Pura Vida in Costa Rica – La Paz & Blue Falls

Eight Days of Costa Rica Adventures with Two Young Kids

Our travel day to Costa Rica was super easy. We had a direct flight from Houston to San Jose and there was no time zone change. We landed in the late afternoon and took the hotel shuttle to our nearby hotel for the night. I guess we forgot to go over the details of our itinerary with the kids because they were supremely disappointed to not see any monkeys or volcanos on that first day. We will set expectations better on the next trip! We ate a quick dinner at a taco place across the street and settled in to get some good rest before our busy first full day in Costa Rica.

Day 1

The first order of business today was to pick up our rental car. Scott headed to the nearby rental location while I got the kids and myself ready for the day. I had to get everyone dressed and get our gear ready for today’s plans. This day was probably our most hectic of the trip. We had some decent drives ahead of us and were uncertain on how much time we would want to spend at each stop. Unfortunately, the chaos already started with the car rental. Traffic around the San Jose airport was a nightmare because of road construction, and it took Scott FAR longer than expected to pick up the car. At least we were all set to head out as soon as Scott made it back to the hotel. And just like that, we were off on our adventures into the mountains!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens

The ultimate goal for the day was to make it to our AirBnB in La Fortuna, a town at the base of the Arenal volcano. We planned a couple of stops along this drive that would take up most of the day, with our first stop being the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Leaving San Jose was interesting. I was not expecting how dense the urban area would be near the airport. I am used to airports normally being on the outskirts of a city, but we drove through almost a half hour of neighborhoods before the highway opened up. After an easy drive, just over an hour, we arrived at La Paz.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens is like a resort combined with a zoo and hiking trails. The park has a lodge for overnight guests, a restaurant onsite, and gorgeous, lush landscaping. The hiking trail takes you to viewpoints for five different waterfalls. Actually, I say “zoo” because the areas around the animal habitats are all paved and well marked with maps and signs, like our zoo back home. However, zoos are not allowed in Costa Rica, so none of these animals have been taken from the wild. The park serves as a sanctuary for animals that have been rescued and rehabilitated and cannot return to the wild.

After we paid our entrance fees (a bit of a splurge, honestly), we collected a map and set forth. The park is located on the side of a hill, so there was quite a downslope to reach the animal habitats, and then some more inclines/declines as we explored the park. We spent our time here visiting the various animals. The butterfly exhibit was really fun since the butterflies are free to fly around the building and land on you. Just make sure you don’t have any hitchhikers trying to an escape with you on your way out! The kids also loved seeing the monkeys, sloths, and the gorgeous birds. But the two highlights of the visit were the reptile house and large cat enclosures. The reptile house had several different species of snakes, and our kids loved looking in each cage until they spotted the snake. I, personally, had to do a quick walk through and wait outside – I just get too squeamish! The large cat enclosures contained our most eventful sighting. After walking past the ocelots and puma, we made it to the jaguar enclosure. One jaguar in particular was ready to put on a show! Most of the cats were just lounging in their space, napping or staring back at us, but the one jaguar jumped up and came straight to the window where we were standing. Then he proceeded to aggressively pace up and down the window, occasionally pausing to look directly at us. We were all enthralled! The jaguar was gorgeous and his movements really highlighted what a powerful cat they are. I don’t think I’ve ever had such an exciting close encounter with a large cat like that before.

Besides the animals, the other major attraction at La Paz is the waterfall hike. This trail takes you along a series of five waterfalls, with the La Paz Waterfall being the last one. We knew the trail was not long (under a mile, I believe) but required a lot of stairs and then a shuttle at the end to drive you back to the reception area of the park. By the time we finished visiting the different animal habitats, it was starting to rain, and we decided to skip the waterfall hike. We weren’t sure how long it would take with young kids in the rain, and we knew we would get to see the famous La Paz Waterfall anyway as we continued our drive. Here’s a secret – the hike in the park doesn’t even take you to a front view of the La Paz waterfall, only the top of the falls. The best viewpoint for the La Paz waterfall is from the main highway outside of the park!

Thankfully we had rain gear with us, so we slipped on our rain jackets and made our way out of the park. A short drive later, we pulled to the side of the road and gawked at the gorgeous La Paz Waterfall right in front of us. The tall waterfall cascaded into the river below, right next to the road. Now we just had to convince the kids to get out of the car for pictures. It was pouring rain now! Candy bribes were made, and we hopped out of the car and put our rain jackets to good use. After admiring the waterfall, we noticed a trail that took you behind the falls. How could we resist that? The rain made the path super muddy and slippery, so we firmly held hands with the kids and took the short walk behind the waterfall. It was so cool! Definitely worth the effort. The La Paz Waterfall Gardens was a great stop, especially with young kids. The park was beautiful and seeing the variety of animals was awesome. With better weather, we would have loved to have done the waterfall hike, but our next stop already involved a long hike so skipping the trail here just made sense for us.

Catarata del Toro and Blue Falls

With the success of our La Paz visit under our belts, we were ready to move on to the stop – the Catarata Del Toro and the Blue Falls. We continued on the highway toward La Fortuna until the turn off toward Catarata Del Toro. This stop was a 30 minute detour of the highway, but we hoped it would be well worth the time. Catarata Del Toro is supposed to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica, and located on the same private property, the Blue Falls is a series of waterfalls with incredibly bright blue water. These falls are a little off the beaten path, but it seems like their popularity is growing. It was a tense drive from the main highway to the parking lot of the falls – the steep hills had us so stressed that my watch completed my exercise ring during the drive! Don’t get me wrong, the road is doable and the payoff at the end is worth the extra heartbeats. Finally we pulled into the gravel parking lot, ready to stretch our legs and see the sights.

We entered the visitor center and paid for our tours, $25 each, for both waterfalls, and I don’t think they charged us for the kids. The visitor center was very nice – an open air area with lots of tables and chairs for a rest, adorable hummingbirds flitting around the patio, and restrooms for the guests. After a brief pit stop, we set off for our self-guided tour of the Catarata del Toro.

Catarata del Toro is a tall waterfall that crashes down into an extinct volcanic crater. The trail to the waterfall is right off the back of the visitor center, and it only took is a couple minutes along the trail before we were completely WOW-ed by the sight of this majestic waterfall. The water tumbles down rocks before landing in a deep crater. The entire waterfall is visible from the trail, which leads down hundreds of steps to the base of the falls. If we had more time, we would have hiked to the bottom, but we wanted to save plenty of time for the Blue Falls. So we hiked down part way, snapping photos of the dramatic waterfall.

Back up top at the visitor center, we got situated for our hike to the Blue Falls. We grabbed hiking sticks (much more useful now than our Big Bend trip!) and were paired with a guide for the hike. The Blue Falls is located on the same private property as the Catarata del Toro, but was only discovered relatively recently – a few years ago, thanks to drone technology. Since the Blue Falls are fairly remote, guides are required for visitors.

There are actually several bright blue waterfalls and pools accessible in this area, and they offer two types of tours for visiting the falls (Light and Full). The shorter tour takes you to two waterfalls and allows swimming in the turquoise water. The longer tour takes you to even more waterfalls and pools, but the longer tour hike is more difficult and only adults are allowed.

Obviously we chose the Blue Falls Light Tour, which ended up taking about two hours total. The owners are still in the process of making the falls more accessible, so the hike was a little difficult for the kids. Lots of muddy, uneven ground and some steeper areas to navigate. Despite the challenge, the kids had a blast! They loved using their hiking sticks and crossing the rivers with the tiny bridges. Our guide was great about pointing out wildlife (bright blue ants!) and helping the kids along the trail. It would have honestly been incredibly difficult to do this hike without him.

Las Gemelas was the first stop and setting eyes on the stunning blue water was worth the hike! The water was impossibly blue, it looked like the water in a resort swimming pool. The river is a unique shade of blue due to volcanic minerals in the water. Our guide took us to the perfect spot to view both of the waterfalls that comprise Las Gemelas (The Twins). Lots of people spend time swimming in the water beneath the falls, but we just admired from the shore, taking as many pictures as we could.

After Las Gemelas, we took a short walk to another location called Poza Azul, another good spot for swimming. We weren’t really prepared for full swimming, but the kids and myself waded in a little. The blue water looked too refreshing to resist! In the Poza Azul, you could see the water cascading down some rapids before collecting into the pool we were standing. The thick rainforest surrounding us was a vibrant green, and contrasted against the turquoise water, it was like a technicolor painting. If we had been prepared for swimming, we could have stayed here much longer, listening to the birds chirp and admiring the view.

Walking back to the visitor center probably took a little bit longer than our hike out. The kids were dragging and you could tell the excitement of the day was starting to wear on them. Scott and I spent a good amount of time carrying the kids on our shoulders or in our arms. We returned to our car tired and muddy but SO happy with our visit here. Catarata del Toro and the Blue Falls are somewhat out of the way, and there was not a plethora of information about these falls online when we were planning our trip – so we took the gamble, hoping it would live up to the pictures and our expectations. Hands down, it did! I highly, highly, recommend coming here if your vacation route brings you close!