Monteverde seems to be far less touristy than La Fortuna. Too high and hence too cold (10 degrees Celsius less approx.)? Too difficult to reach (road conditions are at times quite challenging here)? Less activities on offer? Difficult to say, but anyway there was significantly less traffic, and no huge 5 stars resorts unlike La Fortuna. Activities as well seemed slightly less crowded. You come here for the Bosque Nuboso or Cloud Forest, both in Monteverde and Santa Elena. The alternative is to go to one of the many private reserves that surround the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde and the Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena. They are significantly more expensive, but we were looking for a French speaking guide for the kids, and our hotel recommended 2 private reserves: Finca Lantana for the night walk and Reserva Curi-Cancha for the day hike.
Day Hike at the Reserva Curi-Cancha
It was an expensive tour, but we were alone with a very knowledgeable and patient, French speaking guide, Jorge, and that made a real difference! He first asked what we wanted to see. When one of the kids passionately answered “snakes”, on we went to spot them. And we did! We would never, ever have seen them if Jorge hadn’t been there. We also saw Toucans and other wildlife, but no Quetzal. Maybe also because the kids were far too noisy, so Jorge might not even have tried not to disturb other groups… It was a nice tour altogether, with long hikes deep in the cloud forest (the tour lasted 2h45).
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- Lora Green Palm-Pitviper (Bothriechis lateralis), sitting on a branch, Reserva Curi-Cancha
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- Lora Green Palm-Pitviper (Bothriechis lateralis), sitting on a branch, Reserva Curi-Cancha
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- Lora Green Palm-Pitviper (Bothriechis lateralis), sitting on a branch, Reserva Curi-Cancha
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- Butterfly, Reserva Curi-Cancha
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- White-Faced Capuchin Monkey (Cebus Imitator), Reserva Curi-Cancha
Café Colibri
At the entrance of the Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso, the Café Colibri is a great place to spot Colibris, at any time of the day, partly from a very short distance. On top of that, coffees and hot chocolates are really good!
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- Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaema), Café Colibri
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- Violet Sabrewing (Campylopterus Hemileucurus), Café Colibri
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- Violet Sabrewing (Campylopterus Hemileucurus), Café Colibri
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- Purple-throated Mountain-gem (Lampornis calolaema), Café Colibri
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- Green-Crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa Jacula), Café Colibri
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- Magenta-Throated Woodstar (Philodice Bryantae), Café Colibri
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- Scaled-breasted hummingbird (Phaeochroa cuvierii), Café Colibri
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- Canivet’s Emerald (Chlorostilbon Canivetii), Café Colibri
Night walk at Finca Lantana
After the night walk at the Ecocentro Danaus in La Fortuna, our expectations were high… And even higher was our disappointment with the night walk at Finca Lantana. Not that we saw nothing, but it was far more from the distance, and very difficult to take any photo. Moreover, we walked quite a distance, with a guide that did not really seem eager to adapt to the kids.
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- Glass Frogs (Centrolenidae family), Finca Lantana
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- Rain Frog (Craugastor Escoce), Finca Lantana
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- Tarentula, Finca Lantana, Monteverde
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- Frog, Finca Lantana
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- Bug, Finca Lantana
Selvatura Park
There we found again the crowds! It is a really nice experience, that came with a hefty price, though: we paid 695 USD for 5 “Diamond Packages”: Ziplines + Hanging Bridges + Butterfly Garden. That’s heavy…
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- Selvatura Park, Monteverde
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- Selvatura Park, Monteverde
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- Selvatura Park, Monteverde
Ziplines – We followed a route with 13 ziplines, between 50 meters (to start and get used to) to 800 & 1.000 meters for the longest ones. Safety is priority number one, and they do not even let you handle the hanging on the zipline, at each station you have a guide, and each group (approx. 20 people) has an extra 3 guides for any type of support. You fly above or partly through the canopy and get a completely different view on the cloud forest. The longer ziplines are done in couple, with 2 people going at the same time. On the longest one, a guide went with the 3 kids together, and they loved it. There is also a “Tarzan” experience, somewhere between Bungee Jumping and swinging on a vine like Tarzan. To our surprise, the kids went for it and loved it so much they wanted to do it again…
Hanging bridges – It is a 3 km walk through the cloud forest, with 7 hanging bridges ranging from 70 to 157 meters long, with a height of 20 to 45 meters above ground, making you walk atop the canopy and gaining a new perspective on the cloud forest. There is close to no chances spotting wildlife (too many people plus the sound of the ziplines), but it is a really nice walk nonetheless.
Butterfly gardens – It is a guided tour, but we skipped it, as we had already spent 4,5 hours and the kids simply had enough.
All in all? – It was a great experience, a very expensive one though… A special moment in an already awfully expensive trip!
Calves feeding at Finca Terra Viva
The Finca Terra Viva is actually an active Finca, with amongst others 90 cows. The owner proposes for kids a calves-feeding activity in the morning. There were around 10 calves to feed, one born in the very night, the others up to 3 months. The kids had fun and were quite impressed by the calves.
Near Monteverde
