Qualla: Arenal Volcano National Park

Arenal Volcano National Park: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Javier Losa, CC BY 2.0. For centuries, the people living near the cone-shaped mountain in north-central Costa Rica considered it dormant -- just another forested peak in the Cordillera de Tilaran. They were wrong. On July 29, 1968, Arenal Volcano erupted without warning, destroying the villages of Tabacon, Pueblo Nuevo, and San Luis and killing at least 87 people. The eruption transformed scientific understanding of the mountain and, eventually, transformed the region around it. What was once quiet farmland became one of Costa Rica's most visited national parks.

Image: Javier Losa | CC BY 2.0

Arenal Volcano National Park: Two Volcanoes, One Park

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LBM1948, CC BY-SA 4.0. Arenal Volcano National Park encompasses not one but two volcanoes. Arenal itself -- the country's most active -- dominates the landscape with its near-perfect conical form. Beside it sits Cerro Chato, whose crater holds a jade-colored lagoon. Chato has been inactive for approxim...

Image: LBM1948 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arenal Volcano National Park: Eight Life Zones

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit nakashi from Chofu, Tokyo, JAPAN, CC BY-SA 2.0. The park lies within the Arenal Huetar Norte Conservation Area, which protects eight of Costa Rica's twelve recognized life zones and encompasses sixteen protected reserves in the region between the Guanacaste and Tilaran mountain ranges. This biological richness is staggering. M...

Image: nakashi from Chofu, Tokyo, JAPAN | CC BY-SA 2.0

Arenal Volcano National Park: The Lake Below

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Beate Schröder-Wettwer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lake Arenal stretches along the park's northern boundary, the largest lake in Costa Rica and the site of the country's biggest hydroelectric project, the Lake Arenal Dam. The lake creates a visual counterpoint to the volcano -- still water against the steep, forested slopes of th...

Image: Beate Schröder-Wettwer | CC BY-SA 4.0

Arenal Volcano National Park: Living with Fire

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), CC BY-SA 4.0. Arenal's 1968 eruption was a reminder that volcanoes operate on timescales that make human memory unreliable. The mountain had been quiet long enough for settlements to grow at its base, for farmers to clear fields on its lower slopes. The eruption changed everything about how Co...

Image: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) | CC BY-SA 4.0