If you have only one full day in Monteverde and want to do and see as much as possible, then Selvatura Park is a fantastic park we recommend you to visit.
This adventure eco-park has a variety of activities to enjoy, perfect for a day in the cloud forest. And since Selvatura Park sits at nearly 1600 meters (5250 feet) in elevation, you really get the cloud forest experience!
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Location of Selvatura Park
Selvatura Park is 6.7 kilometers (4.16 miles) from Santa Elena town in Monteverde and 150 kilometers (93 miles) from San Jose.
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How to Get There
You can use Google Maps, GPS or Waze to get to Santa Elena.
If you do not have a rental car, Selvatura Park offers transportation for free for those booking their packages. If you book individual activities, there will be an extra charge. There are no public buses to the park.
If you rented a car, you can drive to the park yourself. We do recommend a 4wd or high car to get to Selvatura Park because the road is unpaved with potholes and steep at some parts.
Parking is free.
This is the same road you will take to get to Bosque Nuboso Santa Elena. You can read more about Monteverde road conditions including the road to Selvatura Park.
From Santa Elena, Selvatura Park is about a 15-20 minute drive. From San Jose, it is about a 3.5-4 hour drive.
Hours
Selvatura Park is open everyday from 7 AM to 4 PM.
Selvatura Park Video
Below is a video of our visit to Selvatura Park. Reserve your Selvatura Park passes here!
You can see what the park is like and what all the activities are like!
Activities and Passes
Selvatura Park has hanging bridges, ziplining, butterfly garden, reptile and amphibian exhibit and sloth sanctuary center.
You can choose to do whichever activities you want or book the day pass which includes all activities.
We highly recommend to make reservations in order to guarantee your spots, especially if you want to go ziplining or do a guided natural history walk.
IMPORTANT: Due to the higher elevation, please have a jacket, long pants and closed toed shoes.
Book your Selvatura Park passes here!
Selvatura Park Zipline
Their canopy tour consists of 13 cables, 15 platforms, 1 tarzan swing and 1 cable that is 1 km long that you can upgrade to Superman.
The Selvatura Park ziplining tour is hands down, one of the best in Costa Rica because of the stunning views, friendly staff and safety (they use Deltex wired carbon fiber technology which makes the cables quieter, more resistant and environmentally friendly).
As Selvatura Park sits quite high in elevation in the cloud forest, you truly feel like you are flying over the forest!
On our last trip, our group was rather large of about 40 people. We were joined by many families, with kids as young as 4 so the park is very family friendly.
All the little kids went with a guide but on the short cables, they went by themselves.
Ziplining in Monteverde is definitely one of the best things to do in Costa Rica!
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There are three cables where you go in pairs and you have to go in pairs because the cables are so long, they need extra weight to make sure you get across! It was a ton of fun for us to zipline together.
Before the last cable, you have the option to go on the tarzan swing. Although we didn’t go, all the kids went and it was so funny to watch them scream and swing high into the cloud forest.
The last cable is 1 kilometer and this is the one where you can upgrade to do it Superman style or you can go normal in pairs.
We decided to do it normal style and go as a pair and WOW! You’re literally soaring over the cloud forest, feeling like a bird.
The views take your breath away as you zip over the canopy. All you see around you is cloud forest for miles and miles. It was such a great experience to zipline over the cloud forest together!
If you want to do the last cable superman style, there is an extra fee to upgrade.
For adventure seekers looking for the ultimate thrill, definitely pay the extra fee because you WILL feel like superman and is worth every dollar for that experience!
I did the Superman during our second visit and holy smokes. It was INCREDIBLE! We went at the end of January so we had fantastic weather and I could see the cloud forest canopy tops, stretching for miles and miles on end!
Hanging Bridges (Guided or Non Guided)
After the zip line, we walked the hanging bridges on our own. If you have ever wanted to experience suspension bridges and walk so close to the tops of the forest canopy, this is the best way to do it. The bridges allow you to get so high up for views only birds get!
The trail is very nice as it well maintained and easy to walk. It is not dirt as they put down these concrete/brick paths.
This is great because even if it rains, your shoes don’t get super muddy as it’s not a full dirt path.
Book your Selvatura Park passes and activities here!
The bridges range from 170 to 560 feet and takes around 1.5 hours non guided. If you want to do a guided tour, they offer guided nature walks that takes around 3 hours.
On a guided tour, you have more options to see wildlife and you’ll learn more about the cloud forest.
Although it is difficult to see animals in the cloud forest because the forest is just so dense and the forest is so big, there are options to see monkeys, sloths, hummingbirds and even the Resplendant Quetzal.
If there are any two activities that you should do at Selvatura Park, in our opinion it’s the zipline and hanging bridges. It’s the perfect combination of adventure and nature!
Selvatura Park offers a package with ziplining and non guided hanging bridges – it is the Gold Pack.
Click the link to book your Selvatura Park passes and activities!
Lunch
They have a restaurant where you can have lunch. They offer traditional Costa Rican lunch, coffee, juice and dessert. You can go to their restaurant and pay for lunch when you get there.
Butterfly Garden and Reptile Exhibition
Selvatura Park has a huge butterfly garden with over 30 different species. This tour comes with a guide and he showed us caterpillars, different cocoons for different butterflies and gave us general information about the main species in Costa Rica.
Next they took us to the reptile and amphibian exhibition. This part also included a guided tour in both Spanish and English.
Sloth Sanctuary
This is a new exhibit, their sloth sanctuary. They have around 10 two-fingered sloths that were transferred over from another center on the Caribbean side.
These are sloths that were rescued (from injuries, abandonment, etc.) and now live permanently in the centers.
This is also a guided tour for visitors to learn more about sloths in Costa Rica. It was a great experience to see sloths up close and learn more about the animals and their environment.
Overall
Selvatura Park in Monteverde has one of the best ziplines in the area and also showcases the wildlife and nature in Costa Rica extremely well.
If you only have 1 full day in Monteverde, this is a great way to spend it!
If you have two days in Monteverde, the second day can be spent hiking at El Tigre Waterfalls or on a birdwatching tour! Don’t forget a Monteverde Cloud Forest night walk!
Get our mini Monteverde itineraries in the link to see what we recommend for 1, 2 ,3 and 4 days!
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Click the link to book your Selvatura Park passes and activities!
Maureen Maier says
Hello! This website has been so helpful as we plan our upcoming trip! I would love to get some thoughts on our Monteverde part of our trip related to ziplining.
We are traveling from Lafortuna and initially we scheduled to do a night hike and dinner with Finca Modelo Ecologica our first night, then spend our full day hiking at Santa Elena Cloud Forest in the morning and we are booked for The Original.Canopy tour at 2pm that afternoon.
Worries that we are overbooked and wanting some time to explore the town and be more flexible with our hike on our full day, I’m considering some changes.
I am think of cancelling the night hike and moving the Zipline to the 2pm or 2:30pm on our arrival afternoon. The next day we would do our hiking in the morning and be flexible in the afternoon. We have a dinner reservation at the a treehouse Restaurant.
Wondering if it’s doable to get to the Zipline on day one if we leave lafortuna by 8 or 8:30, and if this makes sense as a plan.
We have two 14 year olds (on the small side so not big enough for the Superman or Tarzan at most places. Wondering whether to keep at The a original or switch to Selvatura as I’m overwhelmed with all the choices!
Sammi says
If you leave Fortuna by 830 AM, you’ll probably get to Monteverde by noon and you can see when is the last afternoon zipline schedule is if you want to zipline on day one instead. I’d also do a night walk in La Fortuna instead of Monteverde, just as Fortuna actually has more frogs and snakes to see but it will depend on the weather in both Fortuna and Monteverde, as it has been raining a lot during the night time. I would hold off on booking a night walk until you get here to see how the weather is
Jenny says
I am trying to decide between Selvatura, Treetopia (Sky Trek), and The Original Canopy Tour for ziplines. Monte Tours blog recommends Sky Trek bc he thinks it is safer with their automatic braking system, versus braking with a gloved hand which he says the others all use. We do have an 8 and 11 year old and wonder if it is hard for them to use a gloved hand for braking. Do you even need to brake much?
Sammi says
I know some people worry about braking which could be a concern if you’re a first timer or really scared of heights but I honestly don’t feel like it’s very difficult, I’ve seen kids of all ages on the Selvatura Park ziplines and you really don’t need to brake a ton like every single line, it could be like 2 or 3 the most and they always have a two part brake system so even if you don’t brake enough and come in a bit fast, they have a second braking system to stop you and then always a guide to catch you. But that’s just my personal opinion, there are some people who refuse to go on ones that don’t have an automatic brake system because they’re terrified of it, which is fine, as Treetopia does have the braking system where you don’t need to manually pull down on the cable.
Nettie says
Hi, we have 1 1/2 days in Sanata Elena (maybe a portion of another day on our way to Quepos) and love hiking and animals. Wondering if we could do El Tigre Waterfalls on our way from La Fortuna, in the afternoon after the drive down?
Then for our next full day…..I’m trying to decide if we should do hanging bridges in Selvatura Park (taking your suggestion for unguided) or Mistico in La Fortuna? If we do Selvatura, is it $55 for unguided and additional amount for any other activity ($77 add’l for ziplining and no combo discount?). If we do just the hanging bridges, what would you suggest for the afternoon?
We usually avoid tours of any kind and hike on our own but I realize this isn’t the US Natl Parks. 🙂 Wondering if we just hike Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve on our own and there’s a suspension bridge there–is the experience totally different than these other bridges?
Thanks so much for sharing your vast knowledge!!
Sammi says
Unfortunately it will not be possible to visit El Tigre Waterfalls in the afternoon on your drive from La Fortuna because they close at 130 PM.
There is a combo at Selvatura for Hanging Bridges unguided + Ziplining (called Gold) but they also have one that’s hanging bridges unguided + zipline + sloths and other combinations.
You can definitely do Monteverde Cloud Forest BIological Reserve on your own. They have maps at the trail head and the trails are very straightforward leading to viewpoints, a waterfall and the hanging bridge. But yes, this hanging bridge experience is completely different as it’s literally just one bridge. The hanging brides at Selvatura Park are a network of multiple bridges of different heights and lengths so you get a better hanging bridge experience.