Poás Volcano National Park: Tickets, Fees, Hours and the Current Restrictions
Verified on 25 September 2026, on SINAC’s own English and Spanish pages for Parque Nacional Volcán Poás, its SICORE ticket portal, and ARESEP’s official bus-fare register.
Poás is a booking-only park. SINAC’s Spanish park page states that entry is “solamente mediante el sistema de reservaciones” — only through its online reservation system — and its English page says access “is granted just by the booking system”. A non-resident adult pays USD 16.95 with Costa Rica’s 13% IVA included (USD 15 before tax); a non-resident child aged 2 to 12 pays USD 5.65. The park is open 08:00 to 16:00 every day, holidays included, with last entry at 14:00 on SINAC’s Spanish page (the English page gives no last-entry time).
The volcano is active, and the rules on the ground changed on 28 August 2026: news reports of a MINAE–SINAC announcement put the daily visitor cap at 1,064, down from 2,052, and made helmets compulsory on the two trails left open. SINAC’s own park pages carried no notice of those measures when we read them on 25 September 2026.
Entry fees
SINAC’s English park page publishes the fees without tax; its Spanish page publishes them with IVA included. The two reconcile exactly at 13% (15 × 1.13 = 16.95; 1,000 × 1.13 = 1,130 — our arithmetic).
| Visitor | English page (before tax) | Spanish page (IVA included) |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident, over 13 | USD 15 | USD 16.95 |
| Non-resident child, 2 to 12 | USD 5 | USD 5.65 |
| National / resident, over 13 | CRC 1,000 | CRC 1,130 |
| National / resident child, 2 to 12 | CRC 500 | CRC 565 |
| Children under 2 | free | free |
| Nationals and residents over 65 | free | free |
SINAC adds that university students pay the ordinary adult rate for their residency category. The resident adult fare, CRC 1,130, is about USD 2.49 at the Banco Central de Costa Rica reference sell rate of 454.15 colones to the dollar on 25 September 2026 (our conversion).
Two system-wide free days apply here as at every SINAC area, according to the SICORE portal’s own FAQ: 24 August is free for everyone, and the third Wednesday of each month is free for residents and nationals only. How Poás’s fee sits beside the other parks on a trip is laid out on our Costa Rica trip cost page.
Parking: SINAC’s two pages disagree
Parking is charged on top of entry, and SINAC’s Spanish page says it is paid at the entry booth by debit or credit card. The two language versions of the park page publish different parking prices, and they do not reconcile at 13% tax the way the entry fees do:
| Vehicle | Spanish page | English page |
|---|---|---|
| Motorcycle | CRC 1,250 | CRC 1,000 |
| Car (light vehicle) | CRC 2,750 | CRC 2,000 |
| Microbus or bus | CRC 5,000 | CRC 4,000 |
Both were read on 25 September 2026, and SINAC does not say which is current, so we are not picking one. At the reference rate above, the car figures are about USD 6.06 and USD 4.40 respectively (our conversion).
Hours and the time slot
| Open | 08:00 to 16:00, every day |
| Holidays | open |
| Last entry | 14:00 (Spanish page; the English page gives no last-entry time) |
SICORE sells Poás by time slot, and its FAQ says visitors are expected to arrive at the time they selected, because the slots exist to spread visitor flow.
Buying the ticket: the rules that decide whether it is usable
Poás is on both of the lists SINAC publishes for its online system — the SICORE FAQ’s 11 areas and the Compra y Reserva en Línea page’s 12. The rules that follow come from the SICORE FAQ, read on 25 September 2026:
- Up to 10 tickets per transaction for an individual buyer at Poás (Manuel Antonio and Chirripó run tighter caps, set out on our Manuel Antonio National Park page); travel agencies may buy 20.
- No refund if you cannot go, and no refund for cloud or rain — SINAC’s answer is that environmental conditions are unstable in Costa Rica.
- A date change only if the park closes for an emergency, requested by email to [email protected].
- The ticket is personal. The name on it cannot be changed.
- The fee buys entry and nothing else. Guiding, food and transfers are separate.
SINAC’s own Poás recommendations say conditions at the viewpoints change, so the main attractions are not always clear, and its Spanish page links a live crater camera run by OVSICORI, the national volcano observatory.
The volcano is active: what changed on 28 August 2026
| Measure | From 28 August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Daily visitor cap | 1,064, down from 2,052 |
| Trails open | the main trail to the crater viewpoint and the Sombrilla de Pobre trail |
| Helmets | compulsory on both of those trails |
| Crater viewpoint | 56 people per 20-minute period |
Those figures come from Delfino.cr’s report of 27 August 2026 of a MINAE–SINAC announcement. El Observador’s report of 28 August repeats the helmet rule and the 56-person viewpoint cap, and says the daily total was cut to roughly half, without giving the two numbers. The measures, per that announcement, stay in force until the volcano’s behaviour allows a lower risk level. El Observador reported that a moderate eruption at 02:35 on 27 August threw ballistic material about 600 metres from the crater; that the national emergency commission, the CNE, declared a green alert for the park on 28 August; and that the park stayed open. OVSICORI kept Poás at its advertencia (warning) activity level.
We found no report, up to 25 September 2026, that the measures had been lifted, and no SINAC or MINAE primary page that states them. Treat the 1,064 cap as reported, not as confirmed by SINAC.
The news reports we read record two full closures since March 2025. El Observador reported it shut from 23 March 2025 for a new eruptive phase and reopened on 30 July 2025 with entry in 20-minute blocks of up to 108 people. In January 2026 it closed again for a non-volcanic reason: the Quebrada Tigre bridge on Route 120 at Poasito was shut from 21 January, and Delfino.cr reported the park reopened on 29 January 2026 with a 9-tonne weight limit on the bridge.
What is inside the park
SINAC’s park pages describe:
- The main crater — circular, about 1,320 m across and 320 m deep in the attractions text, holding a hot, acidic lagoon at 20 to 50 °C. The Spanish page’s data box gives the depth as 300 m; SINAC publishes both.
- Laguna Botos — an old crater holding a cold lake 400 m across and 14 m deep. The English page marks it "(Currently closed)"; the Spanish page does not.
- Cloud-forest plants along the public-use area, among them the sombrilla de pobre (Gunnera insignis) and oaks, and birds including the quetzal on SINAC’s species list.
The park sits at 2,708 m above sea level, with an average temperature of 12 °C and 3,500 mm of average annual rainfall, per the Spanish data box. SINAC’s clothing advice is closed shoes, and coats and rain capes on cloudy days.
Services listed: guarded parking, toilets, non-potable water, first aid, and — on the Spanish page only — a gift shop and cafeteria. There are no rubbish bins in the park; SINAC says visitors must carry all waste out. Pets, smoking and leaving the marked trails are prohibited.
Getting there without a car
SINAC’s own “how to get there” page names a public bus, and it is a narrow one:
| Operator | Coopetransasi, from Terminal FECOSA, Alajuela |
| Runs | Saturdays, Sundays and holidays only — SINAC states there is no weekday service to the park |
| Leaves Alajuela | 09:00 |
| Leaves the park | 14:00 per the Spanish page; 12:30 per the English page |
| Regulated fare | CRC 2,550 regular, CRC 1,280 senior — about USD 5.61 at 454.15 (our conversion) |
| Time slot to book | SINAC asks bus users to reserve the 10:40 or 11:00 entry |
The fare is ARESEP’s, from its open-data register: route 232, Alajuela–Volcán Poás, 29.90 km, set by resolution RE-0115-IT-2026 and in force since 4 September 2026, concession held by Coopetransasi R.L. The row is registered “y viceversa”, the same fare in both directions. The two return times are both SINAC’s and we are not choosing between them. Against a 10:40 or 11:00 slot, a 12:30 bus leaves roughly an hour and a half to an hour fifty at the park and a 14:00 bus roughly three hours to three hours twenty (our arithmetic).
By car, SINAC names two approaches: through Alajuela on Route 712 via Fraijanes to Poasito, or through Barva de Heredia and Varablanca to Poasito. Whether a rental beats a transfer for a day trip like this is worked through on our rental car versus shuttle page.
What SINAC doesn’t publish
These are gaps in the official information, not ours:
- The current daily cap on a SINAC page. The 1,064 figure is from news reports of a MINAE–SINAC announcement; SINAC’s park pages, read 25 September 2026, state no cap.
- Whether the August 2026 helmet rule has ended, and whether helmets are provided at the park or must be brought.
- Which parking table is current. The English and Spanish pages disagree, as shown above.
- Which return-bus time is current. 14:00 in Spanish, 12:30 in English.
- The list of time slots. It sits behind the SICORE login.
- How far ahead slots sell out. No primary source we read states it.
How we researched this
Scope: this page reports source research, not an on-site test. We checked the official sources and news reports named below on the date shown; calculations, unresolved disagreements and information we could not verify are labelled explicitly.
On 25 September 2026 we read SINAC’s English and Spanish Poás park pages — the source for every fee, the hours, the booking-only rule, the parking tables, the crater and lagoon figures, the services and the rules — and SINAC’s English and Spanish “how to get there” pages for the bus. The purchase rules and free days come from the SICORE portal’s FAQ; the two reservation lists from SICORE and SINAC’s Compra y Reserva en Línea page. The bus fare comes from a direct pull of ARESEP’s open-data fare register. The August 2026 measures, the eruption and the alert come from Delfino.cr and El Observador news reports, which we name wherever we use them because no SINAC page we read carries them; the 2025 and January 2026 closures come from El Observador, Delfino.cr and CR Hoy. Conversions use BCCR indicator 318, the reference sell rate, at 454.15 on 25 September 2026.
Last verified: 25 September 2026. Poás’s access rules follow the volcano; check the SICORE portal and SINAC’s park page before you book.
Figures on this page labelled our arithmetic or our conversion are calculated by us from the sourced inputs cited below — tax reconciliations and currency conversions. Every other figure is reproduced as its named source published it.
Sources
- SINAC — Parque Nacional Volcán Poás (Spanish) — IVA-included fees (USD 16.95, USD 5.65, CRC 1,130, CRC 565), hours with the 14:00 last entry, the booking-only rule, the CRC 1,250 / 2,750 / 5,000 parking table and card payment at the booth, the over-65 exemption for nationals and residents, the data box (2,708 m, 12 °C, 3,500 mm, 300 m crater depth), the Laguna Botos dimensions, services including gift shop and cafeteria, the live-camera link and the park rules.
- SINAC — Poás Volcano National Park (English) — pre-tax fees (USD 15, USD 5, CRC 1,000, CRC 500), the CRC 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,000 parking table, “Access is granted just by the booking system”, the crater’s 1,320 m and 320 m, and the “(Currently closed)” note on Laguna Botos.
- SINAC — Poás, ¿Cómo llegar? and How to get there — the Coopetransasi bus from Terminal FECOSA, weekend-and-holiday-only service, 09:00 departure, the 14:00 (Spanish) and 12:30 (English) returns, the 10:40 / 11:00 slot advice, and the two driving approaches.
- SINAC — Compra y Reserva en Línea — Poás on the 12-area list.
- SINAC — SICORE portal — FAQ items 1, 6, 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23 and 28: the 11-area list, time slots, refunds, emergency date changes, free days, what the fee covers, weather, non-transferability and the per-transaction limits.
- ARESEP — Pliego tarifario de autobús, open-data register — route 232, Alajuela–Volcán Poás: CRC 2,550 and CRC 1,280, 29.90 km, RE-0115-IT-2026 from 4 September 2026, Coopetransasi R.L.
- Delfino.cr — Reducen aforo del Parque Nacional Volcán Poás y establecen uso de cascos (27 August 2026) — the 2,052-to-1,064 cap, compulsory helmets on the two open trails, 56 people per 20 minutes at the viewpoint, and the until-risk-falls duration.
- El Observador — CNE declara alerta verde en volcán Poás (28 August 2026) — the green alert, the park staying open, the 02:35 eruption on 27 August and the 600 m ballistic range, and OVSICORI’s warning level.
- Delfino.cr — Reabren el Parque Nacional Volcán Poás tras habilitación del paso por el puente de la quebrada Tigre (29 January 2026) — the 29 January reopening and the 9-tonne limit.
- CR Hoy — Se extiende cierre del Parque Nacional Volcán Poás (26 January 2026) — the bridge closure from 21 January 2026.
- El Observador — Parque Nacional Volcán Poás reabre con aforo controlado (30 July 2025) — the closure from 23 March 2025 and the 30 July 2025 reopening in 20-minute blocks of up to 108.
- Banco Central de Costa Rica — reference sell rate, indicator 318 — 454.15 colones per dollar, dated 25 September 2026, used for every conversion.
Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, has no affiliate relationship with any operator or agency named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.