Monteverde: Waterfalls Trek & Horseback Ride with Lunch

4.56

(55 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We met our guide, Carlos, right where the road turns muddy outside Santa Elena. He handed me a plastic bag for my phone — “just in case you want to swim,” he grinned. I laughed but kept it anyway. The air smelled like wet leaves and coffee from someone’s thermos nearby. We started down the trail, which was steeper than I’d pictured (my knees noticed), and Carlos pointed out a tiny blue bird hopping along the fence wire. He called it a motmot — I probably said it wrong, but he just smiled.

The path twisted through cloud forest that felt half-misty, half-sunlit. At one point we stopped by the river for snacks — fresh pineapple and something like banana bread. You could hear the waterfalls before you saw them: four of them, all crashing over rocks into deep pools. Some people jumped in (I just dipped my feet; that water is cold). There was this old wooden bridge that creaked when we crossed — honestly, I hesitated for a second, but Carlos just walked across like it was nothing.

After climbing back up a bit (my legs were jelly), we met the horses waiting under some trees. Mine was called Luna and she seemed to know exactly where she was going even if I didn’t. The ride up lasted maybe half an hour? Hard to say because I got distracted by views of Arenal and those other volcanoes in the distance — clouds moving so fast you’d blink and miss them. Lunch at the end was rice with beans and some kind of chicken stew; simple but perfect after all that walking. Still think about that pineapple snack sometimes.