Catarata Río Celeste — Attraction in Katira

If you are a fan of overpriced mediocrity wrapped in a tourist trap’s disguise, look no further than the Río Celeste Waterfall experience—a masterclass in how to turn natural beauty into an exhausting, money-draining ordeal.

Let us begin with the entrance fee, which is absurdly high for what essentially amounts to a muddy uphill hike followed by a view that you can Google in 4K from the comfort of your hotel bed—without the mosquitos, overpriced snacks, or surly staff barking instructions like you’re trespassing on sacred government property. The price doesn’t even include parking or a guide (unless you’re willing to pay even more), and heaven forbid you forget to bring cash—you’ll be sent on a 30-minute detour to the nearest ATM like you’re on a side quest from hell.

Now, let’s talk about the “trail.” I use that word loosely. The path to the waterfall is a steep, slick, glorified staircase from Dante’s Inferno, designed not for enjoyment but for orthopedic damage. I hope your knees are insured. And for all your pain, sweat, and mosquito bites, you reach a small viewing platform crammed elbow-to-elbow with other equally disillusioned tourists, all desperately trying to snap the same photo they’ve seen on Instagram—only to realize that the water isn’t even that blue if it rained recently (spoiler alert: it always rains recently).

And the staff? Think DMV employees if they were forced to work in a rainforest. Cold, impatient, and clearly tired of dealing with the same complaints every single day. They’ll shout instructions like drill sergeants, warn you not to swim (fair, I guess), and do nothing to help with directions or logistics. Ask a simple question and prepare to be met with a sigh and a vague gesture in some general direction.

There are zero amenities once you start the hike. No restrooms along the way, no water stations, no signs of actual hospitality—just nature, humidity, and disappointment. And if you’re unlucky enough to get stuck behind a slow group or school tour, enjoy the eternal conga line of sweaty strangers blocking every viewpoint like it’s their job.

I expected a majestic natural wonder. What I got was an overpriced, overcrowded stairmaster session with a side of attitude.

Final Verdict: Save your colones. This isn’t nature’s gift—it’s a gift shop disguised as nature. Watch a drone video on YouTube instead. Your wallet, legs, and sanity...

Warning: reserve entrance tickets on their official website before going.

1 star with the purpose of the landmarks improving their service.

The place is beautiful and quite a nice hike, but the whole experience is ruined by negligence on the access to the park and lack of information. There is NO way at all to buy a ticket in the admission office. They provide a very very bad internet hotspot where you must book your ticket online. The internet is so bad that it is close to impossible to get your own ticket and you must buy it from some locals with the only good access to internet and pay them extra.

The bookings require too much information for an entrance to a park (including your passport or id number)

If you are going to force people to book online, there should be a better service and internet provided so people can easily book their own tickets. Never seen anywhere in the world such bad service to enter a park.

Apart from that, the rest of the trail is quite nice. A nice variety of biodiversity, a couple of rain showers here and there, giving it the good name of rainforest. Saw a few different animals, and also the beautiful waterfalls and the sulphur geysers (also can smell it as you get closer) Beware that to the waterfall there is a big flight of stairs to descend and later climb. The second trail to the sulphur geysers is...

We went to the Rio Celeste with Sloth tours from our hotel in Tamarindo. It was brilliant Warren and Jose our driver and guide could not have been better. Our first stop was for breakfast, which was included, we then stopped three more times before reaching our destination. Each stop saw something different three toed Sloth, spider monkey, rosy spoonbill, and many more birds and animals. The walk to the blue lagoon along the river is fantastic so much to see more birds, including toucans, monkeys, insects , snakes, and amazing flowers. Ever heard of a mouse worm nor had we but we saw one of those too. A lovely lunch was lncluded, they even had a cool box with water and beer! An absolutely wonderful day out almost 12 hours from leaving our hotel to returning every...