La Leona waterfall

Most waterfalls in Costa Rica you walk to, photograph and leave. La Leona you swim into — up a narrowing river canyon, through water that goes from knee-deep to over your head, until the walls close in and a thirty-metre fall drops into a pool you could not otherwise reach.

Where it is

Near Curubandé, a village about twenty minutes north of Liberia on the lower slopes of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano. From Playa Avellanas that is roughly two hours each way — ninety minutes to Liberia and another twenty or thirty beyond it, with the last stretch on gravel that wants four-wheel drive after rain.

So this is a full day, in the same category as Rincón de la Vieja itself rather than a morning out. Plan on leaving early and being back for dinner.

Why it is different

The waterfall sits on private land, and you cannot simply turn up. Every visit goes through a guided tour that meets in Curubandé, and from the meeting point a short four-wheel-drive transfer takes you to the trailhead.

That restriction is the reason the place is still worth going to. There is no car park at the bottom, no handrail, no queue for the photograph. The canyon is narrow enough in places that the sky is a strip overhead, and the only way through is the water.

What the hike is actually like

About four kilometres round trip and two and a half to three hours. Not a trail to a viewpoint — a route up a riverbed. You wade, scramble over rock, and swim the sections that are too deep to stand in. The water is cold in a way that is a relief by the second crossing. Guides carry ropes for the awkward bits and they know where the footing is.

It suits anyone reasonably fit and comfortable in water. Operators advise against it if you are pregnant, if you have back trouble, or if you have a heart condition. Children who can swim confidently manage it; children who cannot, should not.

What to bring

• Swimwear under your clothes — there is nowhere to change at the trailhead
• Shoes you are happy to soak. Sandals with a heel strap or old trainers; flip-flops will be gone by the second pool
• A dry bag for anything that cannot be replaced
• Water, and something to eat afterwards
• A phone in a sealed pouch — the only camera worth carrying in there

When to go

December through April is the dry season and the reliable window: lower, clearer water and a canyon that behaves. In the heaviest rain months, usually September and October, operators sometimes suspend the tour entirely because a river canyon is the worst place to be in a downpour. The waterfall is at its most powerful in green season and at its most accessible in dry season, and you cannot have both.

Whenever you go, confirm the tour is running before you set out. Two hours each way is a long drive to be turned around.

Doing it from Johnny's

Alberto arranges it. Most operators will collect from the Guanacaste beach towns if it is booked in advance, and if the timing suits the group better, our own vans make the run instead. Either way you are not navigating a gravel road to a village you have never heard of with a tour meeting time to hit.

It pairs naturally with Rincón de la Vieja — the hot springs, mud pots and the volcano trails are in the same direction, and some groups do the two on consecutive days rather than driving out there twice.

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