Back in the early 2000s, a local family decided to preserve 600 acres (242 hectares) of land near Arenal Volcano.
This park is now one of the La Fortuna’s top attractions: the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges.
If you’re looking for a nice hike from La Fortuna to learn about the rain forest, the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges is a fantastic place to visit.
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Want to book a tour with transportation to Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges? We offer a small discount for La Fortuna tours, including the hanging bridges guided walk!
Location
The Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges park is 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from La Fortuna in the Alajuela province. This is about a 30 minute drive.
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Entrance Fee and Hours
The park is open every day from 6 AM to 3:50 PM (last entrance).
Services
Cafeteria, bathrooms, kids playground, mobility scooters and strollers for rent.
Mobility scooter rental: $26 USD + tax
Stroller rental: $12 USD + tax
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Map
Here is a map of the Arenal hanging bridges trail.
There are maps throughout the park (no physical maps given out anymore).
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Trail
Length: 3.2 kilometers (2 miles). Slight elevation changes
Time: 2.5 hours approximately for the whole trail
10 regular bridges and 6 hanging ones with the tallest standing at 148 feet (45 meters).
Universal access and stroller friendly trail available. It is a short cobblestone trail, with a 250 meter option or a 1.5 km option. The only hanging bridge in the universal trail is the last one (No view of Arenal Volcano).
Mistico Hanging Bridges Guided Walk
We went on a guided hike of the Arenal hanging bridges so that we could learn more about the rain forests in the La Fortuna area.
From the moment we started walking, our guide stopped and pointed out a myriad of different flowers and plants we’ve never seen before.
The trail’s design makes you feel like you’re walking deep into the rain forest, rather than in a well maintained park.
You truly feel like you’re immersed in a sea of deep green and surrounded by a symphony of cicadas, tropical birds and monkeys.
The tropical rain forest in the Arenal area houses a plethora of wildlife and the hanging bridges are an excellent way to see them.
Birds such as toucans and mammals like sloths and monkeys are just a few of the many creatures you can run into on the hike.
We were extremely lucky to see several animals thanks to the sharp eyes of our guide.
Many of the animals, like the snakes and Mot Mot were just hanging out close to the hanging bridge so we got a very close look at all of them.
Hanging Bridges
There are 6 hanging bridges. The tallest one at 55 meters (180 feet) and the longest at 97 meters (318 feet).
There is one hanging bridge with a spectacular view of Arenal Volcano, the Vista Arenal bridge.
On a clear day, it is impressive the see the towering volcano looming in the distance!
The concept of Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges park is to protect flora and fauna while offering visitors a safe environment to discover the rain forest in a sustainable way.
Their well constructed and maintained hanging bridges certainly fulfill that concept.
The trails are apt for kids and seniors who don’t have any mobility issues. But if they do, they have a universal access trail and offer mobility scooters for rent.
Before each bridge is a sign saying how tall and how high it is.
At the end of the trail, there is a very neat 12 meter long (39 feet) tunnel to walk through.
Can You Do the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges On Your Own?
Yes.
If you don’t want a guide, you can purchase the entrance ticket and do a self guided walk. You do not have to have a guide for the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges.
My Thoughts
I personally enjoyed having a guide and highly recommend it for first time visitors or those who want to learn more about the area. We only saw animals thanks to our awesome guide.
A lot of the self guided visitors kept asking us what we were looking at since our guide found snakes and birds we would never be able to on our own.
Our guide had a telescope for us to look through which is a HUGE perk of a guided walk.
Through his telescope, we saw three different snakes that we literally would never see with our own eyes as they were small.
Read more thoughts about booking guided tours in Costa Rica in this post.
Video
Watch our video below to see more of the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges.
We did the hanging bridges and La Fortuna waterfall combo tour which is a popular tour.
Don’t touch anything or stray off the path
It is imperative that you do not stray off the path or touch things without supervision.
Many animals, such as snakes hide on trees and in plants so you don’t want to accidentally get too close to them.
Also please do not walk off the path.
Wear completely closed toed shoes
If you don’t, you need to sign a waiver saying the park is not responsible for any damage or injury from not having fully closed shoes.
What to bring: light rain jacket shell or ponchoo, camera, binoculars, hat, sunscreen and water.
No single use plastics, so make sure you have a reusable insulated water bottle.
Very busy in high tourism season
This park gets extremely busy in the high tourism season which is December through April. July is also another busy month.
If you visit during that time, expect lots of crowds and tour groups.
Which time to visit?
Morning is the most popular time to visit the Arenal Hanging Bridges park. Most of the tour groups go in the morning, around 7-8 AM.
We have gone twice in the morning. Once in February and once in July. February was very busy and the trails felt very full of people. July was not that bad.
However, you can perfectly visit in the afternoon. Just make sure to enter the park before 350 PM. I recommend to go around 1 PM to finish around 4 PM.
We went once in the afternoon in July and had great weather. It rained hard in the morning, but cleared up around noon. We did not see as many animals in the afternoon compared to the morning however.
Whichever time of day you visit, bring a rain jacket or poncho, just in case. This area tends to rain a lot and it can rain any time of the year.
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Tours
If you want to book a tour with roundtrip transportation, bilingual guide, entrance fee and refreshments included, we offer a 7% discount for tours in La Fortuna.
Other Activities in La Fortuna
Visiting Monteverde too? Check out our 5 day Arenal and Monteverde itinerary.
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John says
Do they give you that map? Is there signage? How do you know where to go? We’re interested in the self-guided walk. Thanks.
Sammi says
There is signage and the trails are extremely well marked, you cannot get lost. You can watch our video to see what the trails are like (Start around 1:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRXB1ORzcI
Soumya says
Hello! We are thinking of doing the guided tour at Mistico in the morning based on your recommendation. Would it make sense to also hike Arenal volcano national park afterwards? It seems like that would be many hours of hiking (and added cost), but don’t want to miss out if doing both makes sense. Thank you!
Sammi says
You can visit both the hanging bridges park and Arenal Volcano National Park, in the national park you can just walk the main trail to the view point, that one is only a couple of kilometers.
eric tremblay says
Hola, I’d like to stop en route from la fortuna to monteverde: they said on website that its a secure parking lot.do you think its safe to leave luggages in car trunk and bring passport and valuables? My actual rental car from adobe doesnt have a car truck cover
Sammi says
Hi Eric, you can stop at any of the Adobe offices to ask for the luggage cover for your SUV for free as one of Mytanfeet benefits. Mistico does have a secure parking lot, but please still do not leave any valuables visibly left out in the car.
Angela L says
Hello! We will be travelling to Costa Rica over the Christmas Holidays. We would like to hire a private tour guide for the morning we plan to do our Mistico Hanging Bridges walk and Arenal / El Silencio volcano trail hike. Do you have someone you could recommend? We are hoping to get a really early start, and all the tours on the Mistico site, whether private or group, do not start until 8a. We will also have our own transportation. Thanks!
Sammi says
Hi Angela, we’ll be happy to help you with a private tour, we have emailed you and I see we are already in communication with you. The park is open at 6 AM but it is only for birdwatching tours.