It’s been a year since we moved to Costa Rica but were not able to visit the Volcano Poás. That’s because the National Park had been closed due to Volcanic activity.

Finally, in December 2018 we were able to chance a visit to the Poás Volcano. Let me tell you right now, the crater is gigantic 🤯.

The Volcano erupted last in April 2017. The national park partially reopened to the public on Friday August 31, 2018 with limited access to crater observation area.

We have been to Irazu Volcano in Cartago, it’s beautiful but Poás, in my opinion, is more spectacular. If you want to visit this place, you will need to reserve a spot in advance through the government website. We visited on a Saturday morning at 9 AM. It was the most perfect weather with clear sunny skies.

About Poás Volcano:

The Poás Volcano National Park in Costa Rica covers an area of approximately 65 km², with a maximum elevation of 2,708 meters above sea level.

Poás is above the frost line and the temperatures can drop below freezing, so make sure you wear warm clothes.

There are 2 Craters:
Laguna Caliente – Open
Laguna Botos – Closed

The main crater, which is the main attractions, is 300 m deep and has a diameter of approximately 1.7 km. It is the largest geyser crater in Costa Rica, and one of the largest in the world. The crater has small emissions of gases and an acid lagoon and is easily accessible.

It is one of the world’s most acidic lakes. Seeing the color of the Lagoon will confirm that.

Whereas Lake Botos is an inactive crater, which last erupted in 7500 BC. It is cold and clear, and is surrounded by a cloud forest within the National Park boundaries.

How we went about it:

We purchased our tickets online the previous night and drove to Poás from San Jose in the morning.

On arriving, we provided the ranger at the entrance with our reservation number and payed the Car Parking fee.

The parking area is approximately 1km away from the entrance.

We then walked to the Visitors center, which is roughly 250m from the parking. This is where they will provide you with colored safety helmets.

 

From there it is about a 10 min to the Observation area.

When we saw the Crater, we were truly amazed. It was large and heavy smoke was coming out of the greenish acidic lake.

It is NOT inactive, so you will get a heavy smell of Sulphur, especially as the wind blows towards you. This is the primary reason you are not allowed to stay there more than 20minutes.

The fumes that day were strong, and I ended up getting a slight headache and cough. But it got better as we moved away from that observation point.

Ohh Do you know how they keep track of your 20 minutes?? Through your Helmet colors 😄
Every batch has different colored helmets 😃. To not miss any of your 20 minutes, make sure you get there at your selected time.

How to Purchase Tickets for Poás Volcano:

As stated earlier you will need purchase your tickets online in order to reserve tour slot.

To Book, use their official website – https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/

Create a new Account and fill in the details .

To make a reservation in the online system of SINAC, it is necessary that you have at hand the name and identification number of the people who will visit the park, your credit or debit card information, the date of your visit, as well as options of schedules for your visit. This applies for residents as for non-residents.

Choose your slot from among a variety of timings, each time slot has 56 spots. 50 are for visitors and 6 are reserved for Guides.

Make sure you check the date and time twice before booking, we made a mistake of booking on a previous day as the website auto updated the date while booking 😋

Opening hours:

7:00 am to 2:00 PM – All Days.   Last batch is 1:20 PM.

Ticket Fee:

National and resident visitors (13 years+) – ¢ 1000
National and resident children (2 to 12 years old) – ¢ 500
Non-residents visitors over 13 years – $ 15
Non-residents children (2 to 12 years old) – $ 5

Car Parking Fee:

You must pay for Parking in person upon arrival.

Cars – ¢2000
Mini-vans and buses – ¢4000
Motorcycles – ¢1000

Credit card payments are accepted.

Poás Volcano National Park Office:

Phone (506) 2482-2165 between 7 a.m. at 2 p.m. or e-mail: info.acc@sinac.go.cr

Location

Waze: https://waze.com/ul/hd1u4523nm
Google:

What to Carry:

Warm Clothes
Closed shoes
Sunscreen
ID Cards
Drinking Water

Note:

Wheelchair accessible visitors center (currently CLOSED).

Pets are not allowed.

There is no reliable public wi-fi or cell phone service at the entrance and no provision for on the spot purchase.

Take a print out of your tickets.

Try reaching the entrance a good 20 mins in advance. This is because you have to walk a while to reach the Volcano.

Given that Poas Volcano is active, it´s not recommended to visit with groups of children, people with respiratory, cardiac or mobility problems.