Poas Volcano National Park
- Address:Highway 126, Poasito
- Hours:Open daily
- Admission:Free
8:30 PM Sunday, May 27
Broken clouds. Mild.
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There aren’t too many places in the world where you can almost touch the rim of an active volcano, but at Poas Volcano National Park you can get up close to the smoking crater.
One of the world’s most accessible volcanoes, Poas Volcano is filled with an amazing aquamarine lagoon, blanketed in ferns and ringed with hiking trails leading to panoramic lookouts and picnic areas.
The park is filled with wildlife to spot, including the famous quetzal, toucans and hummingbirds.
The best visibility is December to April, and especially in the early morning.
Latest Reviews All Poas Volcano National Park Reviews »
Great trip! I confirmed a week before and received an email the next day confirming the pickup time. A van arrived with a driver and bilingual guide. The drive from San Jose to the volcano took about 1 hour 20 minutes. Along the way the guide was very friendly and talked about Costa Rica. It's not much of a hike to see the volcano, easy 10 min walk from the parking lot. After viewing the volcano we drove 10 minutes to Doka Estates for the coffee tour - excellent, samples of coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans, butterfly garden, and great buffet lunch with local costa rican food. Sarchi tour is ok, stop at the workshop where oxcarts are made, 15 minute presentation, and then we had 45 minutes to browse the souvenir shop. Overall, it was a great deal through Viator.
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This tour was superb! The Poas Volcano was beautiful! We enjoyed the coffee tour at Doka Estate as well. The Sarchi Arts and Crafts were remarkable! We recommend this tour!
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This tour was well worth the money! Donald was an awesome tour guide with 15 years of experience. He knows so much about the process at the coffee plantation, the volcanos and the waterfalls. He taught us a little Costa Rican, as well as telling us about the country while on the bus.
Even though we are huge coffee lovers, we had no idea what the process involved. I only have more of an appreciation for coffee farmers now. The breakfast was excellent too!
It happened to be cloudy at the Poas volcano, so we didn't see much. Instead we hiked up 160 feet to the other crater and saw the lake. Some of our group stayed at the original crater long enough to see the clouds part for a good view of the crater. We regret missing that a little. Note to people on the tour - when the guide says meet at a certain time, be there. Don't make him come looking for you because you made everyone wait 20 minutes!
The waterfall area was serene. It started with several "houses" of wildlife in which you could get up close to a variety of native wildlife. An excellent lunch buffet was next, offering traditional CR dishes as well as pizza, hot dogs and salad. The tour ended with the falls, which were gorgeous. Donald knew the tour so well, that he could tell us how many steps we would descend and ascend.
In addition to Donald's great tour guide skills, our driver was amazing - some of the roads were narrow, on a cliffsiode and full of potholes. I never once felt scared or unsafe.
Practical Info
Poas Volcano National Park is 54 km (34 miles) from San Jose, accessible by public bus or organized tour. The closest town is Poasito.
