If you’re planning on driving to Arenal from Guanacaste, we’ll show you what it’s like in this post. We’ve driven this exact route quite a few times and it is one of our favorite drives in the country with beautiful views and fresh weather.
You can watch our video below or read on to find out if what kind of car you need, see what the road is like and why it’s such a beautiful drive! Don’t forget we also have a Costa Rica car rental discount which you can get below.
Click here to get your Costa Rica car rental discount
- Driving to Arenal from Guanacaste
- Arenal to Guanacaste Driving Time and Route
- Driving Directions to Arenal from Liberia
- Tips for Driving to Arenal from Guanacaste
- Points of Interest on the Way
Driving to Arenal from Guanacaste
Whether you are staying in Gulf of Papagayo (Playas del Coco, Hermosa, Ocotal, etc.), the Riu Guanacaste or coming from Tamarindo/Conchal/Flamingo, the route is about the same.
You need to go to Liberia, get on the Interamericana highway 1, exit at Canas, drive to Tilaran, go around Nuevo Arenal and the lake and finally reach La Fortuna. The distance is about 130 kilometers or 80 miles.
Arenal to Guanacaste Driving Time and Route
Here is the route on Google Maps. From Coco and Liberia Airport to Arenal drive time takes around 3 hours. If you’re coming from Tamarindo, it is around 4 hours. The entire route is on well paved roads, however, once you start going around Nuevo Arenal and Tilaran, watch out for some very big pot holes.
Driving Directions to Arenal from Liberia
When you arrive in Liberia city with the Mcdonalds in front of you and gas station on your right, turn right onto the Interamericana highway 1. You will drive on the highway for about 47 kilometers, exit (you will see a sign for Canas) and at the roundabout, take the 3rd exit to enter the town.
Then you will continue on this road for 1.5 kilometers past the park and then turn left. Go for about 60 kilometers on this road and follow the signs to Tilaran, Nuevo Arenal and La Fortuna. Once past Tilaran, you will start going around the Arenal Lake which you will see on your right hand side.
Lake Arenal which is the largest lake in the country. There are many signs for Lake Arenal/Nuevo Arenal so watch out for those if you’re not using a GPS. Restaurants and hotels are scattered along the highway that offer lovely views of the lake and near the hydroelectric plant, people can take boat rides, kayak and canoe.
Eventually after all the curves and turns, the volcano finally appears and you’ll start noticing signs for resorts like the Springs and Nayara. If you’re lucky, you will see the impressive Arenal Volcano as you drive across the bridge on the lake.
Keep going on this road and you’re now in the Arenal area. You’ll drive past the many luxury hotels and resorts in the area, pass the Arenal Volcano National Park entrance on your right and eventually end up in La Fortuna, the main town and tourism hub.
Points of Interest on the Way
There are a couple of nice stops along the way from Liberia to Arenal. Tilaran and Canas are two locals towns that have some good restaurants so you can stop there if you get hungry. Tilaran has a wider variety of food since there are more foreigners living around Tilaran and Nuevo Arenal.
Lake Arenal Brewery, Los Heroes and Cafe y Macademia are three really nice spots around Lake Arenal to stop. Lake Arenal Brewery has food and craft beer, Los Heroes has a restaurant and a train station (nice for kids) and Cafe y Macademia has coffee, pastries and food. All three places have really nice views of the lake and surrounding forest.
Once you get around the lake, you can stop by the dam for a nice view of the volcano and lake. You can watch our video of our first road trip from Guanacaste to Arenal in the video below to see where we stopped.
Tips for Driving to Arenal from Guanacaste
- If you get carsick, bring anti-nausea medicine. The road gets quite curvy. Be very careful if it’s raining!
- It’s not advised to drive this route late at night, especially if you aren’t familiar, don’t have a GPS or if it’s raining because of the curvy roads and lack of good signage.
- If you don’t rent a GPS, use Waze, a GPS app. Download it on your phone and you can use it if you get a Costa Rica pre paid sim card or have data.
- The road is nicely paved so you won’t need a 4X4. But there are a lot of potholes once you start going around the lake. Go slow!
- There are gas stations in Liberia, Canas, Tilaran and La Fortuna. Read more about Costa Rica gas stations here.
You can watch our video below of us driving from Liberia to Arenal. We included the major turns and towns.
Are you coming from San Jose instead of Liberia? Check out our post driving from San Jose to La Fortuna to see what it’s like.
Psst… if you are looking to rent a car in Costa Rica, we have a special Costa Rica car rental discount for our readers!
Looking for some activities? Find out what are the top things to do in La Fortuna/Arenal!
Lil says
My family and I arrive in Liberia at 330 headed to La Fortuna. In order to avoid driving in the dark, wanted to stay within a place thats fun and within a reasonable time before nightfall. Can you recommend someplace good?
Sammi says
Hi Lil, the Gulf of Papagayo beaches are only about a 20 minute drive from the airport so you can stay there that night. The beaches to stay in that area are Playas del Coco, Hermosa, Ocotal and Panama. Coco is the most accessible one since that is the main town so you can find restaurants, markets, banks, etc. and there is a nice park, basketball court, small boardwalk, children’s playground and skatepark at the beach. I wrote a guide to Coco you can read here: Playas del Coco
Jim says
Does Waze work in CR? We were thinking about off line maps.me. What would you recommend as a map system? Thanks!
Jim and Debbie Heal
Sammi says
Hi Jim, yes Waze works great in CR. You can also download maps on Google Maps to use them offline.
Ade Fidler says
Hi,
I’ll be arriving Liberia Airport at 3pm and I’ll like to drive to Nuevo Arenal after picking up the hire car as I don’t want to spend the night in Liberia and so its easy for me to get to Fortuna the following day and continue my travels. I’m a single female in my 30s, do you think this is advisable or safe? Will it also be dark by the time I get to Nuevo Arenal?
Sammi says
Hi Ade, it’s about a 3 hour drive from Liberia to Nuevo Arenal. Just be very careful and go slow because the road gets super windy and curvy past Tilaran and there are some bigggg pot holes where people got flat tires so just be very careful. You should make it around 630-7 and it gets dark by 6 PM here every day depending on how long it takes for you to get the car. I recommend using Waze, the GPS app because signage is not great around Canas and Tilaran.
Joelle says
Hello,
I’m arriving at Liberia Airport around 2:15pm, would I be able to make it to Nuevo Arenal before dark?
Thank you
Sammi says
You will probably get there right when it’s dark, it’s about a 3 hour drive and add another hour to pick up your car and get some food and you’ll probably get there around 6-630 PM.
Priya says
Hi- we will be landing at the Liberia airport around 3pm and will be renting a car and diving to Nuevo Arenal ( Villa Decary). What tips can you provide us to drive in dark, place to stop to get some dinner and if it rains, should we stop somewhere until it stops or keep driving?
Sammi says
Hi, right now we are transitioning to dry season so rainy season is pretty much over and ending very soon so if you are visiting from now until end of April, you won’t run into any rain. When you get to Tilaran and start driving around the lake, the road gets VERY curvy and there are some BIG potholes so go slow and be very careful. We know some people who got flat tires from accidentally driving over the potholes, they are that big. There are restaurants in Tilaran or another nice stop along the lake is the Lake ARenal Brewery or Cafe y Macademia.
Sammi says
You can do a day trip but it will be very tiring for the driving so you should get a 2nd driver so you can switch (we offer a free 2nd driver with our car rental discount Costa Rica car rental discount) . It’s worth staying a night in Arenal since it’s such a vast and beautiful area but if you are only in Costa Rica for a week, a day trip is more practical for time. Definitely leave around 5 AM so you can get there by 9-930 AM. Yyou can hike the national park in a couple hours, visit La Fortuna waterfall for a couple hours and spend another couple hours at a hot spring. There are a lot of hot springs in Arenal, Tabacon is the most popular and famous but most expensive. Baldi is a fun one with waterslides, or Ecotermales/Paradise are also very nice ones. On your way back to Tamarindo, it will probably get dark so just go very slow around the lake as it’s a super curvy route.
Melissa Denning says
My husband and I and my two brothers and their wives are coming to Costa Rica on February 11. We fly into Liberia and are renting a car and driving to Tamarindo where we Will be staying for the week. My big question is do you recommend driving from Tamarindo to La Fortuna/Arenal for a day trip? How long of a drive would you say it is? We were thinking of leaving at 5 AM. While in that area my top picks are To see The volcano, the waterfall in La Fortuna ( in your opinion what is the best waterfall in Costa Rica to see ?) and the hot springs ( where is the best place to swim in the springs?)
Sorry those are some loaded questions. Thanks for any help you can give!
Sammi says
There’s not too many places, but there is this very nice waterfall near Bagaces, about 20 minutes from Liberia on the Highway 1 that is definitely worth a stop! You can read about it here: Catarata Llanos de Cortes
Then from there it’s just small local towns. You can maybe eat lunch or dinner around Tilaran, there’s a few good restaurants there and then once you get to Lake Arenal, you can stop at some of the souvenir stores or cafes along the road for some great views until you get to Fortuna.
Mark Purnell says
any interesting places in between that would be worthwhile to visit? We will have the full day to drive from Fortuna to Liberia and are looking for any pit stops of interest…
Anu says
We are arriving in Liberia at 2pm. Do you think it would be okay to drive to the Tabacon Resort in Arenal the same day? I’ve been reading about how it is a more difficult drive later in the day. I’m pretty comfortable driving in other countries. Thanks!
Sammi says
Hi Anu, it’s about a 4 hour drive to Arenal so you would definitely get there past dark since you’ll probably leave Liberia around 3 after customs, immigration and getting your car. You can definitely drive it, but get a GPS and be very very careful because there’s a lot of construction going on at the InterAmericana highway and the turn into Tilaran off the highway is pretty hard to see when it’s dark since all the construction going on there and the sign is not very well placed. Then the road starting from Nuevo Arenal is super windy without any street lights so be super careful if you decide to drive.
Mariska says
Aaaahhhhh! This video makes me homesick for that place! Thank you! 🙂
Sammi says
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂