Rio Celeste - Brilliant Sky Blue River and Waterfall in the Jungle

Allow Us To Immerse You -- Hike and Swim With LaFinca's Naturalist Guide

This is a more remote National Park, so never crowded. The hiking is arduous, about 4 hours on foot, lots of up hill and down trails, almost always wet -- with tree roots and mud. It is authentic rainforest, and authentic cloud forest too -- higher altitude rain forest which hosts a whole different set of animals and plant life. It's like Dr. Seuss gone wild.

The reward is the spectacular Tenideros, the source of the blue river where one river with calcium carbonate (dissolved chalk) meets a second river with sulfate, creating awesome blue water.

Going with your La Finca guide really gives you time to stop, catch nature unawares, travel at your own pace.

Tour companies also use Rio Celeste but infrequently -- the hiking is pretty hard.

You can get to the Park alone, but it requires a 4x4.

Costs and Logistics

Always Check the Weather!

The Celeste entry is about 90 minutes from LaFinca. Once there the hike, about 5 KM total, takes about 3 to 5 hours. Celste is part of the Tenorio National Park, which has awesome trals to hot mud fumeroles and loads of cloud forest wildlife. Plan a few hours extra for hiking Tenorio as well as the Celeste River. It's better to depart LaFinca by 8 AM, and carry a lunch. There's a small rustic restaurant at the entry -- you might enjoy a "tipicol" country lunch in Don Pedro's kitchen. We always carry a few apples and bottled water to make it thru the day.

• Admission to the Tenorio Volcano National Park is $10 per person.
• WITH LaFinca Guide: $120 plus admission costs.
• TRANSPORTATION to RIO CELESTE: No charge in your 4x4 rental car -- be sure you have space for your guide. If LaFinca provides a 4x4 for your group, add $100.