La Fortuna

6 photos · 2019

6 photographs tagged La Fortuna, 2019.

Related: Costa Rica Guanacaste Arenal Volcano Volcano Cloud Grass
Arenal Volcano rises above grassy plains with a stream running through the foreground at sunset near La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
Arenal Volcano stands 1,633 meters tall near La Fortuna in Costa Rica's Alajuela province. Its symmetrical cone formed through repeated eruptions that began in 1968, when a sudden blast destroyed the nearby villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo and killed 87 people. The eruption marked the start of continuous activity that lasted until 2010, when the volcano entered its current dormant phase. The surrounding lowlands, drained by small streams like this one, are part of Arenal Volcano National Park, established in 1991 to protect the area's forests and wildlife.

Twilight Creek Below Arenal Volcano, Costa Rica

A swimmer floats in the turquoise pool beneath La Fortuna Waterfall in Costa Rica's tropical forest.
La Fortuna Waterfall drops roughly 70 meters into a pool fed by the Río Fortuna, near the base of Arenal Volcano in northern Costa Rica. The site sits within a privately protected reserve of tropical forest reached by a steep trail from the parking area. Swimming is permitted in the plunge pool, though park rules keep visitors a set distance back from the base of the falls due to falling rock and strong currents. The waterfall formed where the river cuts through a lava terrace tied to the Arenal volcanic system, which has shaped much of the surrounding landscape over the past several thousand years.

Swimming Below La Fortuna Waterfall, Costa Rica

Arenal Volcano rises above forested foothills under partly cloudy skies in northwestern Costa Rica.
Arenal Volcano stands 1,657 meters tall in north-central Costa Rica, within Arenal Volcano National Park near the town of La Fortuna. A stratovolcano formed by the collision of the Cocos and Caribbean tectonic plates, it lay dormant for centuries before a sudden eruption in 1968 destroyed the nearby villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo. Arenal remained active for more than four decades, with lava flows and ash visible from La Fortuna, before entering its current quiet phase in 2010. The surrounding slopes, now covered in regrown forest, form part of the Arenal-Monteverde biological corridor connecting several protected reserves.

Arenal Volcano’s Cone Rising Above the Rainforest

Arenal Volcano's symmetrical cone rises above lava fields and tropical vegetation in Costa Rica's Alajuela Province.
Arenal Volcano reaches 1,657 meters above the lowlands of Alajuela Province near La Fortuna, its conical shape long cited as one of the most symmetrical stratovolcano profiles in the Americas. The volcano had been dormant for centuries before an eruption on July 29, 1968, destroyed the villages of Tabacón and Pueblo Nuevo; it then remained active, with lava flows and rock ejections continuing until 2010. Arenal Volcano National Park, established in 1991, protects roughly 12,000 acres of rainforest and hardened lava fields at the mountain's base. Costa Rica's Volcanological and Seismological Observatory continues to monitor the peak, which last erupted more than a decade ago.

Arenal Volcano Rising Above a Lava Rock Path

A hiking trail crosses dark volcanic rock and regenerating vegetation with Arenal Volcano rising in the background near La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
Arenal Volcano last erupted in 1968, sending a pyroclastic flow and lava across its western and southern flanks that buried several farms and killed dozens of people. The eruption ended a dormancy of roughly 400 years and triggered intermittent activity that continued until 2010. The rock fields near La Fortuna consist of andesitic lava deposited during that eruptive period, now colonized by secondary forest growth. At 1,657 meters, Arenal remains Costa Rica's most studied volcano and anchors Arenal Volcano National Park, established in 1991.

Path Across Arenal’s Lava Rock Toward the Volcano

Arenal Volcano rises behind the Royal Corin Thermal Water and Spa Resort near La Fortuna in Costa Rica's Alajuela Province.
Arenal Volcano rises above the Royal Corin Thermal Water and Spa Resort near La Fortuna in Costa Rica's Alajuela Province. The stratovolcano, at 1,670 meters, was continuously active from 1968 until its eruptive activity ceased in 2010, making it one of Central America's most studied volcanoes during that period. Its near-symmetrical cone sits within Arenal Volcano National Park, established in 1991 to protect the surrounding forest and wildlife. La Fortuna, the town at the volcano's base, grew largely around tourism tied to the volcano's decades of visible activity.

Royal Corin Resort Gardens Beneath Arenal Volcano

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