La Fortuna: Rainforest Chocolate Tour with Tasting & Volcano Views

4.78

(930 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the smell—earthy, a little sweet, like wet leaves mixed with something deeper. We were standing under these huge trees near La Fortuna, with Arenal Volcano just kind of looming in the background (it’s hard to ignore). Our guide, Diego, handed me a cacao pod—he called it “el regalo de los dioses,” which I probably mispronounced. The shell felt rough and cool in my hands. He cracked it open and inside were these pale beans covered in sticky pulp. I didn’t expect to taste them raw but he insisted, so I did. Tart and weirdly fruity, not at all what I thought chocolate would be at this point.

We moved from tree to table under a little shelter while rain started tapping on the roof—classic rainforest timing. Diego told stories about how cacao was once used as currency here in Costa Rica, which made me look at the beans differently (imagine paying for groceries with chocolate seeds). He showed us how to roast and grind them by hand; my arms got tired embarrassingly fast. There was this moment when everyone went quiet except for the scraping sound of stone on stone and the soft rain outside—honestly, I still think about that calm.

Then came the tasting part, which is what most people are here for on a rainforest chocolate tour in La Fortuna. Warm chocolate straight from the grinder is nothing like what you get back home—it’s thicker, almost gritty, and has this deep flavor that just sits with you. Someone tried making the traditional drink; Diego laughed when we spilled some trying to whisk it properly. By then my hands smelled like roasted cocoa and smoke. The whole thing lasted about two hours but felt slower somehow—in a good way. If you’re into food or history or just want an excuse to eat too much chocolate with volcano views, yeah… this is it.