Mistico Park Hanging Bridges
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Mistico Park Arenal Hanging Bridges
February 22
Another wonderful breakfast at the resort set us up for another great day.
After breakfast we headed about 20 minutes to Mistico Park Arenal Hanging Bridges. This private 600-acre nature reserve features a series of six suspension bridges stretching through and above the lush rainforest canopy—offering both incredible views and another chance (in theory!) to spot Arenal Volcano.
We had pre-booked an 11:00 a.m. guided, two-mile tour through GetYourGuide. We got there around 10:45 and it was raining off and on. But it was warm and we had our raincoats.
As with our other excursions, the guide proved invaluable—not just for her knowledge of the forest, but especially for her almost supernatural ability to spot wildlife. It quickly became clear that guides share sightings with each other, which makes a huge difference.
The trail is easy to walk in Mistico Park. This makes the job of looking for wildlife and enjoying the rainforest less prone to falling down.
The bridges themselves are the main attraction, but we were lucky to see a surprising amount of wildlife along the way. Snakes, reptiles, an owl, even a massive slug.
But the highlight was definitely the howler monkeys. This was our first time seeing, and hearing them in Costa Rica, and our first monkey sighting since our initial day at Manuel Antonio National Park. We hadn’t even reached the first bridge yet when we heard and then spotted them—an incredible way to start the tour.
The suspension bridges are very safe, though still a bit intimidating. They’re high up, and some sway more than others, making it nearly impossible to cross without gripping both railings. Taking photos requires stopping, steadying yourself, and hoping your phone doesn’t slip—we figure there are probably plenty of monkeys around the forest who have claimed dropped phones as their own.
The canopy views are stunning, offering a unique perspective of the forest. As for views of Arenal Volcano…we’re confident it was there somewhere behind the clouds.
The last wildlife we encountered, to everyone’s excitement was a sloth! It was a nice shot, too, as it was in motion…well, scratching himself…I guess that’s “in motion”.
Near the end of the trail, our guide gave us the option to take a short, paved quarter-mile detour to a small waterfall, which was a nice bonus before wrapping up.
The tour finished around 2:00 p.m., and as we drove out of the park, a group of coatis crossed the road in front of us—one last wildlife sighting to cap it off.
For lunch, we stopped at a roadside “soda”—a small, family-run Costa Rican restaurant, similar to an old-school American luncheonette. We intentionally picked one that looked like it catered to locals, and it didn’t disappoint. The food was great, and—of course—Arenal Volcano made another elusive appearance. The place also had a charming, if slightly unpolished, garden path behind the seating area…plus a couple of mules that seemed more than willing to pose for photos.
After lunch, we returned to the hotel to enjoy our final evening at the hot springs resort. We all really enjoyed the pool bar!
We even got a rare stretch of sunshine in La Fortuna, so we took the opportunity to hang our damp clothes out on the porch—hoping they’d dry before it was time to pack up for the next leg of the trip…which is heading to San Jose for our flight home.
Off to bed
