You’ll need to make reservations with the front desk when you check in to reserve your spot. There are two guided tours offered daily at 8:45am and 1:30pm. It also allows you to interact with the animals, though I’m not sure what that entails. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes tour with garden and wildlife information along the way. You can explore the waterfall gardens at your leisure but you can also choose to do a guided tour. To cool off, you can take a plunge in the cold water or just head to one of two jacuzzis to soak. You can try your luck at fishing and if you catch something, the restaurant will cook it up fresh for you anyway you like. Located on the property is Trout Lake: a lake, restaurant and fishing/swimming area. When you are a guest of Peace Lodge, you have exclusive access to the Waterfall Gardens before it opens and after it closes. Picture balconies overlooking the rainforest, hammocks, jacuzzi tubs, wooden accents throughout the rooms and stone fireplaces. The Peace Lodge has accommodations within the nature park that allow you to stay on the beautiful property. You can actually choose to stay at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens as well. La Terraza – Coffee and pastries open from 8am-4pm.Las Tucas Bar – Cocktail bar open from 5pm-10pm.Open for dinner 5pm-9pm, reservation only. Vista Poas Restaurant – Fine dining with traditional Costa Rican dishes.They’ll even prepare your freshly caught trout! Big Trout Bar – Lakeside bar and grill open for lunch 11am-4:30pm and cocktails from 11am-6pm.Colibries Restaurant – Buffet lunch open from 11am-4pm.Has views of the cloud forest and Poas Volcano. Tortillas Restaurant – Casual dining open for breakfast 7am-10am, and lunch 11am-4pm.Or if you want to just enjoy nature and have a cocktail, you can do that too. There are several dining options throughout the property, so you can stop along the way for lunch or dinner. Main Trail – (Orange) Takes you through the wildlife refuge and through each of the five waterfalls and ends at the gift shop and shuttle bus.Rio La Paz Trail – (Yellow) Connects from both trails and takes you along the La Paz River or can start at the trail behind the aviary.Out and back trail, or connects to the Rio La Paz Trail. Fern Trail – (Peach trail below) Starts at Trout Lake and takes you through the forest to the La Paz River.There are three paved trails at La Paz Waterfall Gardens that take you through the beautiful property. And if you plan on seeing other things in the area, like the Poas Volcano, or some of the waterfalls (Catarata del Toro or Rio Agrio), then you’ll be on this route anyway. It takes you on a different route than just going straight to La Fortuna, but it doesn’t add that much time on your drive–maybe 30 minutes. If you’re heading to La Fortuna, it’s an easy stop off one of the main roads. It’s a popular place for organized tours and an easy day trip from San Jose. The La Paz Waterfall Gardens are located about an hour and a half north of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city. We also needed to stay in the area since we had booked tickets to the Poas Volcano for the following morning. We decided to take a chance since we didn’t have any other plans for the afternoon before starting on our Costa Rica itinerary.
But also, this is one of the more expensive attractions to go to and you can see waterfalls all over that are more secluded and much cheaper. Any attraction that is close enough to be a day trip from a major city is usually pretty touristy. A popular option is the La Paz Waterfall Gardens because of its proximity to San Jose and how many waterfalls you can see in one place.īut those two things are also why I was a little skeptical on going.
With so many options, you sort of have to make a decision on which ones you are going to spend time at. One of the things about Costa Rica is that there are waterfalls all over the country.