The blue falls of costa rica
The Blue Falls of Costa Rica are some of the most incredible waterfalls you can find in Central America, and the world. The Blue Falls of Costa Rica are a series of 6 unique water falls in the central mountain area of Bajos Del Toro north of San Jose. These are some of the best waterfalls near La Fortuna. You can visit the Blue Falls by either staying in the area, or on your drive to La Fortuna from San Jose. It is also possible as a day trip from San Jose or La Fortuna. I will get more into the directions below. For now just know that you need at minimum 3 hours here. These falls are incredible and really do deserve a whole day. We made it work in 3 hours but we were literally running between all of them and only managed to see 5 / 7 falls. The falls are broken up on two sides of the road. On the north side of the road is the massive Catarta del Toro. On the south side are the other 5 El Tepezquintle, Las Gemelas (1 + 2 ), La Celestial, La Turquesa, and La Pintada.
How to get to the blue falls of Costa Rica
The Blue Falls of Costa Rica are very easy to find, they are marked on google just outside of Bajos Del Toro town. The parking is easy and signed very well. When driving to this area I would recommend taking highway 126 from San Jose or Highway 4 from La Fortuna. The road is less steep and in far better condition this way. This is a great road trip from La Fortuna or on your way to or from San Jose. On this route you will be absolutely be fine with a 2wd compact car throughout the year.
From La Fortuna
From La Fortuna take Highway 4 towards San Jose and turn right onto highway 744. Follows this for a couple kilometers then turn left on 140 and then immediately right on 708. Follow 708 to the falls.
From San Jose
The Blue Falls are a perfect day trip from San Jose. To get here take highway 126 north from San Jose towards La Fortuna and turn onto highway 140 briefly and then left onto highway 708. This will take you directly to the Blue Falls of Costa Rica. To return go back the same way or continue to La Fortuna.
From the West – Santa Teresa / Tamarindo / Manual Antonio
We arrived from the west coast in the Santa Teresa direction and took highway 708 via the town of Sarchi. This highway had many potholes, and in sections was so steep our Suzuki Vitara barely made it up some sections in first gear. It is nothing to worry about but you would want to be a confident driver familiar with mountain roads going this way. To go this way put Sarchi town into google or Waze and then head up highway 708 and it will lead you up the mountain to the falls.
The Must See Blue Falls
Catarta del Toro
Catarta del Toro is not to be skipped.
Las Gemelas
El Tepezquintle
If you have time
La Celestial
La Pintada
La Turquesa
We ran out of time to see La Turquesa but this is the place to swim. It was not the warmest day when we were there so we opted to skip this one.
Blue Falls Of Costa Rica Cost
The Blue Falls of Costa Rica like many things in the county are not super cheap. However this visit is definitely worth splurging a little for. So the standard entrance ticket for the 5 falls on one side of the road Las Gemelas, Tepezquintle, Celestial, Pintada and Turquesa is $17 USD. The entrance for Catarta del Toro is on the other side of the road and is $14 USD. If you plane on doing both of these which you totally should there is a third option of a combo ticket for $25 USD. They were actually pretty cool here and allowed us to split up our days with the combo ticket so we could do the 5 blue falls one afternoon and Catarta del Toro the following morning. To read more about the falls I have linked the official site here.
TLDR – Buy the combo ticket for $25USD and save $6 all the falls are worth it. You came all the way here.
Blue Falls Of Costa Rica Trail Conditions
The trails around the blue falls are very well marked and signed. There are however a ton of stairs. I Highly recommend taking the free walking sticks they give you. Some of the stairs down to the falls are fairly steep and long. Once you get to each set of falls there is a worker waiting there to help you cross the river if necessary and sort of act like your guide. These guys are great and are happy to help.
I didn’t have any problems with wet shoes, but if you would like to walk closer to the falls sandals would be a good option. You do want something with good traction though for all the wood stairs on the way down.
Most of these trails although a bit steep don’t go on for to long. The exception to this is Catarta Del Toro. You can get a great view from the top without doing any of the hike, but if you want to see the full falls its about 45 minutes down. The trail here is very well marked and taken care of but it is steep and a lot of stairs. Once you get to the bottom there is a very cool rock area and viewing platform where you get a great view of the falls and the little canyon that leads up to it.
Other Things To Do In The Area
Bajos Del Toro is the absolute center of the world for waterfalls. These blue falls are just one of many in the area. We wrote a whole blog post on these other amazing falls called Cannon de Vuelta Here! There are also the famous Quebrada gata falls and countless others in the area. We were going to hike Quebrada Gata but it can be a bit unsafe in high rainfal times due to its postion down stream of the damn. The days we were in the area were a bit to rainy for us to feel comfortable trudging upstream. Oh well next time.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
