Volcano Tours from San José: Poás, Irazú and Turrialba
Three craters within two hours of the capital, and 28 trips sold on them. What decides your day is the cloud, and it closes in around 10:00.
San José sits in a bowl with volcanoes on three sides, and two of them have a road that runs almost to the crater. That is the whole commercial logic of this area. You can leave a hotel in the capital at half past six, stand at the rim of an active crater by nine, and be back before lunch, which is not true of anywhere else in Costa Rica. Poás holds an acid lake with a pH below 1. Irazú, at 3,432 metres, is the highest volcano in the country and the least effort of the three. Turrialba is the one that keeps closing.
The three pages below take them one at a time, because what separates them is practical rather than scenic: what you have to book, how far you walk, and what is open. This page is for the choice that comes first. It is also for the one thing that ruins more mornings in this valley than closures, weather warnings and traffic put together, which is that the cloud comes up the mountain at about ten o'clock and your ticket is not refundable.
Choose a destination in Poás & Irazú Volcanoes
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Poás Volcano
Poás Volcano tours from San José: an acid lake below pH 1 in a crater 1.3 km wide.
10 experiences -
Irazú Volcano
Irazú Volcano tours from San José: Costa Rica's highest crater at 3,432 m, reached by road.
5 experiences -
Turrialba Volcano
Turrialba Volcano: the Central Valley's most restless crater, which closed San José's airport three times.
4 experiences
Volcano Travel Experiences in Poás & Irazú Volcanoes
Rafting 29 km of the Pacuare from Turrialba, with Lunch at the Take-Out
Twenty-nine kilometres on a river rated fourth in the world, through primary rainforest and past waterfalls with no path to them, then a Costa Rican lunch.
Rio Celeste in Tenorio Volcano National Park, with Sloth Watching, from San Jose
The trails inside Tenorio Volcano National Park lead to the Celeste river and its waterfall, in the canton of Guatuso, with sloth watching included.
Three Days from San Jose: Monteverde Bridges, Arenal, Manuel Antonio
Two nights of accommodation split three places: canopy bridges at Selvatura, a hike on the country's most active volcano, and the Pacific park at the end.
Two Waterfalls, Two Wildlife Stops and a 50-Metre Rappel: Arenal from San Jose
Seven zip lines end on a rappel of 50 metres, and the coffee is drunk at a bird viewpoint above the San Fernando falls rather than at the plantation.
Ratings collected by Viator and Tripadvisor