La Fortuna

Only 35 minutes from the Arenal Observatory Lodge is the friendly, bustling town of La Fortuna, Costa Rica, with its typical restaurants, supermarkets, banks, pharmacies, a clinic, a gas station, and souvenir shops. In La Fortuna, hotels abound, as do tour services, and you'll easily find a La Fortuna map for getting around town.  In Costa Rica, La Fortuna is known as the "gateway to Arenal Volcano;" just northeast of the town is an observatory from where Arenal Volcano's most active crater can be seen smoking by day and spewing glowing lava by night.  In La Fortuna, volcano watching is only one of the attractions, however. To the west of town is Arenal National Park, Lake Arenal with its windsurfing and sportfishing, the Hanging Bridges, the Arenal Dam, the sky tram, a botanical garden, and Tabacon Hot Springs.  If you are driving to La Fortuna, transportation to all these attractions will be easy (be sure to take along a La Fortuna roadmap), but tours can be quickly arranged for visitors who are hoofing it, and other attractions can be enjoyed without cars.  For example, a short hike or horseback ride south of town through scenic, rugged terrain is the La Fortuna Waterfall, set impressively in the midst of tropical rainforest.  For those interested in the local culture, La Fortuna activities include its own folkloric farmer's market and annual religious processions.