Although Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve is the most popular cloud forest reserve in Monteverde, there is another fantastic option: the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve (La Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena).
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest is higher in elevation at 1600 meters (5250 feet) and has 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of well maintained trails with beautiful view points and scenery.
It is privately run by the Santa Elena Technical Professional High School and protects over 300 hectares (741 acres) of land.
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How to Get to the La Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena
Driving: The reserve has free on-site parking. We highly recommend a high clearance car in the dry season and a 4×4 in the rainy season.
You can find the reserve on Google Maps and Waze, look for La Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena.
We highly highly recommend to rent a high car (dry season) or a 4wd (rainy season) when visiting Monteverde due to the road conditions outside the town center. You can read more about Monteverde road conditions here.
Get our Costa Rica car rental discount here!
You will reach a parking lot (free) and you can purchase tickets at the entrance office. There are bathrooms and a souvenir store.
Location
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from Santa Elena town and is on the Caribbean side of the Continental Division.
Entrance Fee and Hours
The Santa Elena Cloud Forest entrance fee is $21 USD for foreigners adults, $18 USD for seniors 65+, $15 USD for students with ID and $11.50 USD for children ages 8-12. Children 7 and under are free.
These are for self guided walks, not tours.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve is open every day from 7 AM to 3 PM.
Map
You can get one of these maps at the entrance office for free. On the map, you can see all the trails, the lengths and different view points.
Something else really nice about Santa Elena Reserve is that they have a universal access trail.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve Hiking Trails
As you can see, the reserve has 5 trails of various lengths with the shortest at half a kilometer and longest at 5 (.3 miles to 3.2 miles).
We recommend doing the Encantado or Cano Negro trails if the weather is good, as they have a great view of Arenal Volcano.
Trail Conditions
The trails are all in well maintained conditions. The first entrance is on a concrete path (for the handicap friendly) and it ends when you get deeper into the forest.
Encantado Trail
The Encantado Trail didn’t have that many view points but the scenery was gorgeous.
The trail led us through the cloud forest surrounded by moss covered branches and a beautiful array of towering trees.
The intensely thick vegetation made it hard to see the ground as there were layers upon layers of plants, moss and epiphytes sprawled on the ground floor.
Even though it rained, it made the forest feel more magical. The abundant vegetation never ceased to astound us and it felt like we were walking in a fairy tale.
Raindrops glistened from every leaf and branch, shining brightly all around us.
We loved our hike in Santa Elena. With such fresh air, incredible greenery and empty trails, it made me feel like I was walking in a tropical dream.
The community who put together the reserve did an excellent job. The signage on the trails is great and the paths were easy to walk on.
There are also benches on the trails making it extremely friendly for visitors of all ages.
Santa Elena Cloud Forest Animals
We didn’t see any animals when we were there but we heard lots of birds. However, the forest canopy is so dense and thick that it was impossible to pinpoint where they were.
Some of the animals you may see are coatis, agoutis and monkeys.
If you’re very lucky, you can see the Resplendant Quetzal which are abundant in Monteverde the months of February – July.
We met one couple who went on a guided hike in Santa Elena and saw 2 Quetzals and monkeys.
When it comes to seeing wildlife in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, it’s not quite as easy as Curi Cancha Reserve.
Curi Cancha is much more open so it’s easier to see birds. We highly recommend a guided day tour at Curi Cancha if you are a birder.
Santa Elena, in our opinion, is best for hiking and enjoying the incredible cloud forest views.
Guided vs Self Guided Tour
We visited Santa Elena Reserve on our own, but a Santa Elena Cloud Forest tour would offer a much more enriching experience, especially for those who have never been to a cloud forest before.
The guide will share interesting facts about the tropical cloud forests, and point out any flora and fauna of interest.
But if you just want to walk and enjoy the views, a self guided walk is perfect. The trails were easy to walk on and we loved taking our time on the trails.
Differences Between Monteverde and Santa Elena Cloud Forest
We wrote an in-depth post comparing the differences between Monteverde and Santa Elena you can read here. Below is a quick guide to both.
Trails
Santa Elena has a couple longer trails but both are well maintained and easy to walk. They lead to beautiful viewpoints, but this area can be more foggy and rainy. The reserves offer the day pass which allows access to all the trails.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has 3 trail circuits, and do not offer a day pass. You must purchase a ticket which costs $29 USD per adult for each trail circuit you’d like to do, which range from 1.5 kms to 5 kms (.93 miles to 2.79 miles).
People
Santa Elena doesn’t nearly receive as many visitors as Monteverde.
When we visited, the parking lot at Santa Elena was half full and it was all rental cars, no large tour shuttles and vans.
Monteverde was a different story. The parking lot full with large tour shuttles and rental cars. We always saw people on the trails, mostly tour groups.
Do You Need a 4×4 to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve?
Both reserves are easily accessible by car. There is free on-site parking.
We recommend a high clearance car for Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve, in the dry season. In the rainy season, a 4×4 is definitely best.
Best Time to Visit
The best time to visit would be in dry season, December through April. However, keep in mind, being the high elevation mountain area, it can still rain in the dry season.
Even in March, one of the hottest and driest months of the year and it rained on us. We also visited once in May and it sprinkled lightly the whole time, but we absolutely loved it.
If you visit in rainy season, you must be prepared for rain any time of day. Since the cloud forests are so high up in elevation, it can rain more frequently.
You can read more about Costa Rica weather in this post.
What to Wear
We recommend wearing long hiking pants, closed toed hiking shoes and a comfortable shirt that wicks away moisture.
In rainy season, make sure to bring your rain jacket and a waterproof backpack or a rain cover.
You don’t need mosquito repellent since there are not really any mosquitoes that high in elevation. There may be some gnats though.
Read our Costa Rica packing list article for more tips.
Read About Other Great Places to Hike in Costa Rica
Rincon de la Vieja National Park: A national park in Guanacaste with hiking trails to viewpoints, waterfalls and boiling mud pots
Rio Celeste: The sky blue river inside Tenorio Volcano National Park
Cahuita National Park: A national park on the Caribbean coast with beach and jungle trails
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Jenny Reinbold says
Just wanted to thank you for recommending the Santa Elena Reserve. It exceeded my expectations. I was happy not to be with a lot of people and I’m such a gorgeous forest. We even saw a tarantula! We also went to Curi Cancha in the morning with a great guide, ate lunch and then went to the park. Excellent day!
Sammi says
So happy to hear that – I love the Santa Elena reserve!
Pamela Lemoine says
Do you have any information on Curi-Cancha Reserve? We will be visiting it the 2nd week of August and were wondering if there is a cafe or any type of food service onsite.
Sammi says
Hi Pamela, sure you can read our guide here Curi Cancha Reserve
They did not have any facilities for food when we last went in December, they were building a new office but I don’t know if they also included a cafeteria. There are food places and restaurants outside the reserve though on the main road.
Lisa says
Hi, this is a great article and really helpful. We are coming to monteverde in feb 2025. Can you tell me if you need to pre-book entrance fee tickets in advance to La Reserva Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena, if just visiting without a guide? Eg, can we just show up on the day and get in? Didn’t know if they restrict numbers like with other parks.
Sammi says
As of today, you don’t need to prepurchase tickets if you are visiting without a guide. They may change things anytime so make sure to check again closer to your trip
Kim says
We are headed to Costa Rica for the first time in Jan. flying into Liberia. If you had to choose Arenal or Monteverde, which would you personally choose to visit?
Sammi says
Hello Kim, you can read our Monteverde or Arenal on just your question.
Ben says
Your reviews are so helpful and have provided so much useful information about many locations. Thank you!
James Sumpter says
I love your blogs! Thank you so much for all your efforts! We’re heading to Costa Rica in 2 weeks. How much time would you usually set aside for a trip to the Santa Elena reserve?
Sammi says
About half a day depending on how many trails you want to walk
Corey says
Hello!
Thanks for all the great content! If we are planning on doing Selvatura Park’s hanging bridges should we consider doing a different reserve hike other than Santa Elena the next day? I read that the hanging bridges go through part of the reserve so was curious if we would get a feel for the reserve that way or is it a much different experience hiking on the ground? Or should we hike the Monteverde reserve the next day?
Sammi says
If you go to the Selvatura hanging bridges, you will definitely get a very nice cloud forest experience. If you really like hiking and want to hike and see more, the Santa Elena Reserve or Monteverde Reserve are wonderful
Rebecca says
Thank you for this great post ! I’ve seen elsewhere that it is easy to get a taxi from Santa Elena town center to Santa Elena Reserve but do you know if taxis are available for the return trip? I greatly appreciate all the work and research you’ve put into your site!
Sammi says
You can ask the driver for their phone number to call him to come pick you up or the Santa Elena office may be able to help call you one. We also did see a couple of Ubers in Santa Elena downtown but I wouldn’t depend 100% on it just in case. I’d definitely ask the taxi driver for their phone number.
Rebecca says
Thanks!
Johnny_C says
Great site, very very helpful!
My wife and I are planning on a 10-day trip near the end of April, and both La Fortuna/Monteverde are tentatively on the agenda (first time for both of us in CR, and we are probably staying 5-6 cumulative days in those 2 spots).
Question regarding the cloud forests in the Monteverde region – it seems like there’s a hanging bridge in the Monteverde Reserve. Is there one in the Santa Elena reserve as well? We are more inclined on checking out the Santa Elena one (you sold us on it!!), but my wife has a hanging bridge on her bucket list…
We may, however, have the option of checking out the hanging bridge place in Arenal/Mistico. And we will almost certainly be doing the Arenal Volcano hike + Bogarin Trail (not sure if there’s bridges there). Wondering what is your personal preferences among all these (and hey… checking out both Reserves in Monteverde might be an option as well!)
Sammi says
Hi Johnny, to be honest I am not positive if there is a hanging bridge in Santa ELena (I am leaning towards no but not 100%) because we only hiked two of the trails and there are several trails in Santa Elena. From the map it looks like there is a bridge on Del Bajo trail but I don’t know if it’s a hanging bridge or normal bridge. They also do have an observation platform with a view of ARenal Volcano on a clear day. I just checked their FB photos and I don’t see any of a hanging bridges.
Bogarin doesn’t have hanging bridges but Mistico Hanging Bridges does. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve has 1 hanging bridge.