What there is
to do from here.
Bijagua is not a town you pass through: it is where the corridor between Tenorio and Miravalles is still unbroken. These three are run by biologists and guides from the village, not chains. None of them are ours — we recommend them because we know them, and you book straight with them.
Private reserve at the foot of Tenorio
Tapir Valley
A private forest reserve with over 440 recorded bird species and wild Baird's tapirs. The night walk is the one to book: the forest turns into something else once the light goes, and out come the eyelash vipers, the frogs and, with luck, the young tapirs.
- Duration
- 3 hours
- Hours
- 5:30 – 8:30 pm
- Group
- Maximum 8 people
What you see
Baird's tapir · Eyelash vipers · Glass frogs · 440+ bird species
Boots and professional lights included. Reservation required.
Independent operator · Book directly with them
Four kilometres floating on the blue water
Río Celeste Ecotubing
Floating down the Río Celeste on a tube is the only way to see that blue from inside it rather than from a lookout. It runs about four kilometres of calm water with a few soft rapids — class I and II, the level where you laugh and nobody gets frightened.
- Duration
- 2 to 4 hours depending on the operator
- Hours
- Daytime departures
- Group
- Guide and gear included
What you see
The river's blue from water level · Gallery forest · Class I–II rapids
You are 5 km from the river, so you can do it and still have an afternoon left.
Sloths, birds and frogs, 950 m from Río Celeste
Jungle Life
Two hectares of primary and secondary forest with a flat 700-metre trail that anyone can walk. It is the easiest one to fit into a day that already has another plan, and the one that works best with children or with anyone who would rather not hike hard.
- Duration
- 1 to 2 hours depending on the tour
- Hours
- Day, night and birding walks
- Group
- 700 m trail, flat
What you see
Wild sloths · Keel-billed toucans · Hummingbirds · Frogs
Four different walks: sloths, birds, frogs and the night tour.
Independent operator · Book directly with them
A hike and a raft on the lagoon, in Upala
Green Lagoon
A guided walk through rainforest and then a slow paddle across the lagoon on a raft. It is the one where people see the most sloths — visitors report several on a single trip — and the only one of the three that happens on the water.
- Duration
- 2 to 3 hours
- Hours
- Ask when booking
- Group
- Guide included
What you see
Sloths · Toucans · Red-eyed tree frogs · Herons · Eyelash vipers
5.0 out of 5 on TripAdvisor across 83 reviews · #3 of 48 tours in Bijagua.
Independent operator · Book directly with them
Minutes from here
A frog that exists
nowhere else on earth.
In 2018 the naturalist Donald Varela Soto heard a call at Tapir Valley that matched none of the sixteen frogs known to live in the reserve. Four years later it was described as a new species: Tlalocohyla celeste, the Tapir Valley tree frog.
It lives in a single eight-hectare wetland inside that reserve, between Tenorio and Miravalles. Nowhere else on the planet. It is critically endangered, and the marsh it sings in is minutes from your terrace.
8
hectares of marsh — its entire known range
They named it celeste after the Río Celeste. We are named for the same river.
Want us to arrange it?
Write to us and we will hold a place before you arrive. We charge nothing for it: these are small operations, and in high season they fill up weeks ahead.
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More than a place to stay…
a refuge of natural calm.
Check availabilityFree cancellation up to 7 days before arrival · Secure payment