With the Two Volcanoes Hiking Tour you will be able to visit in one day two of the most beautiful volcanoes of Costa Rica. Irazu Volcano is the highest volcano of Costa Rica, with 3432 m, and Turrialba Volcano with 3349 m with 3 amazing craters inside, is the second in elevation.

Early morning, around 6 am, we pick you up in your hotel, and then we drive to Cartago, the former Capital of Costa Rica. On the way we pass places like Ochomogo, the highest point between San Jose and Cartago, and then we begin to climb towards the Parque Nacional Volcán Irazú, leaving in our way really small farmer communities like Tierra Blanca, Potrero Cerrado and San Juan de Chicuá. There is a paved road all the way to the top.

Once at the Irazu Volcano, we go first to the view point at highest elevation, where you can see both coasts -Pacific and Caribbean- if the weather permits and is not to cloudy. Besides that, from this point you can see almost all the mountain ranges of the country, the river bed of the Rio Sucio, many volcanoes, the highway to the Caribbean… well you have a 360º view that is just amazing. Of course we can also see from here the two craters of the Irazú: Diego de la Haya Crater and the Main Crater. Now is the time to go and see the craters directly. From the railing on the side of the craters we have a pit, 300 m deep, and now we can enjoy the two craters from the edge of the huge caldera.

After viewing this amazing volcano, we take back the vehicle, find some local provision for our lunch and take the road to our next stop: Parque Nacional Volcán Turrialba. Now is time to leave the car and get our equipment ready, stretch out and begin the hike up to the summit of the volcano. This hike up could be from our and a half to 2 and a half hours, depending in our fitness level and the place where we need to leave the car, because of the road conditions.

Once at the top, we can see the three active craters. At the east is the older crater, that had activity millions of years ago. To the west there are two craters, the main crater and the newest. Both of this have some active fumaroles with steam. Now is time to get into this amazing "lunar shaped" landscape. We take a short hike down into the big caldera where we can go and see the old crater and the main crater.

After enjoying this beautiful experience, we have lunch and then we get ready to hike down, to the place where our vehicle is located. Total hiking time, up, inside and down, ranges from 3 to 5 hours.

Now is time to take our transfer back to San José, with a short stop in the city of Cartago, to see some of the important attractions here like the Basilica de Los Angeles, Costa Rican's most important church.

Review: Two Volcanoes Hiking Tour

Outdoor Adventures is perfect for those travelers looking for something different, for something extraordinary, for something totally unique. The one day, one of a kind, dual volcano tour of Irazu and Turrialba Volcano is hard to describe because of how breathtaking it is. After gazing at the surreal and moon like landscape of Irazu's craters, we decided to take the more adventurous route to Turrialba Volcano; a zigzagging dirt track across the mountain side. Remember to buckle up and hold on tight! Leaving our 4x4 at the last house on the road up to Turrialba Volcano we hiked the rest of the way with our packed lunches, a sense of adventure, and two amazingly friendly and knowledgeable guides. The view at the summit of the volcano's three craters is worth every step, only made better by the walk into the steaming and still active crater and to top it all off, a volcano picnic! I couldn't have imagined anything more surreal. For the price, the friendly company, and the experience, Outdoor Adventures tours cannot be beat. And these guys literally take you off the beaten path! It's the only real way to transform yourself from typical tourist to adventure traveler. Maxwell Summerlee Ontario, Canada