Horseback Riding to Las Pailas Trail

Explore Las Pailas Trail on a Trusty Horse

Hiking at the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano should be on everyone’s Costa Rica adventure list! Our Guanacaste day tour combines the best of hiking in the park with fun horseback riding.

From Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin, you ride our friendly ranch horses for 45 minutes, one way, on a pretty forest trail to the Las Pailas entrance of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. Las Pailas, which means “the cauldrons” in Spanish, spectacularly shows off the awesome power of the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano, the largest and most active volcano in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Steam and sulfur pour out of the yellow and rust-colored ground at natural fumaroles. Clay and coffee-colored pools boil with hot volcanic water, and smooth gray volcanic mud bubbles and explodes in large pits. It’s an experience like no other volcano in Costa Rica.

Hiking in the Rincon de la Vieja National Park on the Las Pailas loop trail takes you 2.5 miles (3.5 kilometers) through dry tropical forest to see the best views of the volcano, incredible nature, and volcanic activity. You cross little rivers and see small waterfalls along the trail. More than 300 bird species live here, along with animals like white-faced, howler, and spider monkeys, armadillos, collared peccaries, iguanas, snakes, and white-nosed coatis.

The entrance fee to the park is not included in the price.

What to Bring

• Camera
• Long pants
• Comfortable clothes
• Closed-toe shoes
• Sunscreen
• Insect repellent
• Hat