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Celeste River Tour: Discover a Turquoise Paradise
4.2
33 Ratings
Guatuso
Discover the turquoise waters of Rio Celeste and the scenic beauty of Tenorio Volcano National Park. Explore lush rainforests and breathtaking overlooks.
Discover the turquoise waters of Rio Celeste and the scenic beauty of Tenorio Volcano National Park. Explore lush rainforests and breathtaking overlooks.
Duration:
3 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Rio Celeste - The Volcan Tenorio National Park is known worldwide for the color of the Celeste River, it is surrounded by an exuberant forest, it offers an impressive landscape worth knowing and admiring. Within its forest you can find a 30-meter waterfall, with a turquoise color, ideal for taking pictures, in the middle of the trail you can find…
- Rio Celeste - The Volcan Tenorio National Park is known worldwide for the color of the Celeste River, it is surrounded by an exuberant forest, it offers an impressive landscape worth knowing and admiring. Within its forest you can find a 30-meter waterfall, with a turquoise color, ideal for taking pictures, in the middle of the trail you can find a small lake, where it is easy to observe nearby toatis, tapirs, toucans, monkeys and even with luck some sloth. At the end of the trail you will find how two rivers of crystalline waters cross a rock with minerals, which is what causes the color change, from transparent to light blue, this is not an act of magic: it is a natural spectacle that you can witness only in the place known as El Teñidero.
Rio Celeste is a magical place that offers a wide variety of possibilities to appreciate the wonders of nature and phenomena that are difficult to find. If you don’t know it, it’s time to do it; you will not regret.
What's Included
- All fees and/or taxes
- All fees and/or taxes
What's Not Included
- Private transportation
- Guide
- Food or drinks
- Private transportation
- Guide
- Food or drinks
Additional Information
The color of the Celeste River, surrounded by a lush forest, offers a stunning landscape worthy to be known and admired.
A pristine stream that is turquoise dyed. It is not a magic act: it is a natural spectacle you can only witness in the place known as El Teñidero.
Located in the Guanacaste Volcanic Mountain Range, this park has a rainforest that…
The color of the Celeste River, surrounded by a lush forest, offers a stunning landscape worthy to be known and admired.
A pristine stream that is turquoise dyed. It is not a magic act: it is a natural spectacle you can only witness in the place known as El Teñidero.
Located in the Guanacaste Volcanic Mountain Range, this park has a rainforest that protects species of wildlife of regional importance. Within the area, the Tenorio Volcano, with its four cones, it offers natural scenic overlooks that allow appreciate the plains of the Pacific and Caribbean. “It is a magical place that offers a variety of possibilities to appreciate the wonders of nature and difficult to find phenomena. If not known, it is time to do so; not regret
Location
Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio
Located 6 miles away from Bijagua de Upala, 10 miles away from San Rafael de Guatuso. From Liberia will be around 1.5 hours, from San José will be 3 hours. From La Fortuna, it will be around 90 minutes. To use google maps or waze you will find it like Rio Celeste y Los Teñideros
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.2
(33 Ratings)
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324antjee
Mar 14, 2026
Worthwhile waterfall - Great waterfall with blue river
Booking must be done through Simac very complicated
The park is very nice up to the waterfall the path is ok. Then you have to queue at the waterfall as only 6 people are allowed to stay at the end of the steps. You can't go all the way down. Once you are back up you can walk to the right and after 1.5 km you come to the Tenderos where both rivers converge and then the blue color is formed by chemical reactions. On the way you can see turtles. Some have also seen a tapir but is very rare. The path is very arduous as it goes down and back up over root and high steps. Still worth it
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Quest18254635701
Mar 10, 2026
Rio Celeste and waterfall! - Fantastic experience and great hike. Often rocky, very muddy and medium difficulty but so worth seeing the water. I would recommend not wearing sandals but many people did. It is not a loop trail but rather walk to the end (so worth it) and walk back. Be prepared to pay for parking/ we paid 3000 colones at the site. Go early as there was a que at the waterfall and it was longer later. Loved it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sharon_y
Feb 16, 2026
I recommend going early... - I recommend going early in the early. We went at 9:00 am and the hike itself was sooo much fun. There was a line to see the waterfall so the earlier the better but honestly even then the line wasn't that bad, waited for maybe 10-15 minute. I then hiked to the blue lagoon which was a tough hike but the view was incredible.
Review provided by Viator
Antoncarth
Feb 8, 2026
Amazing experience - Tenorio national park is a place you need to visit when be in Costa Rica.
We’ve purchased tickets on line and we didn’t have to wait in queue.
Pathway is very clear and safe. I would say you don’t need to hire guide unless you want to know more info for animals and plants in park.
In the middle of the park there is the Rio Celeste waterfall who is very beautiful. After 650 metres you arrive at the famous blue lake.
I strongly recommend an early visit when park is not busy and you can hear all the sounds of the forest.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hangdawg
Feb 5, 2026
Crowded but beautiful - watch for snakes! - We purchased our tickets in advance, which is a must. Parking at the site is an additional 3,000 Costa Rican colones (approximately $6.05 USD). Be sure to leave any plastic bags behind, as backpacks and bags are searched thoroughly at the entrance.
The trail was quite crowded for a Tuesday morning. We arrived around 10:20 am and encountered at least 100 people on the initial 3/4-mile walk to the waterfall. Once you reach the falls, expect to wait in a line on the stairs for a chance to take photos. The stairs are currently blocked near the top of the falls due to visible landslide damage, so the climb down is about half the reported 250 steps.
Continuing to the overlook at the end of the trail is another 3/4-mile and is fairly easy, with the exception of one section of steep steps. We were lucky enough to spot two poisonous eyelash palm pit viper snakes in the foliage, which drew a large crowd of sightseers. Be prepared for occasional hold-ups where the trail narrows to let others pass. Even in the dry season, the rainforest environment means the trail is muddy and slick in sections. The entire hike took us about 2 hours.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Miriam_g
Jan 17, 2026
Unfortunately it was... - Unfortunately it was raining but the stuff was nice and the park as well. The ways we're good to walk but a lot od steps.. like in most parks in Costa Rica
Review provided by Viator
Reineiro_m
Dec 27, 2025
Very manageable hike. It... - Very manageable hike. It rained most of our hike but still was able to take great pictures. It was very scenic.
Review provided by Viator
Tyler
Jan 19, 2026
Beautiful but disappointing - There was a beautiful walk into the park that leads you through the jungle. However, something we didn't know until we were at the waterfall was that the stairs leading down to the waterfall had collapsed last year and you can't actually go down to the waterfall anymore. They just have you stop on the stairs to where you can see the waterfall from a distance and take a picture. That part was disappointing and uneventful but the food around here was very good.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Scenic57238433186
Dec 10, 2025
Not sure it’s worth it - Definitely do not need to pay for a guide with this one, not a ton to see. Quick 60-75min hike total (30-35min to the waterfall).
We paid $54 per person for admission but we couldn’t even go down to the waterfall since a tree was blocking the stairs down. I read a few reviews about this weeks ago, figured they would have cleared it by now if they are collecting all that money.
Once you buy the ticket, you need to message them on “Whatsapp” for the entry code - you just give this code to the front desk, they didn’t check anything else
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alexis_r
Jan 27, 2026
They never sent our... - They never sent our access code, so we had to buy new tickets at the visitors center. The upcharged the tickets by 40 bucks on here. Just go through the official national forest website and pay just $24 instead
Review provided by Viator
