Where to watch birds in Costa Rica? Ask and you’ll get a wealth of answers, most based on personal experience or commercial interest. You’ll eventually find the right ones but you’ll probably have to wade through dozens of comments and website fluff to get there.
In general, the answer depends on the same factors as every birding destination; the birds you want to see, how you want to experience them, and how much time you have. Once you figure those things out, check birding tour itineraries, eBird hotspots, and go from there (my Costa Rica birding site guide book will also help).
During trip planning, don’t be surprised if you find yourself drawn to the Arenal area. The combination of tourism infrastructure, quality forested habitats, and accessible birding make Arenal one of the top hotspots in Costa Rica. Visit the right places around Arenal and you’ll have fair chances at King Vulture, hawk-eagles and other raptors, 3 to 4 motmot species, antbirds, and hundreds of other species!

Yes, it truly is fantastic, especially because it’s so easy to do! Most roads are good and it takes around three hours to drive there from the airport. Although you could go straight there, the trip is long enough to merit en-route birding. That birding is also so good, you can’t go wrong in spending an extra day or two to finally reach Arenal!
Seriously, Costa Rica just has too many excellent, accessible birding areas. If you plan on driving to La Fortuna, these are some suggestions and places where I go birding:
San Ramon
If you could go for some dry forest birds, sites at the edge of San Ramon can deliver. Patches of dry forest habitat at the edge of the city host birds like Chestnut-capped Warbler, Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens, Orange-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted Parrot, Long-tailed Manakin, and more.

One of the better spots is a track just outside the southern edge of the UCR university campus. Although the habitat there is sadly threatened by poisoning and burning to use the land for farming and housing, in the past, it has been a good site for Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow and many other species.
The San Ramon Cloud Forests
San Ramon is also near some excellent cloud forest sites. Around 30 minutes drive from San Ramon, the Bajo La Paz area hosts good roadside birding and some private reserves. This is a good area for Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Sunbittern, quetzal is always possible, and many other middle elevation birds occur too. From February to April, bellbirds are also often present!
You can see a good number of birds from the road but you’ll see more if you hire local guides, Romain and Ignacio Arias.
Cocora
This small reserve is on the main road towards La Fortuna, maybe 15 minutes from San Ramon. They have a good hummingbird garden, butterfly enclosure, nice feeder action, and good middle elevation forest with an excellent variety of species. They also serve excellent, locally grown coffee, some of the best I have ever tried.

A short trail in the forest can yield several nice birds but it can be a bit challenging and muddy. This spot is small but don’t underestimate it. Highland Tinamou has visited their kitchen outflow, I have seen Bicolored Hawk and Ornate Hawk-Eagle here, and umbrellabird sometimes also occurs. They probably charge a $10 to $12 entrance fee.
San Luis Canopy
Just down the road from Cocora is one of this route’s better known birding sites. It opens at 8 but if you get there before then, keep an eye on the trees behind the buildings and nearby habitat. A lot of middle elevation species are possible including White Hawk and other raptors, various tanagers, and many other species.
Most birders pay $10 to enjoy the tanager feeding station but you can also pay more to bird their excellent hanging bridges trail. This trail passes through excellent habitat with chances at umbrellabird (seasonal), Purplish-backed Quail-Dove, Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo and antbirds at antswarms, and other nice species, even Lattice-tailed Trogon.
The Manuel Brenes Road
Of all the sites mentioned, this one might be the best. This public road varies in terms of its condition but, lately, it’s been leveled and in pretty good shape. Leaving from a roadside marsh, it passes through excellent lower middle elevation forest. Roadside birding can turn up big mixed flocks with shrike-tanager and many other species including possible Sharpbill (rare but regular), Northern Schiffornis and other deep forest birds, a chance at antbirds and the ground-cuckoo at antswarms, as well as foothill birds like Lattice-tailed Trogon and Yellow-eared Toucanet.
Umbrellabird can also occur, bellbirds are often present, various raptors are possible, and the list goes on!
Lands in Love and Nearby

When I have birded the Manuel Brenes road, I have often had lunch a little bit further down the main road to Fortuna at the Loveats Cafe. They aren’t always open but, if so, enjoy vegan dishes and great coffee while scanning for raptors.
You can also bird their main hotel, Lands in Love. This site has a lot of rescued, barking dogs but also has great foothill-lowland rainforest habitat. The loop road can be very good (I recently saw Rufous-winged Tanager, Black Hawk-eagle, and Yellow-eared Toucanet while others also had a Tiny Hawk!), and there are trails through good forest.
Those trails can yield a wide variety of forest species, even Keel-billed Motmot, Semiplumbeous Hawk, and possible Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon among many other species.
There are also other sites to explore near Lands in Love. Adventurous birders will like the Las Rocas road. This is a side road that makes a sort of loop from San Lorenzo to the Cecropia Ecolodge. It’s not always passable and you’ll need four wheel drive but you’ll have some equally exciting birding!
Finca Luna Nueva
There are additional birding options further downhill, heading towards La Fortuna. For a nice set of lowland birds and excellent organic cuisine, you can’t got wrong by birding at Finca Luna Nueva. It’s a good place to stay and break up your trip, especially because their trails can have Uniform Crake, White-fronted Nunbird, and many other forest species.
You can also see a lot right around the cabins and pool.
If you plan on driving to La Fortuna, make time for birding on the way there. You can’t go wrong by stopping at one or more of the sites mentioned above. Happy birding, I hope to see you here!