Bogarin Trail: Sloth and Nature Walk

If you are visiting La Fortuna and want to see a sloth, the Bogarin Trail is an excellent option for easy sloth viewing. This short trail is right in downtown La Fortuna, well maintained and home to many sloths.

If you want to see a sloth in Costa Rica, read about our experience below!

Location and How to Get There

The Bogarin Trail is in La Fortuna, 1 kilometer (.62 miles) west of the La Fortuna park and church.

Since it’s right in town, you can easily walk there if your hotel is near the central park. If you are staying further out and don’t have a rental car, you can ask your hotel to send a shuttle for you and then you can easily call an Uber back as there are many Ubers in downtown Fortuna.

Free parking available.

Bogarin Trail History

This trail has a very interesting history. This unique property used to be 100% cattle farm a couple decades ago. No trees, no rainforest, no wildlife.

In 2000, a local Costa Rican man named Giovanni started restoring this piece of land, planting native trees, flowers and plants. A few decades later, it is impossible to tell that the trail used to be a farm, as it’s now home to tropical birds, colorful frogs and sloths.

On average, people see about 5-6 sloths in one hour which is incredible, especially knowing that just 18 years ago, this was a barren swamp, full of cows and open pasture.

Bogarin Trail

This relatively flat and even 2 kilometer (1.2 miles) trail is very close to downtown La Fortuna, making it an excellent option for those who have an open morning or afternoon.

As you’re walking through the trail, you’ll hear the sounds of cars and people outside as it’s right off the main road.

Animals We Saw on the Bogarin Trail

Here are photos of the wildlife we saw on our guided hike of the Bogarin Trail. We saw 5 sloths including one with a baby, Black mandibled toucans, hummingbirds, Jacamars, Red-Eyed Tree Frogs, poison dart frogs, basilisks and lizards!

Additionally, there is also a pond with caimans (there used to be a caiman farm on the property) with babies. Giovanni also has a frog pond where you can see the red eyed tree frogs and poison dart frogs.

Video

Here is a short video of our time at the Bogarin Trail.

Guided vs Self Guided Walks

You must take a guided walk to get the best experience at this trail. We passed a couple who was leaving the trail when we got in. They did a self guided hike and said they saw just one sloth.

We saw 6 with a guide. As you can see from the pictures, some of these sloths were far back in the trees and well camouflaged.

Another advantage is that our guide had a telescope so we were able to get photos with our phone. Not everyone has binoculars, telescopes or a zoom lens so it’s super nice that the guides have telescopes you can take pictures with.

To book a tour, you can contact them via their website or visit the trail to schedule your guided walk. They have limited guides so make reservations for guided walks. If you don’t want a guide, you can just pay for the entrance upon arrival.

Thoughts

Thanks to this trail’s easy access and central location, it gets really busy during the high tourism season. Furthermore, the rainforest reserve is not huge. Since slows are so slow, moving around 40 yards (37 meters) a day, that’s why it’s pretty much a guaranteed sloth sighting when you take a guided walk.

I visited this trail again in July 2024 with my friends and their son. It was a nice and easy trail for the family and their son had a wonderful time. But, it definitely was crowded. We passed by a bunch of groups of 10+ people and a dozen of us were crowding around the bottom of a tree looking up at a sloth.

In the off season months, it’s not as busy. If you’re visiting between December and April or June, July and August, go earlier in the morning when it opens for less crowds.

If you just want an easy sloth viewing experience, this one is a great option. But there are other ways to see sloths in La Fortuna. You can book a hotel or Airbnb that has sloths on the property (I always read reviews to see what wildlife previous guest had seen).

Our tour operator partner in La Fortuna offers a Slothies and Birdies tour which includes round trip transportation, bilingual guide, entrance fee, water, fruit and snacks. They go to a different trail 1 km outside of downtown La Fortuna for the walk, and then they go to their own private farm for the local snacks and birding opportunities.

Prices

Self guided entrance fee is around $20 USD per adult. Can take you around 1 hour. Can enter anytime between 7 AM and 4 PM.

Guided tour is $45 USD per adult and $30 USD per child. Takes around 2 hours. Every hour except 12 PM, starting at 8 AM to 4 PM.

Night walk is a guided tour, costing $60 USD per person, starting at 5 PM. Lasts around 2 hours.

Transportation not included in any rates.

Check out these other fun things to do in La Fortuna and Arenal below!

La Fortuna Canyoning: Rappel down 4 waterfalls deep in the rainforest. So much fun!

La Fortuna horseback riding: Ride through valleys and forests for beautiful views of La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano.

Penas Blanas safari float: Float down the Penas Blancas river on a raft, great for seeing wildlife and nature.

La Fortuna night walk: See the creatures of the dark on a guided night walk