ARENAL VOLCANO NATIONAL PARK

The 12,016-hectare Parque Nacional Volc án Arenal lies within the 204,000-hectare Arenal Conservation Area, protecting eight of Costa Rica's 12 life zones and 16 protected reserves in the region between the Guanacaste and Tilarán mountain ranges, and including Lake Arenal. The park has two volcanoes: Chato, whose collapsed crater contains an emerald lagoon surrounded by forest, and the perfectly conical Arenal. The park is most directly accessed from La Fortuna, but is also easily accessed via Tilarán and the north shore of Lake Arenal.

A joint project involving the Canadian International Development Agency and World Wildlife Fund Canada is helping local communities protect buffer zones where the land is under siege by drawing them into ecotourism. Several visitor sites provide toilets and drinking water. And trails and lookout points have been constructed.

The turnoff to the entrance is 3.5 km east of the lake and 2.5 km west of Tabacón. The dirt road leads 1.5 km to the ranger station, tel. 695-5180, fax 695-5982, which sells a small guide ($1) and has restrooms. A dirt road leads north 1.5 km to a parking lot and hiking trails. Entrance costs $6.

An interpretive center has been under construction for several years, two km southwest of the ranger station (but had yet to open at last visit). It will feature a museum with exhibits on vulcanology and local ecology, an auditorium for slide shows, a cafe, and souvenir store. Meanwhile, the Arenal Observatory Lodge (see Accommodation, below) has a small but interesting Museum of Vulcanicity.

Arenal Volcano Hotels

• Hotel Mountain paradise Volcano and lava views
• Hotel Nayara Volcano and lava views
• Arenal Observatory Lodge Volcano and lava views
• Arenal Lodge Volcano and lava View
• Arenal Vista Lodge Volcano and lava View
• Hotel Arenal Springs Volcano and lava views
• Tabacon Resort Volcano and lava views
• Arenal Volcano Inn Volcano and lava views
• Lost Iguana Resort Volcano and lava views
• Hotel Linda Vista Volcano and lava views
• Hotel Arenal Kioro Volcano and lava views
• Lumbres del Arenal Volcano and lava views
• Erupciones Inn Volcano and lava views
• Cangreja Lodge Volcano and lava views
• Hotel Sueño Dorado Volcano views
• Volcano Lodge Volcano views
• Hotel Campo Verde Volcano views
• Hotel Los Lagos Volcano views
• Hotel Arenal Paraiso Volcano views
• Palo Verde Resort Volcano views

It is regarded as one of the world's most active volcanoes. Its lava flows and eruptions have been constant, and on virtually any day you can see smoking cinder blocks tumbling down the steep slope from the horseshoe-shaped crater that opens to the west--or at night watch a fiery cascade of lava spewing from the 140-meter-deep crater. Some days the volcano blows several times in an hour, spewing house-size rocks, sulfur dioxide and chloride gases, and red-hot lava. The volcano's active vent is on the western side, and the normal easterly wind blows most of the effluvia westward. Explosions and eruptions, however, occur on all sides.

arenal volcano hotels, la fortuna, arenal, arenal volcano, la fortuna lodging, arenal volcano hotel, costa rica, la fortuna costa rica