20+ Best Things to Do in Monteverde Costa Rica
Looking for the best things to do in Monteverde? Whether you want to go bird-watching for the famous quetzal, walk the hanging bridges of a cloud forest, or hike to a waterfall, Monteverde has something for you.
With over 5 percent of the world’s biodiversity found in Costa Rica, it is estimated that about half of that can be found in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. A unique and essential part of Central America’s natural environment, Monteverde is one of the best places to see the untouched nature of Costa Rica.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve encompasses 35,000 acres, 8 microclimates, over 100 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, and 1,200 species of reptiles and amphibians. Together with the lesser-known Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, the Monteverde national park is a prime ecotourism destination straddling the Continental Divide.
While foreigners and Costa Ricans alike travel to the mountainous region in the province of Puntarenas to escape into this ecological wonder, it is not an overly busy tourism spot. You will have plenty of space to enjoy walking the hanging bridges, hiking the misty rainforest trails, and catching glimpses of tropical animals like the agouti in Monteverde.
Getting to Monteverde takes about three and a half hours if you are driving from either San José or Liberia. After the relatively straightforward drive along the Pan American Highway from either of these cities, you will take a scenic drive up the green mountain on the famous Monteverde road with its amazing views of the lowlands.
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The Best Things To Do in Monteverde
Walk the Hanging Bridges
Monteverde is one of the best places in Costa Rica to view the canopy of the rainforest on suspension bridge tours. This is because at the higher elevation you will truly have your “head in the clouds” due to the ever-present cloud cover that persists at tree canopy height.
These popular hanging bridge cloud forest tours can be found at Sky Adventures Monteverde Park or Selvatura Park. The hanging bridges take you up to 70 meters (230 feet) off the forest floor, where you can truly experience the dense and virgin cloud forest up close and personal.
A suspension bridge tour is a safe and comfortable way to explore the cloud forest, and it is suitable for just about all ages and abilities. A sky walk along these suspension bridges can be done with or without a guide and it is one of the most popular things to do in Monteverde.
Take a Bird Watching Tour
Monteverde is the best place to see the resplendent quetzal – a magnificent emerald green bird with long, flowing tail streamer feathers, red bellies, and mohawk-like plumage on their heads. It is by far the most sought out bird in Monteverde, however, its rarity makes it hard to find. That’s why bird lovers tend to take a guided bird watching tour when they visit the vast cloud forest reserve.
An early morning tour is recommended to see the most species of birds, of which there are over 450 types! Depending on your budget, there are private tours and group tours to choose from, all of which will take you on a guided hike through the cloud forest reserve for about two to three hours. These are typically casual strolls that are suitable for most abilities. If you’re going to take a bird watching tour anywhere in Costa Rica, Monteverde is the place to do it!
Discover the Small Town of Santa Elena
With restaurants, coffee shops, tour companies, and shopping, the small town of Santa Elena may look small but it offers a surprising number of options. You can instantly tell that this town is within an ecological reserve as downtown Santa Elena may be the cleanest you have ever seen!
A popular choice for lunch or dinner is the Tree House Restaurant, which is built around a massive Ficus tree. Owned by Costa Ricans, this impressive and eclectic restaurant has been a mainstay in downtown Santa Elena since 2004.
There is a large shopping center in Santa Elena with restaurants, bars, a grocery store, clothing stores, kitschy souvenir shops, and natural foods. There is even a place to charge your electric vehicle in downtown Santa Elena!
Looking for a car rental for your trip? Find the best prices here.
Go On a Night Tour
You can’t go to Monteverde and not do one of their famous night tours. A night tour is an opportunity to see some of the nocturnal animals that live in the cloud forest, such as snakes, spiders, and bats. It is also an ideal time to find sleeping tropical birds, monkeys, sloths, and colorful frogs.
Monteverde night tours take place every night at 6 and 8 pm. A bilingual guide will take you through the dense forest trails, pointing out animals you would never find on your own! There are several night tours to choose from in Monteverde but all require the ability to do some light hiking, warm clothing, a raincoat or poncho, and closed-toe shoes.
Enjoy a Brew at Monteverde Brewery
With craft beer made in the heart of the cloud forest, The Monteverde Brewing Company makes its beer with the clean and pure water of the rainforest, without additives or preservatives. The local brewery produces over 2,000 liters of beer per month for themselves and a few other local bars and restaurants.
The Monteverde Brewing Company brewpub serves typical Costa Rican food with a flair and upscale bar food. Their must-try beer is El Rayado, which is an easy-drinking pale ale with a strong character that features citrus and floral aromas.
Read More: 12 Best Breweries in Costa Rica
Visit the Curi Cancha Reserve
The Curi Cancha National Wildlife Refuge is a private reserve with fewer visitors than the better known Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, so you may get the chance to see more undisturbed wildlife in this park. Not a completely virgin rainforest, Curi Cancha features some secondary forest and more open spaces than the dense primary rainforest of Monteverde, giving visitors a chance to see more elusive land mammals such as tapirs and deer.
A private, guided walk through the Curi Cancha Reserve to learn about the flora and fauna of the region is relatively inexpensive at around $25-$35 per person. You will be taken on a 3-hour tour through the primary and secondary forests all while hearing about some of the natural history of the Curi Cancha Reserve.
Stop at the Monteverde Cheese Factory
In the 1950s, a group of Quakers from the USA settled the Santa Elena area and quickly founded the Monteverde Cheese Factory in 1953. This would soon become the area’s largest employer, although the pandemic took its toll. It is located just across the road from the entrance of the Curi Cancha Reserve and is a great spot to stop for some ice cream after your hike in the surrounding cloud forest.
There are many choices of fresh cheeses to take home here like the popular palmito, which is a large sting of cheese wrapped into a ball. If you are interested in learning about the history of Quakers in Monteverde, sampling some unique Costa Rican cheese, and enjoying an ice cream cone, you can take a tour of the Cheese Factory from 7:30 am to 4 pm Monday to Saturday, and 7:30 am to 12:30 pm on Sundays. This tour costs $10 per person. Call +506 2645-6565 to book a tour.
Take a Coffee Tour
Before the arrival of the Quakers, Monteverde’s main industry was coffee farming.
The fertile valleys and green mountain of Montverde make the soil here ideal for coffee production. The history of coffee farming goes back hundreds of years in Costa Rica and Monteverde is a great place for learning about this important piece of the country’s agriculture and how it has become an integral part of their way of life.
Explore a coffee plantation, learn all about the process of coffee production from bean to beverage, and even help in the process of roasting and making coffee the traditional way during what is typically a three-hour tour. You can even do a three-in-one tour that shares more knowledge about two other important crop productions in Costa Rica – cocoa and sugar cane. Interactive tours like these are great for families! Everyone will enjoy sampling the end results that you all helped to create.
Hike the Trails with a Guided Tour
Only about 3 percent of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is accessible to visitors. There is a 13 kilometer (8 mile) network of trails that can be easily navigated on your own, however, it is highly recommended that you take a guided tour.
A local guide will be instrumental in helping you spot the incredible inhabitants of the cloud forest, such as the well-camouflaged sloth. A guide will also be an insightful source of information about the flora and fauna, not to mention the history of the area.
There are 6 main trails to explore beneath the forest canopy, which will give you a very different perspective than the suspension bridge walk. Walking along the forest floor will allow you to experience not only the sights but the smells of this unique ecosystem, where ferns, lichens, fungi, and orchids flourish.
Some of the trails are relatively short and will only take about 10 minutes to complete, while longer trails range from 1 to 2 kilometers (0.6-1.2 miles).
Visit a Sloth Sanctuary
The sloth is an emblematic symbol of Costa Rica and one of the most highly sought out animals that visitors of the country look forward to seeing during their trip. You can take your chances in the wild or you can guarantee a sighting at the Sloth Sanctuary at Selvatura Park.
Around 20 sloths live in this sanctuary, where they have been rescued from poaching, habitat destruction, illness, and injury. You can take a guided tour of the exhibit to learn about the slow moving creature and its habits, and the differences between a two-toed sloth and a three-toed sloth. This tour is $25 for children and $35 for adults and helps support the conservation of these adorable animals.
Fly on the Longest Superman Zipline and Tarzan Swing
Get your thrills on Costa Rica’s longest and highest front facing Superman zipline – over one mile long! A full adventure day at Selvatura Park features a 10 platform zipline that will have you soaring above the cloud forest.
You will explore the cloud forest in several other ways, including an ATV buggy ride on the forest floor and a walk along a rope suspension bridge. There is even rock rappelling. Finally, you will channel the most infamous jungle adventurer of all with a turn on the Mega Tarzan Swing, where you will soar a dizzying 45 meters (145 feet) into the air.
This 3-hour adrenaline filled combo tour lasts about 2 hours and costs a mere $54 for memories that will last a lifetime.
Horseback Riding at El Tigre Waterfalls
The El Tigre waterfalls are actually a collection of four big waterfalls. To witness this awe-inspiring beauty, you will hike through the rainforest, crossing 10 hanging bridges and rivers. This is a self guided hike and is a little more than 5 kilometers (3 miles) long.
After viewing the waterfalls, you can choose to go back to the reception area by horse, by Jeep, or hike the last part, which is mostly uphill. The El Tigre waterfalls are open daily from 7:30 am with the last entry at 1:30 pm. The total hike will take you between 3 to 4 hours and it is considered to be an intermediate to difficult hike. Some tours will include a lunch.
Learn All About Bats
Are bats really blind? You will learn the answer to this and much more at a special bat exhibit in Monteverde. Over four decades of research have gone into the Bat Jungle. This indoor exhibition featuring 80 live bats of 8 different species is a great place for families and nature lovers alike.
You will not just be viewing bats in cages at the Bat Jungle. There is a 52-meter square flight space, which is designed to look like the cloud forest at night. You can watch the bats fly around and feed from the glass “Bat Habitat” enclosure where you can hear the chirping sounds that the bats make to help them “see” in the dark. There are also some interesting exhibits that will teach you the importance of bat conservation for controlling bugs, pollinating flowers, and regenerating tropical rainforests.
This tour can be self guided or taken with a knowledgeable guide and it only takes about an hour to complete. Its slow pace and indoor location make it the perfect place for a rainy afternoon.
Visit the Butterfly Garden
A visit to the Butterfly Garden is sure to change your views on all things that crawl and flutter. The Monteverde Butterfly Gardens has been teaching people about the wonders of insects and arachnids for more than two decades.
There are over 20 species of live Costa Rican insects and arachnids featured at the Butterfly Garden. There are 4 different butterfly habitats housing up to 30 species of butterflies at the Butterfly Garden, and if you’re lucky, you may even get to see one coming out of its chrysalis! There’s also a fascinating leaf cutter ant colony where you can get an up close look at the industrious critters.
A passionate naturalist guide will lead you on an hour long tour to learn all about the insects of Costa Rica – of which there are 35,000 species recorded and a possible 150,000 more! It even includes a short walk around the property where keel billed toucans and capuchin monkeys are frequent visitors. This is one of the best tours for families with young children!
See Hummingbirds Up Close
If you aren’t done with seeing small, beautiful creatures buzzing around then you should check out the Hummingbird Garden at Selvatura Park. This 850-acre eco-adventure park has many adventures and wildlife experiences, including a self-guided hummingbird garden. You can forego the other activities and enter just the hummingbird garden for a separate fee of only $12 per person.
The garden at Selvatura Park features 14 different species of hummingbirds where you will get a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with the tiny birds. Watch them as they feed and you may even get the chance to have one of the hummingbirds perch on your finger – if you’re patient! This is a great place for photographers to capture an up close photo of these fast moving birds. There is even an area for a picnic or a rest from your busy day.
Hike with the Kids at the Children’s Eternal Rainforest
Purchased by children from 44 different countries to preserve the area from deforestation or development, the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (Bosque Eterno de Los Niños) is the best way to view the cloud forest with your kids because the trails are super easy! Plus, they can see what kind of impact children can have on the world and the environment when they put their minds to it.
The Children’s Eternal Rainforest is made up of more than 55,000 acres of primary and secondary forests, and regeneration areas with various points of entry. The family-friendly trails of the Bajo del Tigre entrance is about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Santa Elena town.
Stay Overnight Deep in the Jungle
Adventurous visitors to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in Monteverde can hike and stay at a rustic lodge overnight to completely immerse themselves in the tropical rainforest. The San Gerardo Station is a simple lodge nestled deep in the heart of the jungle with over 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of trails to explore the secondary and primary forests. This lodge is only accessible via a 3.5 kilometer (2 mile) hike from the Santa Elena Reserve.
The lodge is open daily from 7 am to 4 pm for trail use, meals, and to accommodate lodging, however, all services require advance reservations. With 3 home cooked meals a day and a balcony with spectacular views of the Arenal Volcano, Lake Arenal, and thousands of hectares of tropical rainforest, the San Gerardo Station is a great place for eco-tourists, student groups, and researchers.
Discover the Monteverde Orchid Garden
With 450 species of orchids, the Monteverde Orchid Garden is the largest collection of these delicate flowers in Costa Rica. This tour is a short walk for those looking for some downtime in a relaxing and beautiful environment.
A guided tour here will show you species of orchids that are endemic to Monteverde along with a miniature collection featuring the world’s smallest orchid. This garden is centrally located in the small town of Santa Elena and only takes about an hour to complete, depending on how much time you want to spend amongst the lovely blooms in the serene garden.
The entrance fee for the Monteverde Orchid Garden is $12 per person and it is open daily from 8 am to 5 pm.
Go Bungee Jumping in the Cloud Forest
Dive into the cloud forest from Central America’s highest bungee jumping spot. This is an opportunity to see the surrounding rainforest from a different point of view – upside down!
Unique in that the jump is made from a tram moving along a cable system, this bungee jump launches from 143 meters (470 feet) in the air. A unique experience with a breathtaking view, this is a must-do for the adrenaline seekers. The cost for this bungee jump is $87, which includes the use of a helmet and patient guides.
Spend an Evening in a Hidden Speakeasy
In a hidden bar in downtown Santa Elena, you will be transported back to the era of prohibition when the speakeasy was born. This minimalist but creative space only allows for two visitors at a time and is the perfect place for couples seeking a unique experience.
Your host Jafet of OME Mixology Experience will take you on a journey through taste and presentation unlike anything you will find anywhere else in Costa Rica. Through personalized experience and 5 conceptual cocktails, you will learn about the local culture, the history, the artist’s passion, and about mixology as well. This is a two-hour experience unlike anything else in Monteverde.
