Curi Cancha Reserve: Best Place to See Resplendant Quetzals in Monteverde

If you’re an avid birdwatcher visiting Monteverde, then you must visit theCuri Cancha Reserve. The Curi Cancha Reserve is one of the best places in Monteverde to see Resplendant Quetzals and many other birds.

In this guide, you will find out what the trails are like, what birds you can see and a comparison of Curi Cancha and Monteverde Cloud Forest.

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Curi Cancha Information

Curi Cancha Reserve became an official wildlife refuge in 1997 and has been welcoming tourists since 2011.

It protects 83 hectares (205 acres) of virgin rain forest, open pastures and secondary growth forests.

Over 200 species of birds have been spotted in Curi Cancha making it a must for bird lovers!

Location and Directions

How to get to Curi Cancha Reserve: It is an easy 15 minute drive from Santa Elena downtown and a 4×4 is not required to get there, though a high clearance car is highly recommended.

You can find Curi Cancha on Waze. The road is unpaved so we recommend a high car.

You can read more about Monteverde road conditions in this post.

Curi Cancha Reserve Price and Hours

Curi Cancha is open between 7 AM – 3 PM. The entrance fee for foreigners is $25 USD for adults and $15 for children ages 5-20.

They offer their own tours and two Airbnbs on the reserve, previously the homes of the original Quaker owners of Curi Cancha Reserve, before it was a reserve.

Tours

The Curi Cancha Reserve offers three guided tours: a night tour, natural history tour and birdwatching tour. They also offer entrance passes for self guided visits, for those who do not want a guide.

You can book tours with them directly on their website, but they do not provide transportation.

If you require transportation, we recommend to book a Curi Cancha tour with a local tour operator/guide who offers transportation.

Map

Curi Cancha Reserve has many different trails of varying lengths around the reserve. If you are visiting on your own without a guide or tour, they will give you a map when you check in.

There is free on-site parking and they have bathrooms, rest areas and viewpoints.

Curi Cancha Hiking Trails

There are several different trails in the reserve. You don’t need to walk all of them if you don’t want to but they aren’t very long.

Here are some photos of the trails in the reserve.

The trails are very well maintained and outlined with excellent signage, however there isn’t a handicap trail.

To hike the entire reserve at a leisurely pace may take you a few hours, especially if you’re stopping to see wildlife and taking pictures.

Weather

Weather in Monteverde follows the tropical dry and rainy seasons, however, due to the high elevation in the mountains, this area rains a lot and can rainy at any time of the year. It can also be very qindy.

That is why it’s a tropical cloud forest, which are characterized as forests with a constant cloud cover, sitting at high elevations between 500 meters to 4000 meters. Curi Cancha is around 1450 meters to 1615 meters in elevation.

The dry season is generally December through April and the rainy season is generally May through November. But whatever time of year you visit, make sure you are prepared for rain and colder temperatures.

Average day time temperatures are mid 70s° F (24° C) in the dry season and night time temperatures are around 60° F (16° C).

Our Experiences

During our visit to Curi Cancha in March, the driest month, we had fantastic weather. No rain, just sun.

In August and September however, the clouds started rolling in around 11 AM and was pouring rain after noon.

In early December, we had rains in the late evenings and nights. Days were still clear.

Curi Cancha Reserve Birds

There are over 800 species of birds in Costa Rica and you can see around 200 of them in Curi Cancha.

We saw Keel-billed toucans, lots of hummingbirds, mot mots, orioles and quetzals!

Here are some photos of the birds we saw during our Curi Cancha day tour.

Resplendant Quetzals

We saw the Resplendant Quetzals in a huge avocado tree by the Alondra Trail, not far from the main entrance of the reserve.

When you enter the reserve, take the first left through the forest. You will see the avocado tree on the other side.

February to June is their mating season so we could hear the males chirping and competing for the females. We saw a total of 5 Quetzals in this tree!

Here is a photo of the avocado tree we saw them in.

Keep your eyes open at this tree though. They spend most of their time just sitting very still in the tree. It is only when they were eating avocados and males were flying around when we noticed they were there.

Curi Cancha Vs Monteverde Cloud Forest

First of all, both are great places for hiking but there are pros and cons to both.

Monteverde Cloud Forest

The cloud forest reserve gets incredibly busy during high season (December – April)  When we visited in March, we kept running into large tour and school groups.

We didn’t see any wildlife in the Monteverde Cloud Forest either, but the reserve is huge so we were not expecting a zoo. The reserve is definitely for enjoying the forest and the walk.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has one hanging bridge, a small waterfall and a view point where you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic on a clear day.

I recommend Monteverde Cloud Forest for those who want more long hikes and really want to experience and immerse themselves in a dense, virgin and pristine tropical cloud forest.

Curi Cancha

Curi Cancha is best for short walks and bird watchers as it is much more open and you can stay in one spot for a long time.

However, Curi Cancha is not as dense and it is secondary forest, since it used to be a farm and it still has open pasture.

The trails are shorter in Curi Cancha so it’s also a good option if you don’t want to hike for a long time and prefer to look for birds.

I recommend Curi Cancha for birders and wildlife photographers because it’s much easier to see wildlife. When my parents visited, we took them to Curi Cancha because my mom desperately wanted to see toucans. And she saw 6!

Either one is excellent for hiking but if you love birds or are a photographer, Curi Cancha is much better.

If you can, I recommend visiting both because they offer very different experiences.

Curi Cancha Guided Hikes

You can book a tour on the Curi Cancha website which includes the entrance and their guide. It does not include transportation.

If you need transportation, book your Curi Cancha day tour here with our local tour operator partner. The tour includes round trip transportation from Monteverde hotels, entrance fee and bilingual English and Spanish naturalist guide.

What to Wear and Other Tips

• What to wear: closed toed hiking shoes, long hiking pants and a rain jacket.
• If you’re visiting in rainy season, it’s best to go in the morning for least chances of rain.
• There are binoculars to rent at the entrance office.

Video

Here is a short video of us at the reserve on Curi Cancha day tour.

Not sure how to spend your time in Monteverde? Check out our 1, 2 and 3 day Monteverde itineraries!

Check out these posts for things to do in Monteverde!

Monteverde night walk

Selvatura Park Monteverde (ziplining, hanging bridges, butterfly/hummingbird garden, insect/reptile exhibit)

Treetopia Monteverde (aerial tram, ziplining, hanging bridges)

Children’s Eternal Rain Forest

Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve