La Paz Waterfall Gardens

My sister Lisa spent a few days with me here in Costa Rica just recently.  While she was here, we enjoyed a week full of adventures in this small, yet beautiful country.  On the top of both of our lists of favorites was our visit to La Paz Waterfall Gardens.  It was a rainy and foggy day, but the weather actually added to the ambience of it, as La Paz Waterfall Gardens is in a rainforest after all.  On a side note, we also caught a glimpse of Miley Cyrus' mother and father on this day, since they happened to be visiting the park while their daughter was playing in concert at the National Stadium in downtown San Jose.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens is a splendid nature and wildlife park situated on the property of the Peace Lodge Resort.  If you are a guest at the resort, you can enjoy the park as part of your stay. However, non-guests like ourselves had access to the park from 8am-5:30pm (last entry at 4pm) for a cost of $35 per person, a price that was well worth it in our opinion!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens includes several animal and plant exhibits areas accessed via an easy to follow pathway.  The exhibits include a hangar-sized aviary, a butterfly observatory, monkey cages, a hummingbird garden, a serpentarium (snakes), a walk-in ranarium (frogs), a trout lake, orchid houses, jungle cat exhibits, and five glorious and exhilirating waterfalls.  The descent by foot to the waterfalls is a little steep, but well worth the trek.  A resort bus picks you up at the bottom of the waterfall walk to take you back up to the starting area (at the resort lobby) where your car is parked.  Alternatively, you can make the steep walk back up hill yourself if you prefer.  Below are a few pictures from our visit to La Paz Waterfall Gardens this week.  To see all of our favorite pictures from our visit to this park you can visit my Yahoo slideshow HERE.

Macaws inside Walk-In Aviary

White-faced monkey in Monkey Exhibit area.

At the entrance of the Hummingbird Garden.

Trout Lake (trout visible through glass walls below).

A Sloth couple inside the Butterfly Observatory area.

Posing with a Jaguar in Jungle Cats exhibit.

One of 5 majestic waterfalls inside La Paz Waterfall Gardens Park.