• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
MytanFeet

MytanFeet

Costa Rica Travel Information

  • Home
  • Start
  • About
  • Blog
  • Deals
  • Contact
    • Work with us

Turrialba Volcano National Park – Information, Tips, Photos and Videos

April 25, 2020 By Sammi 6 Comments

Turrialba Volcano has been making headlines the past few years when it started erupting and spewing ash over San Jose and the Central Valley. Though volcanic activity has been noted since the 80’s, it has been gradually getting stronger every year since 2010 with 3 large eruptions in 2015, closing down the San Jose International Airport and creating a national level alert.

This national park plans to open December 4, 2020 after 8 years of closure and here is our guide to help you plan your trip. It’s worth the drive as it’s second tallest volcano in Costa Rica!

Location

Turrialba Volcano National Park is in the Turrialba canton in the Cartago province, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Turrialba city.

The volcano is in the easternmost part of the Central Volcanic Range. Turrialba Volcano National Park is 70 kilometers (43 miles) from San Jose and about a 2.5 hour drive one way.

Turrialba Volcano National Park map.

Access to the national park will be from the Tapojo sector via Finca Monte Calas (Route 20)

Turrialba Volcano National Park Hours and Entrance fee

The Turrialba Volcano National Park fee is $12 USD per person for foreigners, paid by credit or debit card only. Turrialba Volcano National Park will allow entry of visitors from 5 AM to 10 AM December to April and 8 AM to 12 PM May to November. Children over 12 years of age accompanied by an adult are allowed. children under 12 are not allowed.

Reservations must be made beforehand. You can call 2559-0117 and 8534- 1063 Monday through Saturday from 8 AM at 3:30 PM. They will implement an online system later.

You can stay a maximum of 4 hours in the park.

Important Things to Know About Visiting Turrialba Volcano National Park

  1. Groups of 17 people maximum as they need to operate at 50%. Groups must be led by  an accredited tour guide from SINAC (FUNDECOR and USURE)
  2. The trail that will be open begins at Finca Monte Calas and goes to a crater viewpoint. It is about 5 kilometers one way (3.1 miles) and does have slopes and in an unpaved trail. The elevation begins at 2657 meters and ends around 3,340 meters.
  3. In the dry season (December to April), six groups of tourists can enter per day. In rainy season (May to November), five groups may enter per day.
  4. Protective equipment will be given to tourists and is mandatory to use from the entrance to the crater viewpoint.
  5. No drones allowed.
  6. Don’t remove any plants, flora or fauna from the environment.

About Turrialba Volcano

Turrialba Volcano has 3 craters and two cones: Cerro Tiendilla and Armado. As the second tallest volcano in Costa Ria, Turrialba stands at 10958 feet (3339 meters) above sea level with two different types of forests.

Turrialba Volcano

Since it is high up in elevation, temperatures are around 70 F (21 C) in summertime. At the top, there is a view of the Talamanca mountain range, Poas Volcano and all the way to the Caribbean. Various birds and wildlife live in the area including the Resplendant Quetzals, foxes, armadillos and hummingbirds.

Driving Up to the National Park

Since we visited when we visited when the park was closed, we drove up to the national park and saw the volcano from outside. Back then, we had to be at least 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the entrance. The road up to the volcano is well paved and there is even a little cafe near the entrance, run by a local Turrialbeño family. They have a great view of the volcano from there or you can find another point along along the road for impressive views.

Turrialba Volcano

When we visited in March 2017, Turrialba Volcano started erupting again after a month of being quiet. Small eruptions continued the entire 2 hours we were there! Eventually, our car and clothes had a light covering of ash. If you look at the grass, fences and plants on the road, you can see that many of them have a thick layer of ash from previous eruptions.

Turrialba Volcano
Flowers covered in ash

When the national park was open as the volcano wasn’t as active, visitors were able to hike up to the observation platforms to take in the views of Irazu Volcano and surrounding landscapes. These will be open again in December.

Farmers and local families still operate in that area. As you’re driving up to the volcano, you’ll see crop fields destroyed by the ash. Turrialba is a large farming area and areas close to the volcano has been affected by volcanic activity. But the locals continue on as usual.

turrialba volcano closed entrance
The closed entrance

The Road

The road up to Turrialba Volcano is in good shape. Curvy but well paved and only reaches unpaved roads when you get to the top. I highly recommend going slow, there are some beautiful views of Turrialba city and the surrounding landscapes.

You may see some hard core bikers on the way, this road is a popular one for mountain bikers!

Timelapse Video

Here is a quick timelapse video of Turrialba Volcano and the small eruptions.

Where to Stay

For our Turrialba trip, we stayed two nights at Guayabo Lodge which has a wonderful view of Turrialba Volcano. From the lodge, we could see the volcano smoking!

turrialba volcano view from guayabo lodge
View from our room at Guayabo Lodge

Video of Our Visit

Here’s a short video of our visit. We went to Guayabo National Monument after the national park to see the ancient ruins. Great day trip in Turrialba!

 

When it comes to volcanoes in Costa Rica, Turrialba is one of the most extraordinary. You can feel the difference in the air the moment you arrive at the base of the volcano. It is simply astonishing to see the eruptions. Hopefully it will go back to sleep for the next many years so visitors can enjoy this beautiful park and hike around the base of the volcano.

Read about other volcanoes in Costa Rica here!

Poas Volcano (another active volcano in the Central Valley)

Rincon de la Vieja

Arenal

Irazu

Read about other things to do in Turrialba here!

Filed Under: Costa Rica National Park

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jerry says

    February 17, 2022

    As the fact of short walk inside Irazu park, how do you think the possibility of combining Irazu and Turrialba volcano into one day trip? Is there anything specific to pay attention with such combination?

    Reply
    • Sammi says

      February 23, 2022

      Yes you can although I think they closed Turrialba Volcano National Park again recently, so make sure to check the hours if you want to go in the park (reservations required) or you can drive up to the entrance of the park and take some photos because the view there is pretty spectacular as well without going into the park

      Reply
  2. Francois says

    March 24, 2021

    Hi, thanks for your awesome blog! In 2 days we would like to visit this national park, but we don’t have a 4×4. Do you know if access if possible with a regular car ? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Sammi says

      March 26, 2021

      Hi Francois, you’ll need a 4×4 to get to the park, the road goes up a very steep mountain road and it’s not paved the whole way

      Reply
  3. Joey says

    April 30, 2017

    A beautiful but annoying (and sometimes dangerous) aspect of living in Costa Rica. Would still go anyway, as the country has too many good things going for it!

    Reply
    • Sammi says

      April 30, 2017

      Definitely! Plus Costa Rica is not the only country with active volcanoes so it’s not a huge deal.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.

Primary Sidebar

About Mytanfeet

Hi! We are Yeison and Samantha

Mytanfeet is full of local tips, detailed guides, photos, videos and maps to help you plan the perfect ​trip to Costa Rica.

Our Costa Rica City Guides

Tamarindo Costa Rica Travel Guide


Costa Rica Destinations Map

Special rent a car rates for Mytanfeet readers

Check Rates or Reserve


Get Exclusive Costa Rica Travel Tips and our Free Travel Guide Straight to You!

Yes, send me the tips

Footer

About

Who are we ?
Contact us
Our Instagram
Copyright & Disclaimer

Travel

Start here
Destination Map
Join our YouTube Channel

Exclusive deals

Car rental discount and freebies
7% off Arenal tours
White water Rafting special
See all our exclusive deals

Mytanfeet LLC Copyright© 2013 - 2022 - Thank you for supporting our Travel Blog!