If you are spending some days in San José and you would like to do a small hike near the city, I have news for you! Just 25 minutes away from San José’s city center, in Santa Ana, there’s a great place where you can connect with nature.
Short on time? Take a quick look:
- Location: Salitral, Santa Ana (Drive there)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Access: Any car but preferable SUV/CUV
- Contact: (+506) 8843-9376
- Cost: Adults 3,ooo colones ($5) / Children 1,000 colones ($2)
- Parking: Yes
- More info about the place: Montañas de Cariblanco FB
- Hidden Gem Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What to do in Montañas de Cariblanco?
Montañas de Cariblanco is a new private option to immerse yourself in the mountains of Santa Ana. Santa Ana is a place in San José that in the latest years has been developing fast! From new housing projects to free zones that are filled with transitional companies. Because of this, the gastronomical offer has also increased with many new malls and food court complexes.
With this development, the green zones have reduced, hence the need for new places to go and unplug from the daily city routines. Montañas de Cariblanco is a perfect option for this, just 15 minutes away from the center of Santa Ana.
There are plenty of things you can do there. When I visited Montañas de Cariblanco, I was more interested in the hike and the waterfall. But when we arrived at Montañas de Cariblanco, we saw a perfect opportunity for making a picnic one day. I told my friends that we had to go back one day to spend the day there.
I talked to the person in charge that day, and he told me that they are thinking of opening the place also for the nights so people could do fire camps and spend the night.
Trails
I was telling you that I went to this place mainly because of the trails and the waterfall. Once we arrived at Montañas de Cariblanco, we parked our car in a spacious parking lot and went through the cleaning protocols. After that, the person in charge explained to us the trails.
The trails were in perfect conditions but beware in some parts where it gets thinner but don’t worry much about that. I consider the trails easygoing. Just consider that there are some hills in some parts. The views during the hike were amazing, you could see the central valley from there, and you were always rounded by nature.
This hike is very similar to La Chimba hike which is a place we talked about previously. I enjoyed this hike more because you could see different flora and fauna. At La Chimba the trails were surrounded all the time by coffee beans plants.
Related Post: One day hike in San José
Waterfall
After walking for around 1 hour and 20 minutes, we started descending to the river canyon (there are very useful artisanal railings in this section). Ten minutes later, we were in front of the waterfall. You can freshen up in the waterfall, but you can’t get inside for safety issues. But you can swim in the small river right next to it.
We had some snacks there (take your garbage with you, please) and rest for a while there. We also thought the place in front would be great for camping, but unfortunately, that’s not possible (maybe in the future, who knows!).
Picnic
After resting for a while in front of the waterfall, we went back to the picnic zone (it took us around 1 hour). We spend some more time there, resting, taking photos, and talking with the persona in charge (there were very few people that day).
Before leaving, the person in charge told us that if you are planning a picnic there, you can contact them before going there. They will tell you about their options for those activities (they offer chairs, tables and more for an extra fee for better comfort).
Overall, I enjoyed my experience in Montañas de Cariblanco and will be back for sure to do a picnic with friends or family.
