Arenal, Sky Walk & Ecotermales Fortuna - Costa Rica, Part 6

We wake up and it’s rather chilly and foggy outside and the volcano is covered in clouds. We explore the house which has a beautiful view of Lake Arenal and a great pool & hot tub but it is so misty outside that the view is more mystical than real.

We had made plans to hike up the volcano with a guide this morning but when we call him he thinks it will not be a good day for a hike so we decide to try the Sky Walk/Sky Trek adventure as it is only a few miles down the road from our house.

The Sky Walk is a walk in the rainforest over suspension bridges and is part of the same location as the Sky Tram (open-air gondola that goes over the rainforest) and the Sky Trek (a rather large zip line ride). Two of my friends went on the zip line (including a very brave 8 year old) and the rest of us went for the walk. 

Coati crossing the parking lot at Sky Walk

It is a very pleasant 2-2.5 hour walk through lush vegetation and while we did not see any animals we did see a lot of butterflies and flowers including a very pretty see-through butterfly with cobalt blue trims on her wings (she was impossible to photograph as she kept moving around). The suspension bridges here were much longer (each about 40 meters long) than in Manuel Antonio and we also stumbled upon two amazing waterfalls though the water was too cold to swim in.

After the walk we reunited with the zip liners for a lunch in the Sky Trek restaurant which had gorgeous views of the volcano (the clouds has lifted a bit but still covered most of it).

Yummy ceviche at the SkyWalk restaurant

At this point it became clear that the rainy season was still in full force in Arenal and we may not be able to do a lot of hiking. So in was on to plan B – hot springs. I had done extensive research online as there are so many options to choose from and we had decided to try Ecotermales Fortuna – a smaller place tucked away right across from Baldi Hot Springs – and it turned out to be a great decision. It is literally like a little oasis of 5 hot water pools with varying temperatures. There is also a cold water pool to cool off in between. Everything was covered in natural stones and greenery and as the darkness fell we fell like we were in heaven. The place was almost empty and we spent a couple of hours lounging around the warm pools and waterfalls while the kids had a blast jumping in and out of the water. If you ever go to Arenal, you must go to Ecotermales!