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Written by Nikki Solano

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. ❤️️

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WANT TO SAVE MONEY IN COSTA RICA?

Our sister site, Pura Vida! eh? Inc., has discounts for La Fortuna tours and activities, including discounts for the Mistico Park and discounts for Sky Adventures. Con mucho gusto (you’re welcome) and pura vida!

🙂

How to choose between the Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park and the Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park

If you’ve decided to visit La Fortuna during your trip to Costa Rica, you’ve probably also decided to tour the hanging bridges while you’re there, and if so, you’re likely torn over which hanging bridges park to visit: the Mistico Park or Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park. The two attractions are popular enough to warrant exploring, yet similar enough that you can get away with visiting just one during your time in the Arenal area. The tough question, though, that we’ve spent 15+ years answering for travelers via emails, forum responses, and podcast interviews, is this: Which hanging bridges are the best in La Fortuna: the Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park or the Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park?

If you’re familiar with our blog, you already know that we rarely classify any one experience in Costa Rica as “the best” because the term is highly subjective. We know that the best for us may not be the best for you according to your individual wants, needs, and preferences. So, spoiler alert: the article below doesn’t pick one hanging bridge park over the other. Instead, the article below relays important information gathered from our multiple visits to both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park so you can quickly and easily compare and contrast the two properties, and decide for yourself which hanging bridges are the best for you to visit.

A quick trip down memory lane

We’ve been exploring La Fortuna (including the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park) since the mid-2000s, and we’ve enjoyed watching it grow and tracking its changes ever since. ❤️

Before you pick a hanging bridge park, know this.

Before we get to comparing and contrasting the two parks according to the criteria covered below, know this: you cannot go wrong with either park. Not only are the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park popular attractions in the La Fortuna/Arenal area but they’re also two of Costa Rica’s top attractions that regularly receive rave reviews. Though one of the parks may suit your style and interests more than the other (our article below will help you determine that), neither is a bad choice.

Number of bridges, bridge length, and bridge height

When considering bridge quantity, length, and height, what matters most is the quantity, length, and height of a park’s suspension bridges, not the quantity, length, or height of a park’s non-suspension bridges. Suspension bridges provide the quintessential, sought-after “hanging bridges” experience, which entails moving through a forest on a bridge that’s suspended high above the forest floor. Non-suspension bridges, which are typically short, stationary, positioned just above the forest floor, and supported by metal beams beneath the bridge, aren’t considered hanging bridges. The photos above show the difference between a regular (non-suspension/hanging) bridge and a suspension/hanging bridge. The charts below, which detail bridge quantity, length, and height, reflect a park’s suspension/hanging bridges only.

Note: In addition to their suspension/hanging bridges, the Mistico Park has 10 non-suspension/hanging bridges and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park has 4 non-suspension/hanging bridges. For this reason, you may see other resources indicate that the Mistico Park is home to 16 bridges and that Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park is home to 8 bridges. Remember, as explained above, the non-suspension bridges aren’t hanging bridges, so they shouldn’t influence your choice of a hanging bridges park.

Nature trails and hike distance, duration, and conditions

The difference between the hanging bridge experience at the Mistico Park and the hanging bridge experience at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park is most obvious in the parks’ nature trails.

Nature trail comparison chart

	Nature trails at the Mistico Park	Nature trail at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park
Number of trails	3; the main trail, a bird-watching trail, and an accessible trail	1 large, circular trail
Trail distance	3.2 kilometers (main trail) 1.5 kilometers (accessible trail) Distance of bird-watching trail varies by route	4-kilometer loop
Number of hanging bridges encountered along the trail(s)	All 6 hanging bridges are encountered along the main trail; 3 or 4 of the bridges are encountered along the bird-watching trail (depending on the route taken); 1 of the bridges is encountered along the accessible trail	All 4 hanging bridges are encountered along the trail

At the Mistico Park, you can choose to hike one or all of the nature trails. The trails overlap in areas, however, so you’ll cover some parts of the walk/hike twice if you opt to explore more than one trail.

At Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, you can choose to hike part or all of the 4-kilometer loop. Note that if you choose not to complete the entire loop, wherever you decide to stop, you’ll need to turn around and backtrack toward the entrance. Since the two best bridges at the Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park are the first two bridges, many people hike the first half of the loop, turn around, and hike back the way they came (both the Arenal Lake viewpoints and the waterfalls are encountered along this section of the trail). To hike where fewer visitors roam, complete the full loop; the second half of the trail is more remote and less frequented.

Guided hanging bridge tours

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park run guided hanging bridge tours. At the Mistico Park, the experience is called the Natural History Walk. At Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, the experience is called the Sky Walk. Since Sky Adventures operates adventure parks in the La Fortuna/Arenal and Monteverde areas of Costa Rica, the Sky Walk tour in La Fortuna/Arenal is often referred to as the Arenal Sky Walk (in Monteverde, it’s known as the Monteverde Sky Walk) to minimize confusion.

Hanging bridge tour comparison chart

	Hanging bridge tour at the Mistico Park	Hanging bridge tour at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park
Guided hanging bridges tour cost	Original cost: $40.00 USD plus tax per adult (discount here) Original cost: $30.00 USD plus tax per student/adolescent (discount here) Original cost: $14.00 USD plus tax per child (discount here)	Original cost: $41.00 USD plus tax per adult (discount here) Original cost: $33.00 USD plus tax per student/adolescent (discount here) Original cost: $28.00 USD plus tax per child (discount here)
Tour available in these languages	Spanish, English, French	Spanish, English
Guided hanging bridges tour times	6:00am (bird-watching tour only), 8:00am, 9:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 2:00pm, 4:30pm (twilight tour only), 6:00pm (night tour only)	7:00am, 8:00am, 9:00am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm
Tour duration	2.5 hours (guided tour) 1.5-2 hours (self-guided tour)	3 hours (guided tour) 2-2.5 hours (self-guided tour)
Minimum age requirement	None	None
Tour reservation required?	Yes	Yes
Special attire required?	Yes: no shoes with slits (such as Keen sandals) or open toes; long pants are required for participation in twilight tours and night tours only	Yes: no shoes with slits (such as Keen sandals) or open toes

Rainforest views

There is little difference between the rainforest views you’ll find at the Mistico Park and the rainforest views you’ll find at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, mainly because the two parks sit only 8 kilometers from one another as the crow flies. (By car, the parks are roughly a 15-minute drive from each other.) Both hanging bridge parks are lush and green, and they remain that way year-round. Both provide an opportunity to explore the treetop canopy and lay your eyes on some giant, jaw-dropping trees.

Arenal Volcano views and Arenal Lake views

You can see the Arenal Volcano from both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park. At the Mistico Park, the best places to view the volcano are at the volcano viewpoint that’s located just behind the park’s reception, and at the park’s on-site restaurant. You can also see the volcano at a distance when crossing the park’s Arenal Bridge. If you plan to tour the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, don’t miss the beautiful volcano view from the on-site restaurant. Additionally, if you intend to experience other on-site activities at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park beyond the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges, including the Sky Tram Aerial Tram Ride or the Sky Trek Canopy Zip-Lining Tour, you’ll be rewarded with spectacular volcano views during those excursions, too.

The Mistico Park does not have a view of Arenal Lake, but you’ll drive past the lake for a few seconds on your way to and from the park. In contrast, Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park has not one but two viewpoints that showcase Arenal Lake. Both Arenal Lake viewpoints fall along the park’s trail and sit between the El Yucon and La Quebrada bridges.

Waterfall views and river/stream views

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park are home to at least one waterfall (Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park is blessed with two waterfalls), though the way you’ll access the waterfall at each park is different. At the Mistico Park, you’ll find the Blue Morpho Waterfall. At Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park are the El Encanto Waterfall and the Escondido Waterfall. In addition, while you tour the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, you’ll hike past several equally beautiful and photogenic streams.

Location and distance from La Fortuna

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park sit on the outskirts of La Fortuna, west of the downtown core.

Road conditions (4×4 requirement) and parking

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park are accessible by car. Unfortunately, neither park is reachable by public bus.

Transportation services (hotel pick-ups and drop-offs)

If you don’t plan to rent a car in Costa Rica, you can use hired transportation to reach either park. Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park provide their own hired transportation services, which function as shared shuttle services (i.e., the transportation service is shared with other travelers and is not private to your travel group).

Restaurants and dining

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park have a restaurant on-site. Both restaurants provide an unobstructed view of the Arenal Volcano. From the restaurant at the Mistico Park, the volcano can be seen from a distance, but from the restaurant at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, the volcano appears much closer.

On-site tours and activities other than hanging bridges

Both the Mistico Park and Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park operate a variety of tours, either in addition to or in conjunction with their hanging bridge tours. Prices vary by tour. (Click here for discounts to all tours operated by the Mistico Park or click here for discounts for all tours operated by Sky Adventures.)

Other on-site facilities and amenities

Arenal hanging bridge discounts

Our sister site, Pura Vida! eh? Inc., has hundreds of adult, student, and child discounts for Costa Rica day tours, including discounts for tours at the Mistico Park and discounts for tours at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park. (We have discounts for Sky Adventures’s Monteverde Park, too.) If there’s a particular hanging bridge tour discount you’re looking for, please see the charts below.

Mistico Park versus Sky Walk/Adventures: A quick summary

The set of Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park has the greatest number of suspension/hanging bridges, two more than the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park (i.e., 6 hanging bridges compared to 4 hanging bridges).

The set of Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park has the greatest number of waterfalls, one more than the Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park (i.e., 2 waterfalls compared to 1 waterfall). The Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges also provide views of Arenal Lake; the Mistico Park does not. Both parks provide views of the rainforest and the Arenal Volcano.

At 143 meters/470 feet long, the El Yucon Bridge (Bridge #2), part of the set of Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges found at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, is the longest hanging bridge in La Fortuna.

At 70 meters/230 feet high, the El Yucon Bridge (Bridge #2), part of the set of Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges found at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, is the highest hanging bridge in La Fortuna.

The Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park provide the easiest hiking experience and the most developed nature trails. They also provide a variety of trail options as opposed to the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park, which has one principal nature trail.

The Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park provide a more natural, rugged (albeit not overly difficult) hiking experience. They also provide the longest nature trail, which takes more time to tour than the Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park.

Both parks are roughly the same distance from La Fortuna and have modern facilities, a restaurant on-site, and free parking. Both parks can also provide optional transportation services and additional on-site tours. Our sister site, Pura Vida! eh? Inc., has discounts for the Arenal Sky Walk Hanging Bridges at Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park and the Arenal Hanging Bridges at the Mistico Park. (See above for links to our hanging bridge tour discounts.)

QUESTION TO COMMENT ON: Have you been to the Mistico Park or Arenal Sky Adventures’s Arenal Park? If so, which park did you pick, and how was your visit?

Pura vida!

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