River Crossing | Warning

December 4th, 2023 by souldope_overlanding

beautiful river to cross- no drama needed- straightforward in 20-30 cm „deep“ water
idk about that boulder but there are stones on the side to mark the perfect line

May 21st, 2023 by xiang.li.diamond

Passable today. Water level is very low, 20cm at most.

June 19th, 2022 by matthiasthespieler

We were worried if we could cross this river, as it rained a lot the previous days. We asked a local and he told us not to cross, there is NO bridge there and a lot of water so we didn't even try.

November 3rd, 2021 by elmoost

Just tried to cross the river (November) but the water is high, between knee and waste (of a tall Dutch guy :)). Big rocks and boulders will make it more tough. We crossed quite a few rivers now with our Toyota 4x4 but will skip this one. No signs of bridge building or other car tire tracks.

May 25th, 2021 by Chinito Overlander

River crossing. Will be a bridge in a couple of months but now, only 4x4 can cross it.

March 19th, 2021 by Beyond Frontiers

It is the dry season and it had not rained in a while. The water was just below my knee in the deepest spots. There were some sizable rocks (below the water) in the crossing. I would not have crossed if I was alone. It was a marginal crossing for my small 2x4 SUV. However, I was with another small 4x4 so I drove through. The road is dirt all along the south west edge of the lake. There are several great views of Arenal volcano along the way. If you can make it across the river it is worth the drive and much shorter than the road on the north east side of the lake.

May 18th, 2020 by catherineinlove

Half May, low river, East crossing with 4x4 truck and camper.. there’s a rock with Hello/red line so you can see if it’s ok or not.. super fun!!

February 13th, 2020 by Sarah B.

Crossed in LR Defender without issue. Current was moving quickly! A few locals were stuck with a small truck - the riverbed is quite rocky. If you can follow someone else through, do, so you can see the line to drive.

December 23rd, 2019 by Rolf

We were travelling east and decided not to ford here. There are three river branches here, the first two were easy and below the knee. The third however had a washed out bank on the exit with large boulders and it did not seem like we could get out. Travelling with 4x4 but children and at dusk, it seemed unwise. There was also a cross in the middle of the river which seemed quite foreboding. About halfway across the river was over my knees (I am 6'2") and moving very fast after heavy rains.

April 7th, 2019 by instagram.com/jtadventuretime

river level is lower than knee deep at the deepest points.
we did it in our Ford e350 van, just one time a flipping Tyre. it was fun!
after getting thru the river we had some power problems. just a little water in the sparkplugs. done in half an hour, ne new parts needed.

April 4th, 2019 by bt.bakhuizen

OK to cross. Max 30 cm water, probably due to relative drought. Some big stones as mentioned earlier, 4x4 with some clearance advised.

January 31st, 2019 by facebook.com/2MsOnTheRoad

River is ok to cross at the moment. Maximum knee deep, some bigger rocks on the bottom, high clearance definitely needed, 4x4 your call...

December 15th, 2018 by flowersofsin

It rained all night so that may have made things worst. A bit over knee deep in some spots. Being alone with no one to spot the holes and the rocks for me, I decided to turn back, as maps.ME told me the road around it was only 30 minutes, but it turns out that this was the horse trail which is mentionned in another entry further south... I should have taken my chances with the river!

December 7th, 2018 by mereldezoveelste

In Arenal we were told it was not possible to take the 4x4 road to Monteverde. But stubborn as we are we wanted to see by our selves. The rivercrossing was still knee high and the water was moving fast. But it looked doable for our car (Toyota Prado 3D with mudtires and OME suspension). So we went for it. Exciting for us, but easy for the car! I would not have done it with normal suspension and without 4x4. We were told further down the road a bridge collapsed last november, but there was a new bridge allready.

November 2nd, 2018 by Charlie59

Crossed it easy with 4/4 and along the lake to the road to Monteverde 👌

October 3rd, 2018 by Damien

River crossing is possible again. The banks are shallow and allow easy access to drive in. The water is still deep and fast (it's rainy season of course), but with 4x4 and going slow it is possible.

August 15th, 2018 by jeroen_sonneveld

River crossing is currently not possible (August 2018), not even with a well equipped 4x4. Rainseason destroyed the road, don't know if it will be fixed again later this year.

August 3rd, 2018 by stephan

river crossing not accessable. The road has been washed away and there is now a 1,5 meter drop from road to fast flowing river! we have a big 4x4 but definetly not possible. We had to drive all the way back to the main road and drove around the Lake arenal to get to monteverde.

March 26th, 2018 by instagram.com/panelaonwheels

4wd probably recommended... but we did it in our chevy van ;)

April 4th, 2017 by Waz & Iwona's Excellent Adventure

We did this in a 4WD, in a regular car the river might not be passable. Wide river with varying depth (up to about knee), large rocks, pretty strong current. We did this in the dry season, in the wet season might be too deep. But super fun! :)

December 11th, 2015 by Desk to Dirtbag

Fun knee-deep and really wide river crossing if you want to take the backroad from Arenal to Monteverde. Beautiful drive after the river crossing as well! Must do.