Los Quetzales National Park, as soon as I saw the name, I knew we were going to visit. We’d been lucky enough to spot a quetzal in Monteverde, but it was quite far away, and we were really hoping for another chance to see one close up.
The more I looked into it, the more keen I was; I love cloud forest environments and this one seemed to offer something Monteverde couldn’t: no crowds.
It all sounded great on paper, but the reality was quite different. It’s rare for us to say it’s not worth visiting somewhere, but in this case, we’re sorry to say it, but there are a hundred different ways you could better spend a few hours of your precious time and money in Costa Rica than at Los Quetzales National Park.
That is unless you enter a different, lesser visited part of the park, which is accessed via the town of San Gerardo de Dota - or what we refer to as the backdoor - as it’s not an official entrance (more on that, as well as what to expect in the main part of the park in this guide).
Los Quetzales National Park: the main sector and the backdoor
If you look on the government website, it will tell you there are two trails open at the Los Quetzales National Park. These are the two trails by the ranger station off the Interamericana highway (route 2).
This is the area which has an entry fee (USD $11.30 for adult foreigners and USD $5.65 for foreign children), and the area we don’t recommend visiting, although we’ll still describe the trails for you below, so you can make up your own mind.
The ‘backdoor’ is the part of the park that is located in the town of San Gerardo de Dota and has no ranger station and no entry fee. So far as we are aware, this part of the park is no longer maintained. However, there are a number of walks here, including the one we did to Rio Savegre Waterfall.
Although the second half of this walk is pretty sketchy, the first half is in great condition and much better than either trail open in the main sector of the national park. There are even some beautiful swimming holes along the river.
Los Quetzales National Park walks: the main sector
The Zeledonia Trail
Distance: 950m return
Elevation gain: 40m
Difficulty: Easy
The Zeledonia Trail is a paved trail which takes you through a pretty section of the cloud forest. There are some stairs and a couple of very short steep sections of track, but it’s generally very easy.
The only thing which makes it slightly harder than it would otherwise be, is the elevation. It sits at 3,019m, which if you’re not used to it, may make you feel a touch breathless, even on the tiniest of inclines.
There is quite a lot of bamboo along the trail which was cool to see and completely unexpected. There were also a lot of mossy trees which we love.
I can imagine if you are lucky enough to have the clouds roll in along this walk, it would be very atmospheric, and that might sway us to say it was worth it!
It’s worth noting that along much of the trail you’re near the highway, so you can hear the cars, well actually it’s more the trucks chugging up the hill. This combined with the concrete track and the fact the walk is so short is what made us feel a little disappointed with it.
The Ojo de Agua Trail
Distance: 4km return
Elevation gain: 160m
Difficulty: Easy
Of the two trails, we greatly preferred the Zeledonia Trail. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that unless you are incredibly lucky and spot some wildlife, or you simply want a bit of exercise, there is no reason to walk the Ojo de Agua Trail.
You’ll walk gently uphill on a dirt track for 2km, there are a few undulations, but for the most part it’s uphill on the way out. There is a lot of bamboo again, but you never feel like you’re truly in the forest, you’re sort of walking between the forest on an open trail.
For us it felt like a fire trail. I knew that Ojo de Agua translated to ‘eye of water’ although Google tells me it means waterhole, which makes more sense, so I was fully expecting to come out at a small body of water.
The reality is, you come out at nothing. You walk uphill until you reach an end of trail sign and then you return the same way.
From what I gather, the trail used to continue and maybe it was great back then, but now it’s a bit of a nothing (by Costa Rican standards). And I say that as a huge forest enthusiast, so if I’m disappointed, I think most people would be.
Were it a dense forest where you feel like you’re under the canopy and listening to the birds, it would be a different story. But that’s not what you’ll find on the Ojo de Agua Trail.
Can you spot a quetzal in Los Quetzales National Park?
Technically yes, but you’d have to be very lucky in this part of the park. In the lower area of the park (the area we refer to as the backdoor) you have a better chance. How do we know this? We met serious birdwatchers there looking for queztals!
However, the very best place to see them from our experience is actually in San Gerardo de Dota itself (this is where you’ll see the vast majority of guides take their clients), or by taking a guide into the forest with you (the Savegre Hotel had some fabulous sightings in their forest when we were there).
And speaking of the Savegre Hotel, they have a network of private trails which you can access as a non guest. We paid USD $10 each, so a little less than the entry fee for Los Quetzales National Park, and the walks were wonderful. More on that later in the guide.
Los Quetzales National Park: the backdoor
As we mentioned, this part of the park doesn’t have a ranger station, or opening hours, nor does it come with an entry fee.
We walked the Rio Savagre Waterfall trail, but before we did that, we walked a 1.5km stretch of a different trail (ie we got lost!). This trail was very pretty and carried on much further than we walked, we only turned back because we had limited time and wanted to see the waterfall.
The trail itself was very well maintained and as you got further along, went through a really wild and glorious patch of cloud forest. We also saw a different track when we were on this one, so you have options.
The Rio Savagre Waterfall trail is also spectacular, but the second half is sketchy - we’re talking bridges with missing slats and rails, as well as staircases that no longer have steps, and needed to be used like a ladder. We won’t go into all the details here as we have a whole guide on it with lots of pictures of the track conditions here.
However, if you only walk to the first waterfall, then the track is in great condition and it’s easy. It will take you through a lovely patch of forest and past a beautiful river with several cascades and deep emerald swimming holes.
It’s worth noting that the first waterfall cannot really be viewed from the trail, you can hear it, but there’s no proper viewing area. So this is more about the forest and river, not the falls. However, this part of the walk is gorgeous, even without being able to see the waterfall.
The second waterfall accessed via the dodgy track does have a proper viewing area and is a real beauty - but it does come with risks, so please read the guide linked above to get a good overview of what to expect.
The better alternative to Los Quetzales National Park
Just in case the following reads like sponsored content, I wanted to say we paid full price for entry to the Savegre Hotel’s private trails! We absolutely loved our walks here. In fact we walked two of the short trails here in the morning and Los Quetzales National Park in the afternoon.
I was actually gutted that we didn’t walk the longer trail at Savegre Hotel instead of the two at the national park. When we go back to San Gerardo de Dota, which we will one day because we adored it, then we’d happily pay again to walk the longer trail we missed out on.
I’d say if you want a walk that’s well maintained and spectacular, then you should head to Savegre Hotel first, and then do the first part of the Rio Savagre Waterfall track if you fancy a second walk.
At time of writing Savegre Hotel has three trails open (there were more that were undergoing maintenance on our visit). Here are details on the two we did.
Los Pioneros
At just 350m long, it’s hard to really call this a walk, but still, it’s easy, pretty and very well maintained. You’ll walk through a lovely stretch of forest, with lots of birdlife.
It’s a circuit that connects up to the next trail we did, so it’s more like one slightly longer walk. Although it’s technically a trail in its own right, it’s best added to the La Quebrada track.
La Quebrada track
Distance: 2km one way
This spectacular and easy trail winds down through a glorious stretch of cloud forest. The track is very well maintained, although there are a few very small sections which were very damp and a touch slippery.
The forest is incredibly dense, with giant strangler figs, tree ferns and hanging vines. It’s completely enchanting and we didn’t even have mist. If the clouds roll in it would be truly magical.
There are small cascades and so many birds, and you are far away from any roads, so the sounds are that of nature, which adds the most soothing backdrop to the walk.
The excellent trail conditions meant that unlike the gorgeous but tricky Rio Savagre Waterfall walk, you could focus fully on the forest around you, not what’s under your feet. This is forest bathing at its best.
We saw plenty of birds, but narrowly missed three very active quetzals that the guide and his clients saw just before us.
On that note, the vast majority of guided quetzal spotting tours take you along the main road at San Gerardo de Dota. We saw quetzals here easily without a guide (but we were in nesting season when sightings are extremely common) so we didn’t see the need for a guide.
However, the main road is super busy with people all looking for quetzals, it was sensational to see them up close, but it wasn’t exactly the wildlife experience of our dreams.
We both said after meeting the guide in the forest that were we to take a guided tour, it would be here. In the forest, a natural setting with no crowds. That in my opinion would be worth the money.
Visiting the Savegre Hotel reserve: the logistics
If you don’t have a 4WD then you won’t be able to make it all the way to the trailheads in your car. You’ll need to park at the hotel and walk or take a shuttle for 1.8km up the gravel road to the start of the trails.
We opted for the shuttle, which leaves on demand (but in the morning only) and costs USD $3 per person. This allowed us to walk the La Quebrada track in a downhill direction only.
The shuttle drops you at the mirador (lookout) where you’ll find toilets and picnic benches. From here both the trails mentioned above are all downhill.
If you take your own 4WD, you need to walk 800m back up the gravel road after walking the La Quebrada track to reach your car. The parking area is actually 180m beyond the mirador, so you need to add around 1km to the distance that we walked.
If you opt for the shuttle, we don’t really recommend taking it both ways though. This is because the La Quebrada track ends 800m beneath the mirador, so you only have a 1km easy walk down the road to reach your car again. It took us 12 minutes.
It also means you don’t have to work out how long you’ll need on the trails in advance (to organise your pick up) and you can walk at your own pace.
The longer Los Robles track also starts in the same area.
When you’ve paid for trail access, you get 15% off the bar and restaurant at the hotel, though we didn’t have time to try anything, so can’t comment on if it’s good.
Where to stay in San Gerardo de Dota
Lauraceas Lodge
We stayed at Lauraceas Lodge. It was our favourite stay in Costa Rica. We had an individual cabin with a comfy bed and great shower. It had a really lovely feel to it and we fell asleep to the sound of the river (which is opposite the hotel). It was the quietest place we stayed in the whole country and we would have extended our stay if we’d had the chance.
The only thing to note is that San Gerardo de Dota gets very cold at night. They do offer a heater if needed. We were ok with all the bedding and blankets, but I imagine a lot of people would prefer to take the heater!
You can see the reviews and prices on:
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, we will earn a small commission if you click through and decide to make a purchase. This helps towards the costs of running our website. Thanks for your support.
