Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Parking Lot./TICKETS — Attraction in Monteverde

We visited Monteverde cloud forest reserve (June 2024). The weather was perfect that day but, despite this, we found it disappointing for several reasons. To start, the ticket booth is slow and disorganized, with unecessary long queues that waste time. After paying, you get a receipt with a trail they "recommend" (at the entrance you hear it is actually assigned) to each visiting group, which you must follow. Once the initial trail is done, all other trails can be visited (BUT NOTE: they only indicated this upon asking). Despite it being low/shoulder season, it was crowded, and noisy, so we can only imagine it being worse in high season. We did not purchase a guided service but feel sorry for those we came across who paid for one because some of the guides we overheard were telling tourists completely incorrect names and facts about plants and animals. Even if we did not pay for it we found it cheeky - if people pay for a guided service, the minimum expectation is correct information! We tried to stay as far as possible from large guided groups and this way saw several mammals and birds, including quetzal (which I also note can be seen elsewhere and we had seen in other parts of CR as well), but after exiting and chatting with other visitors we concluded we saw far more fauna and parts of the cloud forest reserve than those in guided groups. Lastly, the reserve has a parking area with shuttles, and all is included in a $5 parking fee. Shuttles are supposed to go every 10 minutes but in reality it is closer to 20-30 minutes. To make matters worse, one of the drivers from the official shuttle service was asking extra money to bring people to the parking area, with no receipt in return. We refused to do this and reported this where we had paid parking, as well as where our car was. They confirmed any payment would involve a receipt in return, and that the driver acted wrong (he probably just wanted to make extra $ from tourists), but who knows if they'll do anything about it because when I told him I would report what he was doing he just laughed. Overall, and after visiting several other reserves and parks in CR, Monteverde was unremarkable in comparison. The entrance price is higher than any other reserve or park we visited in CR, and it certainly does not come close to any national park (all of which were far more interesting, had more fauna, and were cheaper). It is also more expensive than other reserves in the same area - for instance, Santa Elena is $10 cheaper per person, less crowded, and generally more favored by visitors (see other tripadvisor posts). If you still want to visit Monteverde, I'd recommend no guide (unless you don't mind inaccurate information) and parking on the road near the actual entrance for free (many did so, there was plenty of space, and no need to wait eternally for a shuttle nor deal with a driver who wants to make easy extra money from tourists). Extra tip: best part of that area is the colibri cafe, which is right by the entrance to monteverde, around the area where people park for free, and you dont need to pay the cloud forest ticket to enter it to see the free beautiful birds that are seemingly...

Swinging foot bridge is broken and closed! We wished we had parked near the entrance instead of in the lot. We spent over an hour combined waiting for the shuttle. There were long lines of people because there was only one person checking everyone in. We had planned on eating breakfast there but because of the delays we didn’t get seated until 10:30 am. They had stopped serving breakfast. As far as the trails, they are well maintained. The swinging bridge, the reason we came is broken and the trails around it are closed leaving about half the trails closed. There are much nicer forests to visit...

Reserving a guided tour on the website was not a great e-commerce experience and when we got there apparently we still had to pay an admission fee. That said, parking, taking the shuttle were easy, and the park itself well worth the visit. The guide was great and pointed out lots of birds, etc. and educating on the habitat. We didn't see any mammals. The hike up to the clouded continental divide didn't take too long and was...