I Skipped the Famous Hot Springs Resort — and I Would Do It Again

The night I chose a public river over the most photographed pools in Costa Rica

Everyone who has researched a trip to La Fortuna has seen the same photo: steaming turquoise pools, a swim-up bar, palm trees lit from below. That is the famous resort — the one every guidebook and every Instagram feed points to first. I had it booked.

Two nights before I was due to go, I cancelled it and walked to the Chollín instead, a stretch of warm river under a bridge near Tabacón that costs nothing and closes for no one. I would make the same choice again, and I want to explain why — without pretending it is the right call for every traveler in La Fortuna.

What the Chollín actually is

The Chollín is not a secret. It is a public river, warmed by the same geothermal system that heats the paid resorts a few hundred meters away, and it has been used by local families for longer than any of the resorts have existed. There is no gate, no wristband, no lounge chairs, no towel service. You park on the shoulder of the road, walk down a short dirt path, and get into water that is genuinely, unmistakably hot in places and merely warm in others depending on where the river mixes with runoff. On a clear night you can see the outline of Arenal above the tree line, not lit up, not performing — just there.

I will not pretend this is a spa experience, and I go into the differences on the site’s hot springs comparison guide — this piece is about the decision, not a repeat of that breakdown of prices and opening hours, which lives on the page built for that comparison.

The bag, and why I am telling you about it

Here is the part I did not expect to write about when I planned this piece: for most of that evening, one of us was not in the water. My travel companion and I took it in turns — one of us would swim for twenty minutes while the other sat on the bank with both bags between their feet, then we would switch. This is not paranoia. The Chollín has no lockers, no staff, and no fence, and bag theft there is a known problem, not a rumor.

Locals who go regularly told us the same thing unprompted: never leave your things unwatched, even for a minute, even in a group. We had read this before we went, in the site’s own writeup of the Chollín as the hot springs resorts do not advertise it, and we followed it exactly. It worked. Nothing happened to us. But I would be lying if I said the evening felt as relaxed as a resort visit — there was always one of us half-watching a pile of bags instead of fully in the water.

That is the honest cost of the free option, and it is the part most enthusiastic writeups leave out. You are trading a real amenity — supervised, gated safety for your belongings — for a real amount of money, roughly the difference between free and the 40 to 115 USD a resort day pass typically runs.

Why I still think it was the better trade for us

We were two people traveling on a budget that had to stretch across a full loop through Monteverde, Río Celeste, and the Caño Negro wetlands, not just La Fortuna. Every dollar we did not spend on one hot springs evening was a dollar we could spend on the things La Fortuna cannot substitute — a proper guided walk in the national park, a night walk to look for frogs, a good dinner in town instead of a resort buffet.

The resorts sell water that is, chemically, the same water flowing past them for free. What they are actually charging for is infrastructure: changing rooms, food, bars, landscaping, and a fence that keeps your bag safe while you swim. That infrastructure has real value. It just was not worth 40 to 115 USD per person to us on that particular night, when a free alternative existed a short walk away and we were willing to manage the one real downside ourselves.

If you want the fuller logic on stretching a trip this way, the site’s budget guide and budget itinerary go further than one hot springs evening — the Chollín was one decision among several, not a standalone trick.

Where I would tell someone to book the resort instead

I do not think the free river is the correct answer for everyone, and I want to be direct about who it is wrong for. If you are on a honeymoon, or celebrating something, or you simply do not want to spend part of a vacation evening on bag-watching duty, book the resort. A day pass to somewhere like Tabacón or Baldi buys you something the Chollín cannot: the ability to actually stop thinking about logistics for a few hours.

For a honeymoon-paced trip to La Fortuna, that is not a small thing, and it is not a worse choice than mine — it is a different calculation, made correctly for a different trip. I would also skip the free river with young kids, or alone, or after dark without a group I trusted. None of those are edge cases; they describe a lot of the people reading this.

What I would push back on is the assumption, baked into most of what gets written about La Fortuna, that the resort is simply the better option and the free river is a compromise for people who could not afford otherwise. For a lot of trips, the free option is not the compromise — it is the more honest version of the same experience, minus the fence.

Before you decide either way, it is worth reading the full comparison of every hot springs option near La Fortuna, including hours, prices, and what each resort actually includes, so the trade-off above is one you are making with real numbers rather than my opinion of them.

Questions about skipping the resort for the free hot springs

Is the Chollín safe to visit?

It is physically safe to swim in — the water temperature is comparable to the paid resorts drawing from the same geothermal source. The real risk is theft of unattended belongings, which is common enough that locals and repeat visitors treat watching your bags as mandatory, not optional.

How much money does skipping the resort actually save?

A day pass at one of the well-known resorts typically runs 40 to 115 USD per person, depending on which one and what is included. The Chollín is free, so the saving is close to the full price of whichever resort you would otherwise have booked.

Can I bring valuables to the Chollín?

Bring as little as possible, and never leave anything unattended. Taking turns watching bags with a travel companion, as we did, is the standard workaround among people who visit regularly.

Is the Chollín the same water as the paid resorts?

It draws from the same geothermal system that supplies several of the resorts near Tabacón, which is why it runs genuinely hot in places rather than merely warm.

Should a honeymoon couple choose the free option too?

Not necessarily. A resort day pass buys comfort, safety for belongings, and the ability to stop managing logistics for an evening, which matters more on some trips than others. Choosing the resort for that reason is a legitimate call, not a mistake.

Is the Chollín crowded?

It can get busy in the evening with a mix of locals and travelers who have heard about it, but it never reaches resort-style capacity because there is no ticketing or limit on numbers.

Does the Chollín have facilities like changing rooms or food?

No. There are no changing rooms, lockers, food stalls, or staff. What you bring and wear is what you have for the evening.

Which resort would I choose if I did want the full experience?

That decision depends on budget, group size, and what each resort actually includes, which is exactly what the site’s dedicated hot springs comparison guide is for — it is worth reading in full rather than picking by name recognition alone.