Hi Costa Rica DIYJRP!

This is a great question! Both attractions warrant a visit, but which one you should visit (if you do decide to only visit one) comes down to the type of experience you want to have. The Monteverde Reserve only has one bridge whereas the Monteverde’s Sky Adventures Park has six bridges, so if you’re interested in touring more bridges (in addition to those you plan to experience in La Fortuna), it would be better to choose the latter. If you want more of a forest hike, you’ll find more than 10 kilometers of trails at the Monteverde Reserve as opposed to the roughly 2.5-kilometer trail circuit at Monteverde’s Sky Adventures Park. At Monteverde’s Sky Adventures Park, you can opt to ride the Sky Tram to view the cloud forest from above, and you can also appreciate bird’s eye views of the forest from above while crossing the bridges. At the Monteverde Reserve, you can stand atop the continental divide, see a small waterfall, and explore the cloud forest at ground level.

It’s worth noting that there is enough time to explore both attractions (one in the morning and the other in the afternoon) if you want to.

To help you further, I can provide you with links to two related articles. The first is a piece we wrote to help travelers understand the difference between visiting the Monteverde Reserve and visiting the Monteverde Cloud Forest. This article can help you decide if it’s the reserve specifically that you want to experience, or just the cloud forest in general, which can be accomplished by visiting the reserve, Monteverde’s Sky Adventures Park, or other parts of Monteverde. The second article provides more information about Monteverde’s Sky Adventures Park, to help you decide whether it’s an attraction you’d like to experience.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Or Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve: What’s The Difference?

Monteverde Sky Walk Hanging Bridges: Everything You Need To Know

Pura vida! 🙂