Hacienda Orosi is an amazing place located in the Orosi Valley in Cartago. It’s a cozy and quaint spot that is definitely not that well known among tourists, which is one reason I love it!!
Orosi is known for being the rainiest place in Costa Rica, which is why it is SO GREEN. Hacienda Orosi is an incredible new location with several mineral thermal pools between 35-40 degrees C (95-105 degrees Farenheit).
Although Orosi is a small place, there are so many fun little things to do in the area that are off the beat and path. We only spent one day here, but I definitely want to come back and do more around this area. It’s so fairy-tale-like!
Important Info
- Hours: 8 AM-7 PM
- Ages: All ages welcome! 🙂
- What to Bring: Swim suit (towel and locker provided for free), sunscreen, book to read, sunglasses
- Price: $40 for a day pass (towel and locker included)
- Distance from San Jose: 45 km 928 miles)
- Drive time from San Jose: 1 hour 15 min
- Other things nearby: Tapanti National Park, Orosi Mirador, Irazu Volcano, Cartago
Just a lil’ relaxing while Beckham threw rocks and screamed, “NO MAS FOTOS!” hahahaha
I heard about Orosi from a friend a week ago and immediately put it on our list to try out! I was a little nervous at first because bringing Beckham to a place that has the word “spa” in it gives me anxiety haha.
It ended up being AMAZING. My one tip is GET THERE EARLY! There was one other couple when we got there (we arrived at 11 AM) and it made all of the difference! During rainy season it often rains every day in the afternoon so we were really lucky that it didn’t, but either way, get there early and you can have the whole place to yourself!
This was perfect for when Beckham was throwing dirt and rocks into the pool. It was also perfect for Dan to be able to take pictures of Beckham and I doing cannonballs into the thermal water without bothering other people too much haha.
The cost of admission for the day is $40 per person (which I personally think is pretty steep) but Beckham was free. We normally avoid expensive places like this but we decided to splurge and make the most of our time. We spent four hours there and I honestly could have stayed longer!
I think this is one of the cleanest places I have been to in Costa Rica. Apparently it opened up in January 2019, so it is still really new! It was floor-licking clean (like if you could lick the floor you wanted to haha).
You can also buy food there, which we also decided to splurge on even though we had brought a packed lunch. The food is DELICIOUS, though it’s not huge portions.
You can buy burgers and fries for $10 or an amazing seafood plate for $25. Kids meals are also available.
The water is actually pretty hot! It’s 35-40 degrees C or 95-105 F! I loved this because I hate when hot tubs feel like lukewarm bathwater. Like why even be in the water at all? I want EXTREME HEAT! Beckham wouldn’t get in at first. He kept saying, “TOO HOT!!!” Finally he was jealous of us having fun without him so he jumped in. He preferred spending time throwing the gravel in the water, though haha.
We took breaks in between soaking in the 7 different pools because we started to get overheated and turned from fat pale gringos to fat red gringos after a while haha.
The bathrooms are also emmaculate (no I didn’t take a picture) and have showers supplied with shampoo and soap. It really is a fancy place! I kind of felt like royalty, though maybe that is because we NEVER go to fancy places haha.
There are ice cold water buckets that fill up that you can dump on yourself. I assume the reason for this is to cool off? Or maybe to clean yourself before going into the hot thermal water?
We used them to see who could dump the most repeated buckets of ice water on themselves and scream the loudest haha.
We ended up leaving after 4 hours so we would have time to make it to Tapanti National Park, which is a 15-20 min drive south and a DREAM.
It was an amazing day. There really is a ton to do in there area, so make a day of it!
An alternative schedule to our day would have been to go to Irazu at 8 AM, hike in Tapanti until noon and then come to Hacienda to relax and have dinner and watch the sun set.