Struggling to See Arenal through La Fortuna’s Touristy Haze

La Fortuna was kind of a bummer.

After six days in the luxury of Costa Rica’s beaches and cloud forests, I wasn’t prepared for the hard pavement that surrounds Arenal. I know there’s an undercurrent of tourism in Manuel Antonio and Monteverde, one that I very willingly bought into, but in La Fortuna it was thrown in your face like a bucket of cold water. Cheap souvenir shops and tour companies lined the streets and even the sodas were set up truck-stop style to accommodate tour bus season.

I was even more disappointed in our hostel, which gave us a quick sales pitch in response to our questions for suggestions. I understand their job is to sell everything from drinks to extra nights to ATV tours of the volcano, but after the outstanding service we had gotten in our previous hotels, their scripted answers seemed like a brush off. Don’t judge a whole town by its budget accommodations, I tried to remind myself as we set out to wander the streets of La Fortuna in search of dinner and maybe some more helpful people.

I had in mind very specific things that I wanted to do around La Fortuna – I wanted to see Arenal, bathe in a hot spring, and eat casados (always), and we only had one full day to do it in. But every tour place that we stopped in seemed over-priced and unconcerned, only waiting to sell us their package Arenal experience. I was crushed. What a bummer way to end a fantastic trip where we had met so many wonderful people and had such great adventures.

But then under a street light we spotted we three shiny, cheery red motorbikes. “To rent” a glorious sign declared, and Boyfriend was inside the rental office – before I had quite mustered my nerve. Still, I didn’t need much convincing.

Getting a motorbike in La Fortuna was one of the single best decisions we made in Costa Rica.

Boyfriend and I are the adventurous kind, and we loved having the freedom to zip around La Fortuna as we pleased. We started off the morning bright and early and sped over to Arenal (eat breakfast before you get out of town – there’s nothing on the way to the volcano). I’d never been on the back of a motorbike before, so I held on pretty tight. Within ten minutes I was twisting around, snapping photos and taking video. The views you get of Arenal as you drive up are just stunning.

Arenal itself is something pretty special. Arenal is an active but ‘resting’ volcano, and the most we saw was some smoke curling off the top. A short hike will take you to a lava flow from the 90s. We couldn’t really go further — maybe you could on a tour, but I didn’t see any support for that. Hike back to the car park the long way to see a realllyyy old tree.

After that we zipped around to the other side of the volcano to walk down 500 steps to the frigid La Fortuna waterfall. Don’t let the steps deter you. Yes it is a lot of steps, but the waterfall is gorgeous (and chillingly refreshing in the heat of the day).

From cold to hot, we hopped back on our motorbike and zoomed over to the hot springs. One of the best kept non-secrets in La Fortuna – there are free hot springs. The spas will charge you an crazy amount of money to hang out at their resorts and eat a buffet dinner. SKIP IT. Across the street from the Tabacon Resort is a free natural spring. Just walk down the path and duck under the overpass to score free relaxation. We went in the afternoon, but I wish we had had a chance to go back at night. The rocks were studded with candle nubs, and I could just imagine the springs glowing with candlelight after sunset, music and crickets and Spanish filling out the background. Alas, we had to return our motorbike by 7pm.

We ended the day by shooting back around Arenal, trying to find a bar with a good view of the sunset. I think we did pretty well.

Renting a motorbike was absolutely the best choice for us for our day in La Fortuna. I couldn’t imagine spending the last day of our vacation tagging along on a tour. We got to do what we wanted and at our own pace and experience things that wouldn’t have been included in a tour.

So get your own wheels and kick up some dust.

Have you ever taken matters — and the wheel — into your own hands? How did it turn out?

If you decide to rent a motorbike, listen carefully to all the traffic rules – there are police in La Fortuna and we were warned they would impound the bike if we broke the rules. Also be prepared for dirt and gravel roads on the way up to Arenal and the La Fortuna Waterfall.

Be careful with your valuables at the waterfall and the hot springs – not just because they could get snatched, but you could fall over and soak them! The undercurrent at the hot springs was really strong and I toppled, ‘catching’ myself with the hand holding our towel. Oops. 

We stayed at Arenal Hostel Resort. Listen, if you’re backpacking through Central America and are looking for a party hostel, this really could be a great option. It definitely has a ‘cool’ vibe, with a large courtyard area with hammocks and a swim up bar. However, our room was right by said bar and the party music pumps through from about 10am to 10pm. We also found the staff to be unhelpful. When we asked them for help with our activities all they wanted to do was sell us their prepackaged tours and when we checked out the woman working reception couldn’t find a record of the deposit money taken from us when we checked in. She was very helpful and gave us our deposit back anyway, but from her attitude we wondered if this disorganization wasn’t a continual problem. After the excellent service we received at our other two hotels, we were pretty disappointed with Arenal Hostel Resort.