Things to do at Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal covers roughly 85 square kilometres, making it the largest lake in Costa Rica, and it is not a natural feature: the dam was closed in 1979 and the rising water swallowed the villages of Arenal and Tronadora, which were rebuilt on higher ground nearby.

The shoreline road along the northern edge gives near-constant views of the water with the volcano's cone behind it on a clear morning, though cloud cover often hides the summit by mid-afternoon.

Most visitors see the lake in passing, from a car window or a boat deck, rather than as a single planned stop, and that is enough to take in its scale.