Rio Celeste Hiking Tour

Disclaimer: Included in this post are links to tours I have personally taken or booked for clients on Viator. If you book these tours thru the links in this post, as a travel agent, I will receive a small commission.

Costa Rica is home to many waterfalls, but one stands out above the rest since its part of one of the bluest rivers you’ll ever see, Rio Celeste. This full day Rio Celeste hiking tour from La Fortuna will take you on a moderately challenging hike thru Tenorio National Park that will lead you to this stunning river and waterfall.

About Rio Celeste

Rio Celeste is Spanish for “light blue river” and when you see this river you can see why they called it this. The color of the water is stunning and will remind you of the blue ocean waters of the tropics. But you might be wondering how the water in this river got to be this stunning shade of blue? Well, there are two different explanations, one of legends and one of science.

Legend says that when the gods were painting the sky blue, they put their paintbrushes into the river to clean them and the blue color of the sky blended into the river changing its color to match the sky.

The scientific reason for the beautiful blue color has to do with two streams coming together to form this river. Each of the streams contain aluminum-silicon particles, when these particles meet from the two streams, these particles combine together and cause the sunlight to reflect this blue color of the river. In the photo below, you can see the difference in color at the point where the two streams are coming together to form the Rio Celeste.

As I mentioned above, the aluminum-silicon particles are reflected by the sunlight to cause the blue color of the Rio Celeste. That said, the color is at its bluest on a sunny day. The best time to visit Rio Celeste for the bluest water is during the dry season which runs from December – April.

Heading out on the Rio Celeste Full Day Hike Tour from La Fortuna

There are tours to Rio Celeste from many locations in Costa Rica including San Jose, Guanacaste and La Fortuna. This post will discuss one of the tours that leaves from La Fortuna. This tour was with Red Lava Tours whose office is located right in La Fortuna. This was the second tour I took with this tour company while visiting Costa Rica and I highly recommend them! Check out my post about their Full day Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna Waterfall and Hot Springs tour.

The tour started with everyone being picked up at their respective hotels and Airbnb’s. This did take a while, but once we were all picked up we were on our way for the 1 1/2 to 2-hour drive to Tenorio Volcano National Park to see Rio Celeste.

Since it was such a long drive, they did stop about halfway thru the drive at a bakery in a small town so we could use the restroom and grab a quick coffee and bite to eat. The coffee here was of course delicious as most Costa Rican coffee is and there were so many delicious baked goods to choose from.

Costa Rica’s Oldest Tree and Toucans

After our short break we started getting closer to the national park. Shortly before we got there, we made one other stop on the side of the road to see Costa Rica’s oldest tree. This ceiba tree is estimated to be over 500 years old and was quite large, in fact it stands at 190 feet tall! The tour guide was very happy to take pictures of everyone in front of the tree. You can really see just how large it is when you see a photo of yourself standing next to it. Not only is it large height wise, but just look at the diameter of the trunk of the tree.

After spending about 10 minutes here we got back in the van and on the road. Just a short way down the driver slowed down and then stopped and got his binoculars out. We were surprised to be told that there were toucans in the trees across the street from us. We were able to get out and take turns looking at them thru the binoculars. It was so fun to see them like that just on a tree on the side of the road. I was able to zoom in and get a picture, it’s not the best quality, but you can definitely see them.

This was such a great treat to see these. I knew I would be seeing wildlife on this tour but wasn’t expecting toucans. It’s so impressive that the driver was able to spot them as he was driving down the road too.

Tenorio Volcano National Park

Rio Celeste is located within Tenorio Volcano National Park. This area was originally part of the Guanacaste Mountain Reserve Forest since 1976 and then in 1995 the Tenorio National Park was created. While located in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, which is on the Pacific side of the country and generally has a dry and a rainy season, Tenorio National Park tends to have a climate similar to the Caribbean side of the country which means there isn’t really a dry season, and it can rain just about any day. We were very lucky to not encounter any rain on the day of our tour.

While most people visit the Tenorio National Park to see Rio Celeste, there is so much more to this national park. Below is a list of all you can see and do:

• See Rio Celeste and waterfall
• See views of Tenorio Volcano
• Hike the many trails
• Wildlife viewing

Rio Celeste Hike

When we arrived at Tenorio National Park, we set off on our hike. The first part of the hike was fairly flat. We stopped a few times to see some wildlife, including some frogs and snakes. While I’m not a fan of snakes at all, they didn’t seem to bother anyone and were mostly off to the side of the trail laying on low tree branches or in bushes. If the tour guide didn’t point them out, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed them, they blended in pretty well. But as with all animals, be smart and keep your distance as many of the snakes in Costa Rica are venomous.

It was a really nice little walk thru the tropical rainforest. Then we got closer to the waterfall and were met with approximately 250 steps that led down to the waterfall. I definitely recommend stopping at different points as you’re walking down the steps to get some photos. Our tour guide was really great at making sure she took everyone’s photos at certain spots on the way down. As a solo traveler this was very much appreciated.

Walking down the stairs to the waterfall wasn’t too bad, but it was quite a steep walk up. I’m not in the worst shape, I mean I ran a half marathon just 3 weeks before this trip, but steps and elevation just aren’t my friend, there was plenty of stopping to rest on the way up. I’m very thankful for the young girl on our tour who stopped with me to keep me company. So, if you have problems with steps as well, take your time and don’t feel bad if you need to stop, just make sure to be courteous to others and stop when there is a spot that you can step to the side so others can still pass by you.

After we all enjoyed some time seeing the waterfall, we continued on our hike. While these stairs were tough there was another section of the trail with some even more difficult sections, the guide did give people the option to wait at a certain point if they weren’t up for it. It wasn’t too much worse in my opinion but might be difficult if you have any knee or leg injuries as the natural steps on the trail were quite steep. The views we saw on the rest of the hike though were definitely worth it.

If you thought the water was blue at the location of the waterfall, it seemed to become an even more glorious shade of blue further on during the hike. It seemed to just get more and more beautiful.

As we continued to walk, we crossed a bridge over the river, and our tour guide took our phones and cameras and had us each go across the bridge as our own separate group and she got some great photos of us crossing the bridge. I can’t say enough how wonderful this tour guide was with photos.

While the tour guide was doing the touristy thing and getting all our photos, she was also providing us with information about the Rio Celeste and the surrounding area. She explained to us how the water got its blue color as I mentioned above and took us right to the spot where the two streams formed the river to see the color change, it was quite remarkable to see the contrast in colors.

After this point we started the steep walk back. The guide was good about making sure that we took it slow and stayed at the back so no one would be left alone struggling to get up. We then all met at the top and went off at our own pace back to the front of the park. After finishing the elevation part, it was a really nice relaxing walk back thru the national park.

While walking back make sure to keep an eye out for wildlife. We were lucky enough to spot some monkeys swinging in the trees above while hiking back. It was so fun to see them and as I’m awful at seeing wildlife, this is one of the things I love about tours, if not for a fellow tour mate I would never have spotted them. Can you spot the monkey in the photo below?

Check out my video below of the hike in Tenorio National Park, the monkey is spotted at the end of the video.

A Break in the Hot Springs

After our hike we got back in the van and drove a little way from the national park to take a dip in some hot springs on the side of the road. These hot springs were part of the Rio Celeste and were very beautiful and warm. This was a great way to relax after a moderately challenging hike. I also really enjoyed that we stopped somewhere natural as opposed to a man-made pool. That’s one of the great things about Costa Rica is enjoying the natural environment.

Lunch Stop

After our swim we drove a while longer and then made our final stop for the day at this cute roadside restaurant. It was a small place, and it was later in the afternoon after the normal lunch hour, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We were served a typical Costa Rican lunch plate which included a choice of meat, rice, beans, salad and fruit. It was very delicious and filling and much needed after our long hike. We were also provided a choice of fresh fruit juice that was so fresh and delicious!

After lunch we started our ride back to the La Fortuna area where everyone was dropped off at their respective lodging locations.

This tour was such a great way to visit Rio Celeste, and I would highly recommend it. If you are interested in booking this tour, you can do so here.

If you are looking for a great place to stay while visiting La Fortuna, check out my post on the Volcano Lodge Hotel and Thermal Experience.

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