Best Zip Lines in Costa Rica: 11 Canopy Tours Compared

Cables, length, departure times and price for the canopy tours we actually book, so you can pick the right one before you leave home.

Article Dallas Rogers · October 24, 2026 · 6 min read

Which zip line you book in Costa Rica depends on what you want underneath the cable. Monteverde has the longest lines and the cloud forest. Arenal puts a volcano and a waterfall in the frame. Guanacaste has the shortest course and a children's rate.

Here are eleven canopy tours we book, compared by what you fly over, how long it takes, when it leaves and what it costs.

The eleven, compared

All eleven refund in full if you cancel at least 48 hours ahead. Inside 48 hours they do not.

Monteverde if you want the long cables

Monteverde is where you go for distance. The Canopy Zipline Tour runs 13 to 15 cables, and one of them is a kilometre long, ridden face down in a harness they call the Superman. There is an optional 45 metre free fall swing at the end that about half of any group walks past. Round trip transport inside Monteverde and Santa Elena is included, which matters more than it sounds: the roads up there are rough and the courses are not in town.

What you see is different from the Pacific courses. Cloud moves through the forest while you are on the cable, so the view opens and closes on you. Some people find that the best part of the day and some people wanted the postcard. Both reactions are normal.

If you would rather not spend three hours in a harness, the 3-in-1 combo trades some zipline time for the Sky Walk bridges and the Sky Tram gondola, which is the gentlest way to get the same height.

Arenal if you want the volcano in the picture

Two options here. The Sky Adventures course is two hours with five departures a day, which makes it the easiest zipline in the country to slot into a half finished itinerary. The twelve cable course is the one that crosses above the La Fortuna waterfall, so it is the better choice if you want a single photograph you will keep.

Arenal also has La Roca Canyoning, which is four waterfall rappels and two ziplines over the Arenal River canyon rather than a canopy tour proper. Worth knowing about if the zipline alone feels thin.

Jaco and Manuel Antonio if you want ocean under the trees

The Jaco course is ten cables and twelve platforms over about 80 acres of forest, with Herradura Bay and the Nicoya Gulf in the gaps. You get there on a fifteen minute tractor ride, which children tend to rate higher than the ziplines. Fruit and water are included, lunch is not, and it runs four times a day.

Manuel Antonio has one departure, at 11:00, and it includes lunch and transport, which is unusual and makes it the simplest option if you have no car. If you want a longer day, the Adventure Park runs ten stations over five hours, so the ziplines are part of a circuit rather than the whole thing.

Nosara and Mal País if you are already at the beach

Both are two to two and a half hours and both are built for people whose week is mostly surfing. Mal País finishes with a rappel descent and a Tarzan swing. Nosara runs through dense jungle with the ocean showing between the trees.

Neither is a destination in its own right. They are the right call when you have one spare morning and no appetite for a three hour drive.

Guanacaste if you are bringing children or watching the budget

Cañón de la Vieja is the shortest course on this list at an hour, the cheapest, and the only one here that lists a separate children's rate. It runs three times a day and takes groups of up to twenty, so it absorbs a family reunion better than the twelve person courses do. You fly over the canyon and the Colorado River rather than over forest.

There is also a half day combo that pairs the same canopy with a horseback ride through the canyon, which works well when half your group is enthusiastic about cables and half is not.

Choosing a departure time

The courses with several daily slots are Arenal Sky Adventures, Jaco, Monteverde and Cañón de la Vieja. Take an early one if you can. Rain in Costa Rica is more likely to build through the afternoon than to arrive at breakfast, and ziplines generally run in light rain, so an early slot is less about cancellation than about how wet you are at the end.

The Manuel Antonio tour leaves once, at 11:00, so plan the rest of that day around it.

What it is actually like

You wear a harness, a helmet and gloves, and a guide clips and unclips you at every platform. You do not control your own speed on most courses. Closed shoes are required everywhere. Bring a light rain jacket, and if you wear sunglasses, put them on a strap.

Cameras are a mixed question. Cañón de la Vieja allows them on the course. Most of the others sell a photo package at the end instead, and some will not let you carry anything loose. If you want your own footage, ask before you book rather than at the platform.

If heights worry you

The thing most people find hard is not the cable. It is the first step off the platform, and it lasts about a second. After that your body is in the air and there is nothing left to decide.

If that is still too much, the Sky Tram gondola in the Monteverde combo gets you the same canopy without the harness, and the hanging bridges in Monteverde get you into the same forest at walking pace.

Not sure which one fits your week?

Tell us where you are staying and which days are free, and we will tell you which of these is actually reachable from your hotel and which one suits the people you are travelling with. Message us and we will work it out with you.

Pura Vida 🍃