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Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️
Is it worth it to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal (or vice versa)?
If you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica and you don’t plan on lounging around a beach the whole time, chances are you’ll venture into the northern inland region, where some of the nation’s best nature and adventure tours explore the rainforest, the cloud forest, volcanoes, rivers, and canyons. The anchors of the northern inland region are La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde, two destinations divided by a 3-hour drive. While it’s best to visit both of these diverse areas during your time in the country, if you only plan to park yourself in one, you may be wondering if it’s possible to make a day trip to the other, essentially experiencing both places in one swoop. While our answer to this question is “Yes, it’s possible to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or a day trip to La Fortuna / Arenal from Monteverde” (below, we explain three ways to accomplish this), the more important question to ask is: “Is it worth it to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or a day trip to La Fortuna / Arenal from Monteverde?”
Let’s cut straight to the point. In our opinion, no, it isn’t worth it to try to cram in a visit to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or a visit to La Fortuna / Arenal from Monteverde over the course of one day. Despite harboring a deep love for each of the two destinations and highly recommending visits to both during your time in Costa Rica, the reality is, day trips between La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde aren’t quick, aren’t cheap, and don’t leave much time to actually enjoy your visit. Day trips made between La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde can also be awfully tiring; they require a minimum of 6 hours of driving time, a lot of which is conducted over bumpy or curvy roads.
Though we feel that making a day trip between La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde isn’t the best use of vacation time and trip funds, assuming you want to make the trip anyway, our article below explains how.
Our two recommended itinerary plans
Before we outline how to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or to La Fortuna / Arenal from Monteverde, we’ll briefly cover what we’d prefer to see you do instead.
Itinerary #1: Spend a few days and nights in La Fortuna / Arenal AND Monteverde
The number of days and nights you should spend at each destination is up to you, but we’d love to see you commit to traveling to, staying overnight at, and exploring both La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde during your vacation. This itinerary plan involves adding both places to your trip itinerary as separate stops. If the amount of time you have to spend in Costa Rica is limited, go with itinerary option #2.
Itinerary #2: Spend a few days and nights in either La Fortuna / Arenal OR Monteverde
The number of days and nights you should spend at the destination you choose is up to you, but commit to traveling to, staying overnight at, and exploring either La Fortuna /Arenal or Monteverde during your vacation. This itinerary plan involves adding only one of the two places to your trip itinerary.
Trying to decide between visiting La Fortuna / Arenal or Monteverde? Don’t miss our related blog post:
Three ways to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal (or vice versa)
If you absolutely must make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or to La Fortuna / Arenal from Monteverde, here’s how to make it happen.
Option #1: Reserve an organized, full-day, guided tour to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal
A handful of La Fortuna-based tour operators run organized day tours to Monteverde, meaning you’ll get picked up and dropped off at your La Fortuna / Arenal hotel but you’ll explore Monteverde for a few hours during the day. More specifically, the tours depart from La Fortuna / Arenal early in the morning, include one or two activities in the Monteverde region during the late morning and/or early afternoon, and return to La Fortuna / Arenal in the late afternoon or the early evening on the same day. Here are some pros and cons to consider with this option:
Advantages to reserving an organized, full-day, guided tour to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal
This option requires little effort and organization on your part beyond simply choosing and reserving your preferred full-day Monteverde tour.
Disadvantages to reserving an organized, full-day, guided tour to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal
Full-day Monteverde tours are typically quite expensive because they need to cover city-to-city transportation expenses in addition to expenses that pertain to tour guides, food, and/or activities.
Tour operators usually require a minimum number of tour participants (typically 4 people) to run full-day Monteverde tours in order to cover all of the operating expenses. This minimum participant requirement can be difficult to meet during the low/rain/green season, or by independent travelers or small travel groups.
Full-day Monteverde tours have predetermined, set tour durations and travel times. This means you’ll have little say in the tour departure time from La Fortuna / Arenal, the amount of time you’ll get to spend in Monteverde, and the return time to La Fortuna / Arenal.
Full-day Monteverde tours include predetermined, set activities. This means you’ll have little control over the type of activities you’ll experience while in Monteverde.
Option #2: Plan your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using the popular van-boat-van service
With this option, you can create your own custom full-day tour to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or vice versa by relying on the convenient van-boat-van servicethat connects the two destinations across Lake Arenal. (See our related blog post Best Ways To Travel To Monteverde From La Fortuna / Arenal (Or Vice Versa) for an explanation of what the van-boat-van service—also called the jeep-boat-jeep service or the taxi-boat-taxi service—entails.) Since the 3.5-hour van-boat-van service departs from La Fortuna / Arenal and Monteverde twice daily (around 8:30am and 2:30pm from each destination), you can give yourself approximately 2.5 hours of free time in Monteverde by taking the round-trip service in one day. While in Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal, you can choose to experience an activity that interests you among those that can be experienced in the short amount of time you’ll have to explore the area.
Advantages to planning your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using the van-boat-van service
Since the van-boat-van service is a relatively affordable mode of transportation, this option is less expensive than Option #1 described above.
Since you’re not joining an organized tour, you won’t need to meet a tour operator’s minimum participant requirement. There may still be a minimum participant requirement for the specific activity you choose to experience in La Fortuna / Arenal or Monteverde, though.
This option provides moderate freedom; you’re free to choose the activities you wish to experience while in Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal.
Disadvantages to planning your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using the van-boat-van service
Moderate effort and organization is required to reserve the van-boat-van service in two directions, as well as whichever activity you’d like to experience.
Since van-boat-van services have set departure times, you have little control over departure and return times.
Option #3: Plan your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using alternative transportation services
This option offers the greatest flexibility. It allows you to create your own custom full-day tour to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal or vice versa that utilizes a mix of transportation services that provide you with some control over departure and return times. Possible transportation types include van-boat-van services (see Option #2 above), shared shuttle services, private transfer services, and/or a rental car.
As described with Option #2 above, if you rely on round-trip van-boat-van services to travel between Monteverde and La Fortuna / Arenal, you’ll have little time at your chosen destination to experience its sights. Alternative types of transportation services, however, can provide you with more time to explore. For example, while creating a day trip from La Fortuna / Arenal to Monteverde, if you book a private transfer service—a mode of transportation that allows you to select your own departure time—with a departure time from La Fortuna / Arenal at 7:00am and a departure time from Monteverde at 7:00pm, you’ll have roughly 6 hours to explore Monteverde’s top attractions. Renting a car to drive yourself to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal (or vice versa) is another possibility, and if you head out on the road early in the morning from one destination and late in the evening from the other, this will also help you maximize the day-trip experience. You can also mix and match transportation services; consider using a one-way shared shuttle service in the morning and a one-way private transfer service (scheduled at the departure time of your choosing) back to your home base late in the day.
Advantages to planning your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using alternative transportation services
This option offers ultimate flexibility and freedom; you can choose the transportation services you prefer to use, the activities you wish to participate in, and the duration of the day trip.
Since you’re not joining an organized tour, you won’t need to meet a tour operator’s minimum participant requirement. There may still be a minimum participant requirement for the specific activities you choose to experience in La Fortuna / Arenal or Monteverde, though.
Disadvantages to planning your own full-day tour to Monteverde or La Fortuna / Arenal using alternative transportation services
Depending on which transportation services are used (especially if private transfer services are considered), this option can be the most expensive.
Moderate effort and organization is required to reserve your desired transportation services in two directions, as well as whichever activities you’d like to experience.
Map of La Fortuna / Arenal Costa Rica
Map of Monteverde Costa Rica
Pura vida!
Do you have questions about making day trips between La Fortuna and Monteverde, want help deciding whether a day trip is worth it, or need help coordinating a day trip? No problem! When you’re ready, make an appointment here to communicate with me (Nikki) privately and we can discuss these and other topics to get your questions answered fast and your Costa Rica trip poised for success. Pura vida, amigos! 🙂
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Summary
Article Name
How To Make A Day Trip To Monteverde From La Fortuna / Arenal (Or Vice Versa)
Description
We outline three ways to make a day trip to Monteverde from La Fortuna / Arenal (or vice versa) and explain why doing so isn't a good idea.
The comment section of this article has moved! If you have a question or comment about our article above or Costa Rica travel in general, please post it in our Questions and Answers Forum on DIY Costa Rica, our sister website, where you can also access our private Costa Rica recommendations, our Costa Rica Destination Tool, and our Costa Rica Recommendations Map. See you there, amigos! 🙂
That’s great to hear! We’d love to read it when it becomes available. Will you be staying overnight in Monteverde or will you be visiting the destination as part of a day trip?
Thank you for this. We are planning to come to CR for a week and have 3 days at the beach, 3 days in La Fortuna, and 1 day in San Jose. We were planning to take a day trip to Monteverde, but you may have just saved us what is likely to be a VERY long day with 2 kids and some arguing to boot. Thanks for your honest opinions.
Travelers to Costa Rica have no idea until they actually experience this. We did a whirlwind tour of CR, which suits our traveling style. We stayed a couple of nights in Tortuguero, a couple in La Fortuna, one night in Monteverde, and a couple of nights in Manuel Antonio. We happen to like road trips, so we enjoyed the long, albeit bumpy roads that gave us a chance to see more of beautiful Costa Rica. As much as we loved all of the places, we fell in love with Monteverde. One 24 hour period was not enough time for us to adequately explore the area, but we are happy we made the trip. For us it worked to take the taxi-boat-taxi to Monteverde and take a 1:00 shuttle the next day to our next location. That gave us time to take a night tour and take another tour the next morning, and also allowed time to try some restaurants and see the famous strangler fig and the town of Santa Elena. I cannot imagine trying to do the trip in one day. I would have felt very disappointed. As it is, 24 hours was not quite enough time to make us truly satisfied, but at least we know where we are going when we return.
That’s wonderful feedback! Thanks so much for sharing. We also love Monteverde; it’s my second-favorite destination in Costa Rica and Ricky’s all-time favorite. And we agree with your observation and opinion: 24 hours isn’t enough time to explore Monteverde. When you make your return trip, please report back to us again to share what you did in Monteverde the second time around! 🙂
You saved the day!! Thank you. This is such a helpful response. I will be in CR in February with my husband and 3 kids (8,10,12). I have been to CR in the past and went to coast, Arenal, and Monteverde, but given the logistics, price, and time frame, it makes more sense for us to prioritize which would be the best destination. Since we live in the Hamptons in NY near the ocean, we decided on La Fortunate but was contemplating Monteverde too–whether day trip or 2 days. Your blog about one vs the other was also so helpful. Given my kids’ ages and the need for TLC at the end of the day, we decided to stay in La Fortuna the entire time where we can hike, springs, horseback ride, do zip line and hanging brideges and stay at great place, Leaves and Lizards. I feel so good having read your blog. Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂 I’m so glad to know that you’ve found our blog to be helpful. And, for what it’s worth, I think you made the right call regarding La Fortuna vs. Monteverde given your interests and the ages of your children. Wishing you a wonderful return trip! 🙂
We are in Costa Rica from a Saturday to a Saturday, but we leave to go home at 12:30pm from Liberia so we will not be able to use that day for activities. We are thinking to arrive in La Fortuna around 2pm the first Saturday and stay the night and then Sunday explore the volcano. Then on Monday, were thinking to driving to Monteverde at 6am and explore once we get there around 11am until sunset and stay 1 night.
Then on Tuesday morning, get up and explore until 12pm and drive to Tamarindo for the reminder of the trip. Are we crazy to make this our itinerary?
Not at all! Many people fit two or even three destinations into a one-week vacation, and your plan to combine time spent in La Fortuna and Monteverde with time spent at a beach town is a very popular one. More specifically, the La Fortuna -> Monteverde -> Tamarindo itinerary is one of the most common that we see. Have fun! 🙂
Would you recommend going to Monteverde for just one night? I have planned a one day/night stop there between Arenal and Manuel Antonio. I would leave Arenal early in the morning to have as much time in Monteverde as possible. Thanks for your insight.
It’s tough to specifically recommend going to Monteverde for only one night because there’s enough to do there to warrant spending more time at the destination. That being said, if your time is limited, one night is better than no nights! 🙂 You’ll add about 1.5 hours of drive time if you decide to travel from La Fortuna to Monteverde and then Monteverde to Manuel Antonio (as opposed to from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio directly), but that’s a small price to pay for getting to experience one of Costa Rica’s most precious gems.
hey, thanks for your info!
do you think its feasible to visit Monteverde and Arenal volcano the same day?
if yes, which detailed itinerary or connections would you recommend?
same questions if 2 days to do both and be in the late evening in San Jose?
Hello,
We are meeting up with the group late at night at Arenal and do not have Monteverde in the group itinerary. We are staying in Arenal for 4 nights.
We will be traveling from Playa Flamengo and have a “free” day. We were wondering if we can go to Monteverde , do Cloud Forest Hike and then go to Arenal.
We will have a 4X4 Rental car. What do you say? How doable is it and is it worth it?
Yes, you can visit Monteverde on the day that you travel between Playa Flamingo and La Fortuna / Arenal. Driving out of the way to visit Monteverde will add about 3 hours of extra drive time to your day, but the detour is worth it if you want to experience Monteverde’s cloud forest. If you leave Playa Flamingo at 8:00am and plan to arrive at La Fortuna before 6:00pm (when it gets dark), you’ll have about 3-3.5 hours to enjoy Monteverde during the day. (The other approximate 6.5 hours will be spent driving from Playa Flamingo to Monteverde and from Monteverde to La Fortuna / Arenal.)
Pura vida! 🙂
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