Poas Volcano National Park

Beautiful views and cool geographic features. If you are looking for a long hike or exciting lava, not gonna find it here, but it’s still worth the drive up. One of the trails to the laguna was closed, but we asked about another route and they opened it up for us. That’s a steeper hike, but a nice view at the end.

One of the most unforgettable moments in our lives. Being first-timers to an active volcano site, we were mesmerized by the crystal clear view of the volcano crater. After a quick lecture about the risks, security and evacuation protocols we were provided with helmets and began a short hike (10 minutes all flat land) to the crater viewpoint. My family was fortunate enough to see two very small eruptions from the crater. Sounds like a monster breathing below the earth's surface right before a small eruption. You can smell sulphuric acid at times (although they do have gas masks in case of higher gaseous activity). Just a total natural marvel and one that cannot be missed! Plenty of parking, very safe and well organized.

I visited on Christmas Day. It was a beautiful, well-kept park. The walk to the volcano is an easy one. The walk to Botos is all uphill. There are seats to take a break if you need. It's not a far walk, 700-800 meters, maybe. It may be difficult for some. I highly recommend taking your time and making the short journey.
The Park officials were so kind and very helpful. Go, go, go! Enjoy!

Awesome park and an easy walk to the volcano. Totally worth the stop. The walk to the lagoon/lake is a bit more strenuous with the altitude.

If you are looking for a private tour guide we highly recommend touring the Poas Volcano National Park with Jorge @ Vuelve a La Vida Costa Rica Tours. Jorge was an excellent tour guide/driver. He took us to La Paz Waterfall, Poas Volcano and Star Bucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Plantation. We had fantastic day with Jorge. You can find Jorge on Instagram.

Very awesome experience. Would return for sure. We went with out a tour for $15 each.

Amazing!! Bought tickets 2 months in advance through Sinac. Don’t pay for tours! We paid a total of $60 for a family of 2 adults and 2 children.

Great park to visit but few things to watch for: buy your tickets the day before as the tickets are not sold at the gate ( even though they will charge for parking at the gate). To purchase tickets, you will need cell connection which is not available but the rangers were kind enough to allow us to use the Wi-Fi.

The next piece is that they take lunch break which means entrance to the park is not possible during that time, so plan to arrive before 11.30.

The hike was short and lovely with various shade of green however due to air condition, be cautious as one can feel light headed easily.

Definitely worth visiting and very beautiful! The volcano is about 300meter walk uphill from the parking lot & it’s very beautiful with all the forest around. GO EARLY, preferable at 8am. It’s less crowded & it’s much better to see the volcano. You must reserve online a day prior, and bring money to pay for parking. It’s very nice for children, not too bad of a walk. Bring a light jacket because it is very cold on the walk up, but when you arrive to the volcano, it begins to warm up the longer you stay.

Costa Rica has several volcanos to visit, but I am glad we chose this one. The parking lot was big, there is a wonderful souvenir shop where you can also buy a postcard that can be mailed out from there. They have a good selection of coffee to buy, and they have a restaurant. There is also a small exhibit that gives you information about the volcano and the animals there. The walk to the crater is an easy walk, plus it's peaceful. The crater itself was amazing to see in person. There were a lot of clouds, but when it cleared up, it was beautiful. The price is adequate and we highly recommend the experience.

If you like volcanoes, it's really cool, and a fairly easy hike too.

Beautiful volcano. We enjoyed the hike around and reading about different facts along the way. We arrived around 10 and we able to see the crater. Paths were well paved. Glad we added this stop to our trip.

Went here for a quick visit. The crater lake is an otherworldly sight - alien yet beautiful. The old crater is definitly worth the walk as it is stunning if one has never been to the rainforest or a volcano.

More than enough parking spaces.

Remember to purchase National Park admission tickets before starting the drive to the park - our cell signal disappeared quite a while before passing a reminder sign. We had to turn back until coverage got better to buy tickets.

Very nice park! Pre order your tickets online or use the wifi at gate entrance only thing is it's a little slow being so far in the mountain- the trails are wonderful with great little factoids along the path and the trails are nice with periodical clouds passing and cool weather- did not break a sweat the whole trail!

Volcano park with hiking trails. Make sure you have reservation to enter park. Beautiful scenery.

Must see if you are in the area! the trails were open in May 2023 - which was an amazing hike in the nature. signs were helpful explaining the fauna, plants and habitat of the forest.
We arrived early (8 am) and the sky was clear with good views.

Volcano Poas: Walk to the Crater! The visit starts with a safety briefing because this is a live, rumbly, grumbly volcano. Hard hats are issued. An easy, slightly uphill, 20 minute walk takes you to the rim of the crater where you can look down into the bubbling caldera. Due to the number of visitors our visit was limited to 20 minutes, which was more than adequate to appreciate the view.

Amazing place! The hike is uphill but we’ll worth the view. The park is super well maintained and the staff is very helpful.

Very nice views of the craters. Firstly BUY YOUR TICKETS prior to driving there. We didn’t and they had “sold out” around 2pm on a Monday. We went in a Tuesday and paid $45 US dollars total amount for 2 adults/2kids. If you are a foreigner on the website they will ask you for your passport info so have it handy bc they give you 10 minutes to add all that info. For the website you have to create a UN/PW and then log in to purchase your tickets.
Bring a jacket bc it’s super windy and cold. Arriving there you will park and then walk about 10 minutes on a paved wide sidewalk. There were no guides to give you information I’m not sure why the website asks what time you will book your arrival. So basically you get to the crater and there is about 5 different levels you can view the crater so it’s wide enough if there are a lot of tourist. Since all there is to see is the crater you will only last 20 minutes there.
Oh we got there at 8:30 am but bought for the 8am entrance tickets so there is no enforcement on lateness.
There’s a trail that leads to another crater called Laguna Botos which is a lengthy hike. I’m not an active person and let me tell you that I found it a bit difficult. It was tough going up and going down but we did it. I was huffing and puffing seeing mirages of the exit lol. They have restrooms before you get to the crater and half way there.
There is also an expensive gift shop with nice souvenirs and a cafe that we didn’t eat at.
We visited on 11Apr2023.

The volcano view is stunning.
Need to purchase the ticket in advance for the specific time to enter. But they do not limit the time you spend there. And we came much earlier than our time slot and were able to enter with no problem.