Blue River Resort
March 16,17 2022
The Blue River Resort is in northwest Costa Rica about an hour and a half to two-hour drive from Liberia depending on traffic. Once off the main roads, the backroads are filled with potholes that will try and slow you down as well be careful if you are driving yourself.
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An all-day pass includes a locker, lunch, hot springs, pool with water slide, mud treatment, sauna, botanical gardens, butterfly gardens, blue river hike to grand waterfalls, and the dinosaur park all for $70 apiece. Getting a room for the night with two queen beds for three people with the adventure pack was $217 or $64 apiece. This included everything the day pass offered with breakfast included instead of lunch. So staying the night we saved $6 and had a day in a half to enjoy the resort.
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Spanish and English
Hi- Hola
Thank you- Gracias
Bathroom- Bano
Botanical Garden
There are lovely plants all over the resort but in the botanical garden, you get a chance to be more submersed in them! There are walking paths/ bridges running the length of the gardens. With over 700 varieties everyone can find something they have never seen before. All the major species of trees and flowers are grouped together for the convince of the guests. There are trails and benches all along the path to allow for hours of enjoyment. Following one of these will bring you to an area where the resident sloths will hang out. (We were not fortunate enough to see them due to the rainy weather.) Just past this is the butterfly garden enclosure.
Hot Springs
While hot springs are all over Costa Rica and are known all over the world very few are natural and even less can brag about their mineral content, like the Blue River Resort has. There are layers of molten rock formations that are infused with water deep under the volcano, Rincon de la Vieja. This gives health-giving minerals that feed the hot springs. The bubbling volcano-like mud structure sinkholes in the botanical garden that the water breaks through reach temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit! In the pictures, you may notice a green hue in the water. this is dissolved copper, a mineral that is naturally in the water and acts as a natural disinfectant. In the mornings we did see them drain and spray out each pool with bleach to clean them for the day!​ The five pools at the resort are all maintained at different temperatures. They are very relaxing hot springs that have been used for years in therapeutic treatments. We all also noticed how soft our skin was after spending hours relaxing in the waters. Even helping some with some skin conditions.
Mud Bath and Sauna
Everyone told us after that they were told to do the sauna first then to do the mud bath, and after it drys to rinse it off in the shower or in the nearby spring. We did it backwards, doing the mud first then the sauna.
The mud has a very strong sulfur smell this is considered the most important component and occurs naturally in proximity to volcanoes and hot springs. Sulfur reduces stress on the body and decreases inflammation, it is also used to treat fungal infections, scabies, psoriasis, eczema, and acne. There is also hydrogen, bromide, and fluoride, this silica-rich geothermal mud is from the Rincon de la Vieja like the water for the springs. Free from impurities the mud is very thin and slippery, dont be afraid to put it all over! Your skin will feel so amazing after!
The sauna cave is built over the hot spring's creek capturing heat to create the steam. Helping it be natural and environmentally friendly. The temperature of the hot springs in the cave are the same as the ones outside of it at 140° F. It will only take a few minutes for the steam to open your pores, helping the mineral-infused steam clean your skin.
Dinosar
The dinosaur park is the reason we decided to drive up to the Blue River Resorts to begin with! We love dinosaurs! Sadly we forgot RJ, Rex Jr (See Kenya for Rj and his own story!) on this trip. There are 29 dinosaurs here! You can see them all on a short 1-kilometer hike that creates some suspense about what will be around the next corner! And then you turn around to a life-size dinosaur moving and roaring at you!
We walked very quickly snapping pictures as we went, our poor guide trying to keep up with us and show all the things he was supposed to (we may of ran ahead.) Nestled next to one of the dinosaurs our guide did point out a little hummingbird nest that was so amazing to see! We were also disappointed at their lack of dinosaurs in the gift shop at the resort but we did leave with some dinosaur shirts!
