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 great shape. It’s paved all the way through!
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. The road is now completely paved in March 2019!
We took this video by strapping our Sony Action Cam to the top of our car so that we can show you what Bijagua looks like and give you driving directions. We saw a few sedans on this road so if you’re worried that you can’t make it in a sedan, don’t! You can definitely drive a sedan to Rio Celeste. The main road in Bijagua is completely paved as you can see.
How to get to Rio Celeste from Liberia
Drive to Liberia city and turn south on the InterAmericana highway. Continue for about 50 kilometers and about 10 minutes before Canas, turn left onto Route 6. Continue on this road for another 40 kilometers (~25 miles) to reach the town of Bijagua. Turn right onto the road to the national park, about 1 kilometer (.6 mile) north of Pizza Barrigon. Continue on this road for about 25 minutes. This drive takes about 1.5 hours.
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.
If you like this article, follow us on Facebook for more Costa Rica travel tips and inspiration!
Save $$ on your car rental with our discount below!
Click here to get your Costa Rica car rental discount
See more driving in Costa Rica videos below!
Driving around Playas del Coco
Driving from San Jose to La Fortuna
Maxime says
Hi,
Having the driving direction would be very useful.
Also, is there more than one entrance?
Thanks,
Maxime
Sammi says
There’s only one entrance and driving directions from Liberia are in there now 🙂
Shelby says
Just wondering if it is possible/ enough time to travel from Monteverde to Rio Celeste to Arenal/La Fortuna in one day? Trying to make the most of our days! Thank you for all your help in planning our trip!
Sammi says
You could! Just make sure to leave early ad get a good night sleep because you’ll have to drive a bit. Around 3 hours for Monteverde to Rio Celeste and 2 to La Fortuna. Then the hike could take around 4 hours depending on how long it takes you and the weather so it’ll be a long day. The park also closes at 4 and you need to be in the park by 2 PM.
Journey Filkosky says
Hi I just returned from Costa Rica and Rio Celeste and they recently replaced the entire road all the way up. It is 100% paved until you get to the parking lot.
Sammi says
Hi Journey! Thank you for the update, great to hear!