Poas Volcano National Park
From Wiki Costa Rica
This is one of the most spectacular volcanoes of Costa Rica. It contains many different habitats with a great diversity of trees, small flora and the cloud forest. It is the most visited National Park in Costa Rica.
It was created in 1971 and protects 65 square kilometers of land, including the volcano.
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Towns and roads
The town beside the volcano is called Poasito (little Poas). The road that leads there goes through a lot of coffee plantations, great views of Costa Rica's central valley and leads up to the top of the volcano. There are approximately 28 stores and restaurants on the road to the volcano.
Volcano
From the parking lot, a 5 minute walk leads to the limits of one of the biggest active craters of the world. The crater has a depth of 300 meters and a width of 1.6km. It has an acid lake of a turquoise color, and a cone of 75 meters.
Poás volcano has a long story of eruptions, the most important one happened in 1910 with a dust cloud that rised over eight thousand meters high, nearly a million tons of ash was ejected along with an immense column of smoke and steam.
The volcano is 2.708 meters high and the last eruption occured on March 24th, 2006. On sunny days, the Caribbean sea and the Pacific Ocean are visible from the top.
The park also has two inactive craters: Von Frantzius cone, which has a jade-color lake (lake Botos). The trail that leads to this beautiful lake has very impressive vegetation, and 80 species of birds have been spotted in the area, including: tucans, quetzals, and hummingbirds. There is also an endemic species of squirrel, called Poas squirrel.
Tips
Weekdays are best to visit the park, since most tourist come in weekends. Bring warm clothes, since the average temperature in the summit is 12ºC (54ºF). Come early in the morning to increase the chances of seeing the crater: it is not unusual to come in the afternoon and have the crater view blocked by clouds.
Cost and working hours
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Cost: Adults $7. Students $1. |
| Open hours: 8.00 - 17:00. |
Photo by Guillermo Durán S. |
Photo by Guillermo Durán S. |
Videos
Road to the park
As any other trip, half the fun (or adventure) is getting there. On the way to the volcano, you can see beautiful scenery (as with any other destination in Costa Rica).
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| Poas Volcano National Park | |
| Region | Alajuela |
| Telephone | (506) 442-7041 |
| Address | About 19 miles (30 km) northwest of San José (~25 miles, 41 km, 70-90 minutes, depending on the route by road). |
| Website | |
Poas Volcano National Park in Google Maps |
| Latitude and longitud for GPS: 10.183333, -84.208333 To use Google Earth, cut and paste the coordinates into the search bar. You can also open this location with Maps.Google.com |
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