Hiking Expeditions

Hiking on your Costa Rica Holiday

Hiking has a different meaning for different people, and before we design a hiking experience for you, we need to know what you are expecting. Here are some options for Serendipity clients looking to 'take a hike' in Costa Rica.

Trails for Nature, Exercise, and Spectacular Views

Conventional Hiking in Costa Rica

The National Parks in Costa Rica offer established hiking routes. Since the idea of rainforest hiking is to see the rainforest, and preserve it as well, these hikes are laid out and marked by the park service, and in many instances the routes are “improved” — paving stones so you don’t sink in mud, steps and handrails so you don’t need to go hand-over-hand.

In any of the National Parks and private parks, you are not permitted to wander off the trail, as that creates ecological damage. This style of hiking is usually 2-5 hours and travels in a loop. Along the way, there will be sign posted points of interest. The type of animals you will see is determined by how many people are using the same trails, and how quiet you can stand while waiting. Some National Parks allow camping in regulated camping areas accessible by car. None of the National Parks allow real exploration for jungle camping in pristine wilderness.

Naturalist Hikes

Then, there’s another style of hiking — the pure joy of walking slowly, standing still, and witnessing wonderful sights. The sense of hurry drops away and the goal is purely to savor the surroundings. These hikes can be very short distances — perhaps 2 kilometers in a silent cloud forest — and take five hours to absorb everything there is to see, smell, hear, and sense.

Cloud forests demand this type of intimacy, hiking in Costa Rican cloud forest is closer to tip-toeing than walking. There’s a serenity here that defies the outer world. You’re enveloped by dense vegetation and thick fog.

Monteverde is the most famous cloud forest, and certainly the most visited “nature” area in our small country. Because of its popularity, Monteverde is referred to as the “crowd forest” by local Costa Ricans. Serendipity has selected, instead, several private areas, which have their own unique cloud forest ecosystems but without busloads of people.

Rugged Hikes (bushwhacking)

Some of the more interesting hikes Serendipity Adventures offers as part of your holiday are on reserves, both through Indigenous lands and national reserves (as opposed to National Parks). This style of hiking in Costa Rica follows trails used by native people, or by animals (believe it or not, big cats follow the same route followed by people since it is the easiest route). When our local guide tells us “it’s two hours hike from here” he means about five hours for non-natives. Even our very guides find it impossible to keep up with the local leader, a real trailblazer. Fortunately, we can slow up the leader in front of us by asking, politely, to whack the trail clear with the machete. These hikes are rugged, often slippery, and with dramatic terrain, flora, and fauna. There will be fewer animals on this style hike than in the National Parks, because even though there are fewer people, there’s a lot of noise whacking with machetes!

Hurrah! We made it!

And then there’s “purposeful” hiking in Costa Rica — to reach a vista, to summit a mountain, to look down on the world. With the jungle all around you, it is, as they say, a matter of not seeing the forest for the trees. But, when you hike to the top of the world (or at least the top of one of our volcanoes) you have a view of lushness, and sometimes even a view of two oceans (Atlantic and Pacific). And there’s always the sense of conquest to reward you.

When we design your holiday trip, let us know what style of hiking suits you!