Arenal Manoa Day Pass: What Actually Exists

Based on what the resort itself publishes, no. The official Arenal Manoa website sells rooms and breakfast plans, and it does not list any day-pass price or a non-guest soaking ticket. The hot springs pools are presented as part of the guest experience rather than as a standalone product you can add to a cart.

That does not necessarily mean a non-guest can never get in. Some La Fortuna resorts handle walk-up or non-guest access informally, at the front desk, subject to capacity. The only advice that stays true to the facts is this: if soaking at Manoa matters to you, contact the resort before your trip and ask directly.

Do not assume a ticket exists and show up expecting one.

Why resorts keep day passes off the books

Arenal Manoa is not unusual here. Resorts that build their brand around thermal pools often reserve them for paying guests, especially in high season when occupancy runs high. It protects the guest experience and avoids the crowding you see at the big day-pass properties.

The trade-off is that travelers who only want a few hours of soaking have to look elsewhere, which is exactly what the rest of this page covers.

One more practical note rounds out the answer. Travellers who want the resort's look without a room sometimes book its restaurant tables or spa treatments as day visitors, and the property handles those requests on its own channels rather than through any platform. What no booking site sells, our catalog included, is a walk-in soak ticket for the resort's pools, so treat any third-party page offering exactly that with caution and confirm with the property directly.

The resort's own description is worth reading carefully, because it tells you what you would actually be paying for as a guest. In its words, the property offers "natural hot springs pools and ponds... fed by mineral-rich thermal waters known for their therapeutic properties." The property sits in La Fortuna with Arenal Volcano in view, and the pools are spread across the grounds rather than stacked in one central deck.

Beyond the pools, the property runs two restaurants, La Saca serving Costa Rican and international food and Ohashi serving Japanese. There is a spa on the banks of the river that crosses the property. Breakfast is a buffet taken with the volcano in front of you.

Room categories on the official site range from Junior Rooms up to Luxury Villas, with Chato Rooms, Premium Rooms and Superior Rooms in between.

What it does not say

Notably, the official site publishes no day-pass price, no walk-up rate and no hours for outside visitors. The springs are bundled into staying at the resort. If you want to test whether non-guest access is possible, the move is to reach out through the resort's official website and ask before you travel.

Anything beyond that is not stated.

Since the pools come with the room, it helps to know what a booking actually gets you. Rates at Arenal Manoa are room-based with breakfast plans, not all-inclusive. Lunch, dinner, drinks and spa treatments are separate.

Breakfast is the buffet with the volcano view, and you have the two on-site restaurants for other meals.

Included with a stay

• Access to the hot springs pools and ponds on the property
• Buffet breakfast with the volcano view
• Use of the grounds, including the riverbank setting
• A choice of six room categories, from Junior Rooms to Luxury Villas

What you do not get is meals and drinks beyond breakfast. The resort is not an all-inclusive property, so budget for restaurant bills if you plan to eat on site. The spa on the riverbank is a separate service too.

The practical math

If your whole reason for booking is the springs, remember that a night at Manoa buys you repeated pool access, the view and breakfast. A standalone day pass elsewhere in La Fortuna costs between $29 and $81 in this catalog, with Tabacón from about $115 to $180. Depending on room rates, one night at Manoa can cost several times a full day of soaking anywhere else.

That is a fair trade if you want the resort stay, but an expensive one if you only want the water.

Manoa keeps its water for guests, but La Fortuna is full of places that will happily sell you a ticket for the day. These six options cover the full range, from a $29 thermal river ticket to a ten-hour tour that stacks the waterfall, the volcano and a hot spring resort into one day. Pick by how long you have and how much structure you want.

The options at a glance

Everything below is a real bookable product in this catalog, with the listed price and duration. Prices move with season and platform, so treat the figures as starting points rather than guarantees.

Cheapest soak: the thermal river pass

The Pura Vida Thermal River & Thermal Pool Pass gets you onto the Choyin thermal river, which runs above 100 F through rainforest a short drive from town. It is a natural river, so the bottom is rocky and there is a current. Reviewers recommend water shoes.

Towels, lockers and parking are included, and there is a restaurant on site at extra cost.

Soak plus a hike

The Arenal Volcano Hike & Thermal River Tour pairs a moderate 2.5-hour guided walk at the volcano's base with a soak in the same thermal river afterward. It runs four hours total, includes a towel and photos, and the morning departure adds a casado lunch. At $54 it is a good fit if you want movement and heat in one outing.

The big resort experience

The Baldi Hot Springs Day Pass is the large-scale option at the foot of the volcano. Baldi claims 25 thermal pools, Costa Rica's largest sauna, a 60-person jacuzzi and waterslides, and it stays open until 10 PM. Two practical notes from the listing: there is a $20 per-person security locker charge, and reviewers mention towel deposits taken in cash.

Drinks run resort prices, with one local guide counting cocktails at $15 to $25 and beers at $7 to $8.

Small and capped

The Ecotermales Rainforest Hot Springs Day Pass is the opposite of Baldi. Ecotermales is a small garden of shaded pools kept between 99 and 106 F, and it caps entry per session so it never feels crowded. The daytime pass runs 10 AM to 4 PM.

You must use biodegradable sunscreen, and drones, outside food and smoking are banned. A meal ticket is optional and parking is free.

Adrenaline then heat

The Zip Line & Thermal Pools Combo puts seven zip lines and nine platforms over the Arenal River canyon first, roughly two hours of lines, then finishes with thermal pool access until 5 PM. Closed-toe shoes are required and sandals are banned. There are no refunds inside 48 hours, so book it for a day you are confident about.

The full day out

The La Fortuna Waterfall, Volcano & Hot Springs Day Tour is the flagship, running ten hours and stacking a hike down to La Fortuna Waterfall, a volcano hike and a hot spring resort finish. Lunch, drinks and a cocktail at the springs are included, as are park entry and the hot spring resort fee. It is the most reviewed option in the catalog at 4.8 from 3,848 reviews, and it removes every logistics decision from your day.

And the free option

Río Chollín, also spelled Choyin, is the free soaking river locals use, nicknamed Mini Tabacon. It sits beside Road 142 about a 15-minute drive west of downtown La Fortuna, across from the Tabacón entrance. The left side of the main pool holds the hotter volcanic water while the right side mixes in cooler stream water.

There are no facilities at all, no restrooms, showers, lockers or lifeguards, and access is customary rather than official, so go with company, in daylight, and carry out your trash. A small parking donation of roughly $2 to $4 in colones may be asked. Our Free Hot Springs in La Fortuna: Río Chollín and El Salto guide covers it in detail.

Here is the honest comparison. Manoa sells water as part of a resort stay with no published day rate. The others sell the water directly, and they differ mainly in scale, temperature range and how crowded they get.

This table lines up the day-pass prices so you can see what a few hours of soaking actually costs at each property versus bundling it into a room at Manoa.

Two differences matter most. First, Tabacón sits on a real above-ground thermal river, which most other resorts, Manoa included, approximate by piping volcanic water into engineered pools. That authenticity is part of what the higher Tabacón price buys.

Second, scale. Baldi is built for volume with its 25 pools and slides, Ecotermales deliberately caps numbers, and Manoa sits in the middle as a mid-size resort where the water is quiet simply because only guests use it.

If soaking is the priority and the budget is tight, the thermal river pass at $29 or Baldi at $60 deliver the most heat per dollar. If you want the polished gardens and the real river, Tabacón is the splurge, and you can read our head-to-head in Tabacon vs Baldi Hot Springs: Which to Book. And if you are wondering whether any of this is worth the ticket price at all, start with Are the Arenal Hot Springs Worth It? The Honest Verdict.

Q3 2026

If you are in La Fortuna for the water, the volcano itself is worth half a day. Arenal entered its eruptive phase with the 1968 eruption and quieted into a resting phase in 2010, so there is no lava to see today. What you get instead is forest, old lava fields and, on clear days, the classic cone shape over the town.

Entry costs and how to see it

Entry to Arenal Volcano National Park runs about $15 per adult for foreign visitors based on current visitor reports, and the park's official SINAC page lists current rates. If you would rather not go alone, the Arenal Volcano Hike & Thermal River Tour covers a 2.5-hour guided walk at the volcano's base and finishes in the thermal river for $54, with a towel, photos and, on morning departures, a casado lunch. The flagship La Fortuna Waterfall, Volcano & Hot Springs Day Tour also includes park entry within its $95 price, along with the waterfall hike and a hot spring finish.

When to go

December to April is the drier season, while May to November brings afternoon rain. Reviewers describe that rain as part of the open-air soak experience rather than a deal-breaker. La Fortuna sits at about 400 m elevation, and daytime highs hold near 27 to 29 C all year, so there is no bad month for water.

Our Best Time to Visit the La Fortuna Hot Springs: Season Guide breaks the seasons down further, and What to Bring to the Arenal Hot Springs: Packing List covers the gear.