National Park

Quite possibly our favorite national park.  I know, I know, they can’t all be our favorite, but…

Tenorio Volcano National Park Location
Tenorio Volcano National Park Location

Tenorio has everything you could want in a tropical forest natural area and every time we visit we find something new to love.  Hiking to the sky blue Celeste waterfall is a highlight, but the hanging bridges in the rainforest and trail to Lago Danta through the cloud forest from the Heliconias entrance are equally amazing.

For decades the area was nearly undiscovered but in 2018 twelve years of bridging river fords and improving roads culminated in the completion of the asphalt all the way to the park entrance.  Visits exploded and by April of 2019 the park service was forced to impose quotas on the number of hikers and birdwatchers allowed on the trail.

Our very first attempted visit here we never even made it to the park but it may also be the reason that we now spend so much time in Costa Rica updating the travel map we publish instead of sitting in front of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance imaging consoles in a pharmaceutical biochemistry lab.  Thank goodness for getting lost.

Celeste Waterfall

At a glance these are what puts the region around Bijagua on the list of the best places in Costa Rica.  From ranger station at the west entrance of Tenorio National Park (El Pilón) to the azure tinted cataract a couple of kilometers to the south.

Catarata Río Celeste
Catarata Río Celeste

You can make a loop out of the trail by continuing south to the teñiderios (Teñi de rios – dyeing of the rivers) then west along the other bank of the river to the hot springs and out to the road at the west entrance near Catarata Celeste Lodge.  The road leads north to the new car bridge over the river and back to the ranger station.

Hiking Trails

The “Crater Hike” is described on the following page along with a photo gallery.

Main Park Entrance (El Pilón)

The "Blue Lagoon" Rio Celeste
The “Blue Lagoon”

The best way to experience the area, in fact the only way to see much of it, is on foot.  You don’t have to be a Sherpa to visit the azure blue catarata río Celeste in Tenorio National park or the rainforest shrouded slopes of Miravalles volcano but you do have to walk because they’re only accessible by trail. Anywhere you walk in the area you’re likely to see birds and other wildlife (even in or near town).

The hiking trail to Celeste waterfall and the other attractions around the main entrance is described above.

Heliconias & Lago Danta

Sharing the canopy suspension bridges with the monkey
Sharing the canopy suspension bridges with the monkey

There is a little known entrance to the park at Heliconias Ecolodge Community Project.  They have a network of excellent trails leading through their private protected forest to a series of hanging bridges through the rainforest canopy.  On our last visit we went on the bridges trail under the stars and it was Awesome.

Starting at the top end of the Canopy Bridges trail there is a 3 km spur that climbs up to the national park boundary and on to Lago Danta (Tapir Lake).  We’ve never seen tapirs here but we’ve seen fresh tracks and they are more common here than nearly anywhere else in Costa Rica outside Corcovado National Park.

There are also many abandoned or nearly abandoned roads where you can walk or mountain bike around Heliconias, Bijagua or any of the remote lodges and Miravalles National Park is literally right across the street.

Natural Hot Springs

NOTE: In 2017 the park service closed the east entrance and the trail to the hot springs due to overcrowding.

The hotsprings here really are natural.  Commercial operations in the region have started the inevitable process of taming the geothermal mineral waters for spas and some of the pools in the National Park are off limits due to dangerously high temperatures, but there are still places along the lower Río Celeste where you can relax your tired muscles in completely natural hot springs (see map at bottom of page).

Heather in the Tenorio hot springs
Heather in the Tenorio hot springs

For your own safety please respect all closures, warnings, and regulations posted by the park administration.

Birdwatching

We considered adding an extra star to the rating system just for this region because five out of five doesn’t really do it justice.

Costa Rica is know for its incredible diversity of micro-climates, ecological zones and habitats and this valley between two volcanoes is a perfect example.

The continental divide follows the slopes of volcán Miravalles down to the southeast to a point where Tenorio starts rising just outside Bijagua (in front of the Tenorio Lodge in fact).  It’s not dramatic geographically and you won’t notice it as you’re driving or walking because the valley is quite broad here, but this dip in the continental divide is a mountain pass from the Caribbean slope to the Pacific.

This creates a natural flyway from Lago de Nicaragua, Caño Negro and the other wetlands in the northern Caribbean lowlands to the Pacific coast and Palo Verde wetlands along the Río Tempisque.  It seems unusual at first to see a flock of Roseate Spoonbills juxtaposed against the mountains but once you look a the geography it’s not surprising that this area hosts species from a wide range of habitats.

Getting There and When to Visit

NOTE: On April 11 2019 the National Park announced on its official facebook page that limits would be imposed on the number of visitors to reduce overcrowding.  No more than 500 people will be allowed in the park at one time and no more than 1,000 per day.

Tenorio, Celeste and Bijagua Map
Tenorio, Celeste and Bijagua Map

The map that’s linked above includes a zoomed out view showing the main ways to arrive in the area along with driving directions from Arenal volcano and the Pacific beaches.

Bijagua is right on the continental divide and Tenorio National Park is split by it but tends to have more wet Caribbean/Atlantic climatic association than dry Guanacaste.  It’s always possible it’ll rain but pretty unlikely it’ll be drenching downpours for extended periods.

Tickets & Hours for Tenorio National Park/Celeste Waterfall Pilón Entrance

The Park is open every day (including weekends and holidays) from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  The last entry is at 2:00 p.m.

Citizens and Residents ¢800 ($1.20)
Non-Residents $US12
Children under 12 are free

There is no online ticketing or reservation system for Tenorio or the Celeste waterfall trail.  Arrive early or join a tour group (agencies have access to advance purchase to guarantee entry).


or see summary

Use the drop down menu to see weather patterns and other seasonal information for the month you are thinking about visiting.

Hurricane Otto

Hurricane Otto Bijagua destruction
November 2016 – Hurricane Otto – You and our other website visitors helped to make the gofundme campaign a success raising almost $50,000.00 to help with the recovery.

The town of Bijagua and the Tenorio region were directly in the path of Hurricane Otto on Thanksgiving Day 2016. Ten people were killed and couple of tiny communities in northern Costa Rica were devastated by the impact.

The area is well on the way to a full recovery and one of the best things you can do to contribute to the local economy is visit and spend money!

The Crater “Trail”

The top of Tenorio Volcano and the trails leading to it are closed to the public.  We entered by special permission with an authorized guide and a baquiano (indigenous guide) who knew the route across the wandering maze of tunnels through the elfin cloud forest at the top.

If you have a chance to climb to the steep walled crater to the volcanically heated warm water lake at the top we highly recommend it.  There is one trail that begins near the teñiderios west of the main entrance.  It is clearly marked as off limits, nearly unused, and peters out into a maze of game trails after a few hundred meters.

We entered through private property on the south side of the volcano and went by horseback for the first few kilometers across pasture.  Once we entered the forest we tethered the horses and continued the ascent on foot.

Because so few people are allowed into the area we were not surprised by the abundance of wildlife – even endangered and shy squirrel monkeys were calmly watching us from the tree tops.

Survey Marker
Very few people visit the craters and peak of Tenorio volcano. It is not open to the public and requires both special permission from MINAE and permission from the landowners who’s private property you must cross to reach the national park.
Flowering Paramo
Flowering Paramo
The view across the valley
The view across the valley between Miravalles and Tenorio volcanoes from the top of Tenorio Volcano high above the clouds. The windows through the clouds would open then the wind would whip a white curtain across the panorama a second or two later.
Nearly vertical climb out of the crater of Tenorio
Nearly vertical climb out of the crater
Elfin Forest
At the top edge of the crater rim the trees are so stunted we could see over the top of the “canopy” while just standing on the ground.
clouds forming on the slopes of Tenorio volcano
Clouds forming on the slopes of Tenorio volcano
Tunnels through the canopy
Tunnels through the canopy – At the top edge of the crater rim the trees are so stunted we could see over the top of the “canopy” while just standing on the ground.
Tenorio Crater Lake
Tenorio Crater Lake
Our guide Marlon
Our guide Marlon
Tenorio crater rim and lake
Crater rim and lake – One small and half a dozen tiny lakes dot the bottom of the main crater of volcan Tenorio.
Spider monkey
Spider monkey
Peak of the number one crater of Tenorio
The peak of the number one crater of Tenorio volcano is normally covered or in and out of view as the trade winds blow across from the north Caribbean to the southern Pacific creating clouds in a phenomenon called orographic forcing along the continental divide.
Crater lake Tenorio Volcano
Crater lake
We rode horses through the pastures on the approach to Tenorio
We rode these sure footed mountain horses from a local working ranch across the hills between Aguas Caliente and the border of Tenorio national park to reach the hiking trail to the summit of the volcano.

 

Ray & Sue

Cost · ToDo · Plan·Costa Rica Guide logo animated·Top10 · Best Time · Contact


toll free Costa Rica travel desk!
1-866-816-0197

CONTACT US

National Parks
  • Poás Volcano National Park
  • Poás Volcano – Tickets & Visitor Information
  • Cerro Chirripó National Park
  • Tortuguero National Park
  • Corcovado National Park
  • Arenal Volcano National Park
  • Manuel Antonio National Park
  • Rincón de la Vieja National Park
  • Irazú Volcano National Park
  • La Cangreja National Park
  • La Amistad International Peace Park
  • Ballena National Park
  • Barbilla National Park
  • Barra Honda Caverns National Park
  • Las Baulas National Marine Park
  • Braulio Carrillo National Park
  • Cahuita National Park
  • Carara National Park
  • Guanacaste National Park
  • Isla del Cocos National Park



Costa Rica Guide on facebook
Costa Rica Guide on Facebook