Costa Rica 
In numbers.
Jun
Sep–Nov
Best months
742m
Elevation
The water at La Fortuna Waterfall, month by month
It roars from September to November.
The fullest months: from September to November. The thinnest: from January to April.
- 13%Jan
- 4%Feb
- 3%Mar
- 8%Apr
- 44%May
- 58%Jun
- 54%Jul
- 56%Aug
- 75%Sep
- 100%Oct
- 81%Nov
- 38%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: June and from September to November.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Alajuela, Costa Rica
La Fortuna Waterfall is a waterfall in Costa Rica.
Getting there.
- La Fortunanearest town · 4.8 km in a straight line
- Parking 820 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- La Fortuna Arenal Airport (FON)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 11 km in a straight lineCar hire at SJO airport (San José)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- June and from September to Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsRio Fortuna catarata and 5 more
- —waymarked walking routes
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 3other named waterfalls within 4 kmCatarata Río Fortuna, El Salto, Cascada y pozas
- —caves
- 2campsitesCamping la fortuna, San Carlos
- 121hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmLumbres Arenal, Arenal Montechiari, Arenal Oasis Eco Lodge and 118 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- La Fortuna4.8 km in a straight line
- Poco Sol9.9 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 24 | 25 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Night °C | 18 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 18 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 34 | 22 | 26 | 60 | 195 | 183 | 152 | 177 | 233 | 283 | 178 | 60 |
| Wet days | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 19 | 10 |
| Sun h/day | 5.2 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (742 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 54% | 55% | 20% | 144% | 107% | 166% | 112% | 109% | 149% | 180% | 483% | 160% |
| 2021 | 30% | 16% | 78% | 252% | 84% | 166% | 110% | 239% | 147% | 62% | 12% | 29% |
| 2022 | 10% | 19% | 469% | 170% | 132% | 168% | 95% | 72% | 102% | 77% | 200% | 26% |
| 2023 | 44% | 55% | 298% | 63% | 92% | 97% | 75% | 73% | 63% | 116% | 93% | 64% |
| 2024 | 15% | 86% | 37% | 89% | 495% | 320% | 242% | 89% | 155% | 84% | 500% | 124% |
| 2025 | 63% | 39% | 118% | 313% | 124% | 224% | 222% | 71% | 132% | 141% | 36% | 84% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
La Fortuna Waterfall
Costa Rica
- —Height
- —Average flow
- Jun, Sep–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37446) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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