Volcano Hike, Waterfall Swim & Hot Springs Combo on Rincon de la Vieja

Nice and full day trip; decent lunch; good staff

We enjoyed our time with Jaime and Mauricio. They had good banter and it was good to spend the day with them. The volcano was very interesting, the waterfall provided a swimming opportunity though the water was indeed cold, and the hot springs with mud was also a fun diversion. Lunch was decent, and the only criticism is that the guide was a bit impatient with us on one or two occasions. Overall, a very nice day and we would do another tour with Native's Way.

RIU Guantacaste to Volcano Tour

Overall the guides were good and friendly. Weather prevented us from going to the waterfall to swim and we saw very few animals. The hot springs helped save the day. The ride to and from the RIU hotel is very long and the roads are terrible. I think had the waterfalll been open to swim my rating would be higher. The lunch was good. I didn’t bring a credit card so that made buying additional souvenirs or food more complicated as they give you cash back in colons.

Great experience

Well organised. Guides very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. We had a great time and swimming in the waterfall was a particular highlight. Great for families with lots to see and very suitable for children from around 6/7 upwards (lots of walking).

Volcano hike, waterfall swim&hot springs combo on Rincon de là Vieja

The volcano hike, waterfall swim&Hot springs combo on Rincon de la Vieja was great way to sample Costa Rica. Our tour guide Kevin is very knowledgeable on nature and very tentative to us. It was our first time in Costa Rica. We were scare because language barriers and foreign country. The driver Alfredo make us feel safe even with narrow and winding roads. Now we feel like we need to visit Costa Rica again.

Our guide Kevin Pina did...

Our guide Kevin Pina did a great job. He made it a wonderful outing for the group. Thanks Native’s Way

This was an amazing tour....

This was an amazing tour. Ivan was a great guide and very knowledgeable and friendly. I would highly recommend this tour.

Best tour at a great price!

Amazing day trip! Alejandro was the absolute best tour guide. We stopped and saw so much interesting wildlife in the national park and the pictures we got were incredible! 10/10 highly recommend!!!!

Book this tour!

This excursion had it all in one! It was perfectly timed and executed. Our tour guide Nicol was so friendly and accommodating. She had a lot of knowledge about the forests and Costa Rica overall. We saw various monkeys (two different types), birds, anteaters, etc. definitely recommend.

Book it!

Great tour! Super cool hike, we saw spider monkeys and a bunch of birds and lots of big blue Costa Rican butterflies. The volcano fumeroles and mud pits and lagoons are amazing. Waterfall and hotsprings very relaxing afterwards! We had a great guide too. Only thing—walked about six miles, and there were lots of stairs on the volcano. People with any mobility issues should be aware. And there are rope bridges at the waterfall and hot springs if you are afraid of that.

Hot stuff!

Johnny (driver) and Diego (guide) were an unbeatable team. We were on a shared tour, but both of these guys made it a point to ensure everyone was having a good time. I have to compliment Johnny on his expert level driving, he made the trip from Tamarindo super quick, but did it in a very safe manner (which I didn't think was possible). Diego shared lots of informative facts on our drive and during the hike itself. The opportunity to swim under a waterfall and to hike around an active volcano was amazing and we won't forget it! The hot springs are individual pools and they are nice and relaxing, but we did feel a little like human soup in them- they are all natural (not chlorinated, rightfully so) and people are taking "dips" in them after partaking in the volcanic mud. If you aren't into public hot tubs, you will definitely not be excited about the springs. However, still travel down to the springs, the walk is pretty and the area around the springs are well worth a look-see. Some tips: The hike is intermediate level, there are lots of steps, but they are spaced out. Be warned, your thighs and calves will ACHE the next week. If you have mobility issues, this is probably not the tour for you. The park itself is a dry forest so it's very different from the typical Costa Rica rainforest. You will still see lots of flora and fauna, but it can get very warm - take a hat, wear your sunscreen and drink the water. The waterfall is very crisp in temperature, but refreshing and well worth the plunge- take water shoes with you. It helps when traversing within the water fall area and for enjoying the hot springs. It is a drive from the Tamarindo area, be prepared for some windshield time.

Great mud bath and hike.

Hike was great and the tour was really good highly recommend. Make sure to bring your swim suit waterfall is a hike and the thermal baths are amazing.

Perfect day!

Amazing experience! Our guide Diego was great - knowledgeable and kind. It was a long and busy day but we enjoyed every minute of it. Our group ranged in age from 12-77 and everyone had a great time.

Highly recommend

Terrific day! Diego was our guide. He was well organized, kind and knowledgeable. He took some great photos so we could just focus on the experience. Loved everything about it!

Awesome Waterfalls

We loved the waterfalls. They were the best part of the hike! Getting to swim in the waterfall was a unique experience.

The driver and tour guide...

The driver and tour guide were awesome. So many beautiful sights and new experiences. Very much recommended.

Nature and history in one tour!

We had a fun day with Kevin as our guide. He was informative and pointed out monkeys, small eyelash viper and several birds. He kept the group moving overall in between points of interest so we had plenty of time at the waterfall and hot springs. Kevin also provided some history of the area interspersed with nature talk which added an additional dimension to the tour. Overall great experience and would choose it again!

Nice hike with some glitches

The hike was enjoyable and informative, but there was too much getting back on the bus after each activity. Plus it didn’t seem to make sense to change into a swimsuit, get wet, and then go have lunch. It wouldn’t make more sense to have lunch before going to the waterfall. I felt that the hike was a little too slow and therefore the other activities seemed rushed. I think our guide could have sped up the pace a bit. I realize it was crowded and it wasn’t entirely under his control.

I really enjoyed this...

I really enjoyed this tour. Two things to note: 1) it is a full day experience (around 12-14 hours, including the pickup and dropoff); 2) the hike in the national park is slow paced. You will be stopping a lot to spot birds and monkeys. Our guide (Diego) was very knowledgeable and passionate about wild life in Costa Rica. The waterfall stop was very refreshing and much needed after the hike. The highlight of the trip for me was the mud baths - very unique and relaxing experience. Overall I highly recommend this tour - a perfect way to be introduced to Costa Rica's beautiful nature.

If you're reading this, you're probably debating whether to book this trip. Do it.

Rincon de la Vieja is an amazing place, and the Oropendola waterfall is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. Wildlife on this trip was abundant, the flora was incredible, and the natural landscape was fascinating. This trip was a giant bag of "whoa" moments. I very highly recommend this trip. Big ups to Kevin for being an awesome guide as well!

Amazing wildlife

Wonderful experience with the wildlife, volcano mud was amazing, animals in their real habitat, fall so freshly filled extra energetic

A fun and exhilarating excursion!

This was a lot of fun! The hike to the waterfall and (cold!) swim was exhilarating. I really liked the hot springs, with more challenging suspension stairs. The only let-down was the volcano hike. We really didn’t see many animals, and the volcano was shrouded in clouds. Oh well, can’t control nature. Our guide, Julio-Cesar was personable and friendly. Our group enjoyed this trip a lot.

The penultimate Costa Rica experience

It was a great experience. Our Guide Julio gave us great information. We really enjoyed the hike. And absolutely loved the waterfall swim. To Top it off we got to relax and enjoy the mud and thermal baths. What a memorable excursion

Fun day full of adventure and beauty!

Jeremy was our guide/driver and he was the best! Fun day filled with hiking and beautiful waterfalls! Definitely recommend!

The hike was nice, but...

The hike was nice, but nothing fantastic. The waterfall swim and hot springs were really great. It was busy with a lot of tours, but still a great experience for ussand our teenage kids.

Diego and Martin were...

Diego and Martin were outstanding guides. They were very friendly and knowledgeable and made the experience great. Diego was a wealth of knowledge that he loves to share and he did a great job making it interesting and easy to understand for the kids.The hike does require a little physical endurance, but we had our 6 and 9 year old boys with us who were able to do the hike no problem. The trail was very well maintained. The waterfall and hot springs were gorgeous! It was a long day start to end with lots of driving, but very worth it!

Beautiful hike, relaxing hot springs

Tour guide and driver were excellent. Lunch buffet was tasty. The hike around the volcano was really cool, lots of monkeys, beautiful waterfall, stinky sulfur smell :). Hot springs were relaxing at the end of the day.

We saw a spider monkey up...

We saw a spider monkey up close and personal- that was the the highlight! And the lunch was phenomenal. Lots of vegan options (rice, beans, fruit, yuca, sweet plantains, tortillas, etc.). Overall the trip was fun, but it was a really long day from Tamarindo. In hindsight, I probably would have picked something else to do. I think it would have been more enjoyable if our guide had a bit more engaging and knowledgable. It's a very manicured hike (groomed path the entire way) and hot springs experience (seemed manmade possibly). Felt extremely touristy.

Awesome Excursion

I thought we were going to be able to see the volcano a little better but our guide JC was awesome! The hot springs and waterfall experience was AMAZING!!

I enjoyed this trip to...

I enjoyed this trip to the Rincon de la vieja national park. Our tour guide JC and driver JB with Natives Way tour company were awesome. JC was so cool and funny. Had a blast. Its alot of walking. About 9-10 miles total. Glad we were at a slow pace. Did a mud bath and rinsed off before getting in the hot springs. Couldn't get close to the volcano due to it currently active, I guess. The waterfall was so beautiful. Cold but beautiful. The weather was perfect, high 80's close to 90.

Hot springs were rushed

Pretty good tour - however the hot springs were way too rushed. We only had 15 minutes in the pools before it was time to leave. I think the volcano hike could have been much shorter - we spent a lot of time standing around talking about the plants, watching birds, etc. Or skipped the detour on the way back to go to a souvenir shop. Also in the van our guide Kevin Niño made a comment to the driver about a young girl outside, saying “culo tremendo chica” - “tremendous ass girl”. I guess he assumed we didn’t speak English, but I found it unprofessional

Great tour with Kevin!

Great tour! Kevin is super knowledgeable and did a great job leading us. He was great at spotting monkey, birds, and interesting plants to show us which added a ton to the trip. He loves what he does and we appreciated the knowledge and enthusiasm. Pura vida!

Overall good- some improvements would have made it better.

The volcano hike was fascinating, however I wish we were able to spot more wildlife. Due to the size and differing abilities of our group we had to keep stopping for them to catch up and the guide was not able to point out as many things. I had been the one to spot most of the wildlife. There was a section of the trail damaged by a large tree and we had to go around through the woods to finish the hike (or go all the way back around)-- that would have been helpful for our poor guide to have been advised of ahead of time as he had to navigate a lot of people, many of which were not fit for doing so, through the treacherous/muddy grounds. Hats off to Karim for that one; pro move. Because this hike took us so long I felt as though the rest of the tour was very rushed. Unfortunately the water was too high to swim in the waterfall, but we did get to walk down there to take photos quickly. The hot springs were beautiful and very refreshing especially since we had hiked through the rain the whole day. Again, I wish we had more time since we were rushed a bit after the hike took so long.

Great tour! Would recommend!

Loved the hot springs and waterfalls! We had plenty of time for all, including lunch. Nicole did a great job!

choose them for your tour

My partner and I joined for the visit to Rincón de la Vieja/waterfalls and thermal pools. It was such an amazing day and every detail was looked after. Even the buffet food was one of the best ones we tried in CR. It was raining (a blessing in disguise for a hike) but unfortunately no many animals to be seen. Still, do not let it put you off, it is still well well worth it. Consider the shop at the end of the tour (we later realized it was kind of the cheapest we could find). When in Tamarindo be super mindful of adventure companies as you can be easily misguided- recommend having a visit to their office and look around what they have on offer

Great Day Trip

Highly recommend this day trip. We had a great time and our tour guide Alejandro and driver Alberto were awesome. They were very professional but very fun and super informative. We saw a lot of wildlife in the park and Alejandro had so much information about the area, animals, plant and trees. The park with the waterfall and hot springs was very nice and lunch was fantastic. The start time is early but it’s so worth it!! Pura Vida!

Best activity of this trip

The tour guide Alejandro was very interactive, explaining the local culture/history of Costa Rica. You can tell he enjoys what he does and it shows. The vehicle was neat and stocked with water. The lunch was delicious and included chicken/lentils/rice/salad. The final stop in the tour was mud bath/steam bath and it had big changing rooms and clean towels were provided. This was the only tour we did out of our 6 day trip and it felt like it covered most everything. I'd highly recommend it.

Volcano and Hot Springs Tour

We came mid-November. Still rainy season, but we lucked out with the weather. The tour was informative. I would say that the hike is easy but it does have a lot of steep uphills and downhills so wear good footwear. The food was good as-well. Ivan and Jose were great and accommodating. As a group we decided to not see the waterfall since we were able to see another waterfall during our hike and instead spent 2 hours at the hot springs/mud bath which is beautiful.

Beautiful Hike

Our tour guide was great. He was friendly and knowledgeable. My only complaint is that it started pouring rain and thundering before we got to the Springs. I felt like the tour should have been cut short for safety reasons. The rocks were slippery to walk on and the rain was cold and pelting.

Hot walk

Nice walk relaxing Hot pools interesting to see. Our guid and driver made a very good job and ansered a lot of questions.

Highly Recommend

Dafna and Armando were funny and intelligent. They knew and taught us so much. Just fun to hang out with. The day was an adventure from start to finish. Magnificent Costa Rica! Just Wow

Incredible hotsprings, impeccable tour and organisation

Overall great day tour with Native's way and Alejandro the guide. Small group, everything and everybody on time. Profesional driver and new véhicule. Alejandro is more then knowledgable about everything Costa Rica and was a fantastic guide. The hot springs in particular was nothing short of spectacular, the best I've ever been to. The area is well develloped for tourism. Highly Recomended. Finaly, the price was good, even for that country because of the quality of the staff, attraction, and organisation.

Great full day of discoveries in nature!

I went with a friend and we had a fantastic day! Our guide Kevin Piña and our driver Hiroz were amazing. Kevin Piña had so much knowledge about the flaura and fauna that made our day that much more interesting and exciting. We even got to see a tapir and an ant eater. The hike is more like a forest walk. We were expecting a more strenuous hike, but it ended up being more of a walk with some stairs. Very moderate. The lunch and waterfall swim were great. I hope we had more time to enjoy the hotsprings at the end, it was only an hour and we could have stayed a few more. It was like a natural spa, absolutely beautiful. One of the highlights of the day. There are a few suspended bridges during the excursion. Very safe, but if you are afraid of heights, be advised. Often 1-2 people at a time. They are mobile and wobbly when you walk, but we felt very secure. It does make for a long day, but well worth the excursion! Gracias a Kevin!

A hard, but rewarding hike!

There's so much to say about this incredible experience. Let me start with, you can bring changes of clothes and shoes. There are dressing rooms to change from hiking gear to swimsuits. I don't know if missed that in the listing, but my friend and I wished we would have brought separate outfits. As casual hikers from the Midwest, the mountain hike was harder than we expected, but absolutely beautiful! We came across so much rare wildlife. Blue butterflies, an anteater in a tree, and the field of multiple butterfly species was breathtaking! We were definitely ready for a swim after the hike, and Oropendola's beauty didn't disappoint. It was VERY cold, but it felt refreshing after sweating for several hours in the rainforest. After our swim, we stopped for a tasty lunch. Before we left, our guide, Kevyn, heard there was a tapir napping nearby so we made a short detour to see this majestic and rare sight (pictures included). After that, it was off to the hot springs -again, there *are* changing rooms here, so if you decide not to swim at Oropendola, you can still get changed before taking to the mud baths. The mud was fun, and rinsing off in the river was a joyful and unique experience. Getting into the baths, though, was exactly what we needed after such an exciting day. Our feet, knees, and backs hurt, making the therapeutic water a welcome relief. Again, we weren't wearing proper footwear and had opted to have our swimsuits on during the hike since we missed that there were changing rooms, but I'm sure we would have been in better shape if we had been prepared. All in all, an amazing experience!

Jam Packed Day of Fun

We absolutely loved this experience. Alejandro was a phenomenal and informative guide. We saw a spider monkey family, pit viper, gorgeous butterflies, and leaf cutter ants are so much cooler than I thought. The waterfall was beautiful but freezing and we saw a coral snake there. It poured rain all the way to the hot springs, but that only made the warm water more enjoyable. The food was amazing as well.

Costa Rica volcano/ waterfall excursion 2024

Very informative and fun tour. Well worth the money. Kevin our tour guide was great & our driver David got us to and from safely.

Long day

Tour guide was great (Kevin) Day was long! Mud bath is taking a cup of mud and rubbing it over body (not actually mud bath) If you’re up for a long day of walking and seeing nature, I recommend.

Rained a ton but still fun

Alejandro was an excellent source of information about the forest. We saw several animals which was fun. The hot springs was a nice way to end the day.

Super fun and very knowledgeable

We had a great tour with ALEJANDRO at the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano Tour. We had so much fun learning so much about all useful purposes the different trees have, and about the different animals and their functions. Because of ALEJANDRO I now appreciate nature and animals much more. ALEJANDRO also explained how volcanos were formed and showed pictures that helped us understand better volcanic formations and how Costa Rica is utilizing them for renewable energy. This increased my interest in learning more about Volcano's. This was a great tour! The hot springs were also great. The best one was the 103 F hot spring. So hot!. The waterfall was very refreshing. I am looking forward for another tour with ALEJANDRO the next time I come to Costa Rica.

Super fun and knowledgeable

We had a great tour with ALEJANDRO at the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano Tour with "Native's Way Costa Rica" Tour. We had so much fun learning so much about all useful purposes the different trees have, and about the different animals and their functions. Because of ALEJANDRO I now appreciate nature and animals much more. ALEJANDRO also explained how volcanos were formed and showed pictures that helped us understand better volcanic formations and how Costa Rica is utilizing them for renewable energy. This increased my interest in learning more about Volcano's. This was a great tour! The hot springs were also great. The best one was the 103 F hot spring. So hot!. The waterfall was very refreshing. I am looking forward for another tour with ALEJANDRO the next time I come to Costa Rica.

Fantastic

Alejandro was an excellent and very attentive guide. He was courteous and provided great details and instructions during the tour.