How to Get to Rio Celeste: Road Conditions and Directions

Rio Celeste is undoubtedly one of the most incredible places in Costa Rica. This sky blue river enchants visitors with its stunning color and beautiful waterfall. Although it was a local secret for many years, word has gotten out about this spectacular natural phenomenon with more and more visitors adding Rio Celeste to their must-sees in Costa Rica.

If you’re planning on witnessing the magic of Rio Celeste with your own eyes, you’ll be happy to know that you don’t need to rent a 4×4 to go to Tenorio Volcano National Park. The road from Bijagua to the park entrance has been re-done since it got damaged from Hurricane Otto in 2017 so now it’s in fairly good shape. Most sections are concrete and only a few parts are unpaved.

In the video below, you can see how to get to Rio Celeste from Bijagua and how the road is. Bijagua is the main town near Tenorio Volcano National Park and it’s about a 25-30 minute drive from the town center to the park entrance. As you can see, it’s a very easy drive! From Bijagua, there is only one turn.

How to get to Rio Celeste from Bijagua

This video was taken January 2018.

Once you arrive at the park entrance, turn right into the parking lot and a guard will come collect 1000 colones ($~2) for parking and give you a ticket. Please place this ticket on the dashboard of your car so it’s visible.

Although this is a secure parking lot in that there is a guard and many tour companies leave their shuttles here, we don’t recommend leaving any valuables visible in your car, to lock your doors and roll up windows.

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