On Saturday morning, August 13, the Poas Volcano National Park opened the Laguna Botos trail and showed other improvements in the area.
Stephan Brunner Neibig, First Vice President of the Republic, accompanied by Franz Tattenbach Capra, Minister of Environment and Energy, and Rafael Gutiérrez Rojas, Executive Director of SINAC and Vice Minister of Environment, officially inaugurated it.
In addition, the capacity for tourists to enter the park was increased to 1500 people, as well as the time spent in the national park. Previously, only 1100 tourists were allowed.
These new conditions complement the store, cafeteria, and parking lot services that the Environmental Administration inaugurated on July 14, 2022, under the Non-Essential Services and Activities modality.
“The reopening of this trail makes this beautiful tourist destination even more attractive and, we are confident, will lead to increased visitation to the park. A greater influx of tourists promotes growth and opportunities in nearby communities. These factors are conducive to greater economic reactivation,” said First Vice President Stephan Brunner.
Poas Volcano National Park remained closed since April 9, 2017, due to the strong ash and magma eruptions. On August 31, 2018, visitation was enabled with a limited capacity and permanence, for a maximum of 20 minutes, in the Crater sector. At that time, the trails, lunch areas, cafeteria services, and souvenir store were not opened for security reasons.
In this second phase, there is a 20-minute stay limit near the crater; however, tourists can spend more time in this protected wildlife area since the Laguna Botos Trail circuit is now available for tourism.
This trail has a distance of 800 m and has a duration of approximately 30 minutes. It allows the tourist to go into the cloud forest and observe various plants of different species. At the trail’s end, visitors will see the marvelous Laguna Botos, an ancient crater 14 m deep and 400 m in diameter, with crystalline and cold waters.
“We celebrate the reopening of the trail that gives access to the Laguna Botos because it improves the experience of visiting this National Park, the second most visited in the country, which also complements other attractions of the area such as gastronomy, agriculture (strawberries, coffee for example), waterfalls, among others,” said the Minister of Tourism, William Rodriguez.
For the time being, risk management actions remain. They include the use of safety equipment such as face masks and helmets.
“In this second phase of the reopening of services, the trail is part of the improvements promoted by the authorities of the National System of Conservation Areas to diversify the offer of facilities and services that visitors can count on when coming to this important protected wildlife area,” commented Mr. Franz Tattenbach Capra, Minister of the Environment and Energy.
To visit the Poas Volcano, tickets must be purchased at www.sinac.go.cr. Currently, tickets must be bought ahead, as they are not sold at the National Park.
