WHAT IS CERRO AMIGOS? Cerro Amigos is a fun hike to do while visiting Monteverde. Monteverde is home to beautiful cloud forests full of diverse wildlife and incredible fauna. However, these forests come along with high entrance fees and crowds of people. Cerro Amigos is the only free cloud forest in Monteverde and a great way to escape the crowds of people at the main locations of Monteverde Cloud Forest, Santa Elena, and Children’s Eternal Rainforest. There is really only one way up and down Cerro Los Amigos, so it does not have sprawling trails to explore like the others, but it is still a fun hike! If you start from town the hike is 7.4 miles (12 km) and 1900 feet (580 meters) of elevation gain. If you start at the trailhead the hike is 5.4 miles (8.7 km) and 1500 feet (460 meters) of elevation gain.

GETTING THERE: You can take a taxi to Hotel Belmar which is across from the start of the trail, or it is a pretty easy walk from town. To get to the trailhead from the center of Santa Elena, head southeast on Route 620. Even though this is a main road, there are sidewalks the whole way. The walk is moderate, as over the course of 1 mile (1.6 km) you will gain 420 feet (130 meters) of elevation gain. We passed many restaurants and souvenir shops along the way that were fun to check out. After walking for about 20 minutes there will be a clearing on your right with beautiful views. You can see all the way to Lake Arenal! We heard that this is an excellent place to enjoy the sunset. Directly after the viewpoint, you take your next left down a dirt road that has a sign pointing towards Hotel Belmar. After walking for 5 more minutes, Hotel Belmar will be on your left, and a sign will be pointing towards Cerro Los Amigos on your right. You have made it to the start of the trail!

HEADING UP! The trail up to the top of Cerro Amigos is a service road. It starts out as dirt and gravel and quickly turns into a slippery, clay material and gets quite steep! We are not sure how a car could drive up there! The hike up is a slow and steady grind. The slippery sections were tough to navigate because the road was very steep and we did not have trekking poles. There was a lot of sliding backwards! Along the way there are several viewpoints where you can see far into the valley. After hiking for about an hour, the trail flattens out and you can see the TV towers meaning you are very close! After about 200 more feet (60 meters) of elevation gain you have made it to the summit!

EXPLORING THE SUMMIT: Once reaching the summit, there is a red sign telling you to turn left for information. To the right, there are many TV towers. Behind what looks like an abandoned house, there is a great viewpoint! Even though this is typically in the clouds, we were lucky with a clear day. If you walk all the way to the right to the end of the trail, there is a huge tower with a ladder you can supposedly climb. We saw it, but it was very windy so we were not feeling adventurous. Next, we went back to the sign and went to the left. Here is the Green Hermit Souvenir Shop. Two men work up at the towers and maintain them as well as the surrounding land. They often spend their time in the small house and will offer to sell you tea, coffee, and souvenirs. They are great to talk to and gave us a lot of information on other things to do in the area! Once you are done exploring, you can head back down the way you came. We had heard that there were actual trails through the jungle that you can take down, but the locals advised us that these trails were very dangerous. We listened to their advice and made our way back down the road, and then back to town.

Want to see this hike in action? Be sure to check out our vlog on YouTube by clicking here!

Also be sure to check out the rest of our Costa Rica trip by going here!