Finding The Trail

To get to this beautiful waterfall, you first have to find the trail entrance. The trail entrance is located off the main road in Manuel Antonio, near a property named Jungle Creek. The Jungle Creek road is located about 200 meters south of Amigos Del Rio, at the bottom of the hill, on the left-hand side of the road (if you're coming from Quepos). At the bottom of this hill, you will find a small bridge for cars. This bridge exists because there is a small stream that runs under the bridge. This stream is the one that turns into El Salto waterfall and it's this stream that you have to follow.

The Trail

The trail to this waterfall is not clearly marked and can be difficult to find, so the best advice we can give is to park anywhere you can on the jungle creek road and then follow the stream in search of the trail. Keep in mind that the trail can be hard to find and that it passes in and out of the stream many times causing the trail to disappear. Rest easy knowing that the stream will be your guide in and out of the jungle. The hike to the waterfall should be 45 minutes to 1 hour.

The Waterfall

Once you arrive at the waterfall, you will be faced with two options if you want to go down into the waterfall's pool.  Option 1 is to jump from the top of the waterfall into the pool.  Jumping is normally very safe and easy but be careful as water levels can drop in the dry season making the pool below much more shallow than normal.  Option 2 is to find the trail that goes around the waterfall and takes you down to the bottom.  This trail is also hard to identify and is typically overgrown with jungle so this can be more difficult than it sounds.  If you're standing at the top of the waterfall looking down at the pool, the trail down will be on your right-hand side.

Keep in mind that once you go down, you have to go back up to get out of the jungle. To get back up, you have two options. Option 1 is to climb back up the waterfall to the top. Look to use the help of a well-positioned rope to help you scale the waterfall back up to the top. Option 2 is to find the trail and climb back up that way.

Writers Tips:

1. Water shoes are very helpful for this hike as your feet will be wet the whole time.
2. Remember to always stay near the creek. At no point does the trail divert more than 100 meters from the creek so as long as you stay near the creek, you are safe.
3. Use Maps or Waze to look up "El Salto" so that you have a clear idea of where it is.
4. Make sure the waterfall has plenty of water before jumping in from high up.
5. Sending someone into the pool before jumping is always smart. Sometimes waterfalls collect debris that can rest just below the water's surface.