Costa Rica 
In numbers.
37m
Height
1.2m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun
Sep–Nov
Best months
425kW
Water power
estimate
The water at La Paz Waterfall, month by month
It roars from September to November.
The fullest months: from September to November. The thinnest: from January to April.
- 0.6 m³/sJan
- 0.4 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.5 m³/sApr
- 1.1 m³/sMay
- 1.4 m³/sJun
- 1.4 m³/sJul
- 1.4 m³/sAug
- 1.7 m³/sSep
- 2.1 m³/sOct
- 1.7 m³/sNov
- 1.0 m³/sDec
From about 0.38 m³/s in the lowest month to 2.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: June and from September to November.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall on the Rio La Paz in Alajuela, Costa Rica
La Paz Waterfall is a waterfall in Costa Rica. The water falls 37 m.
Getting there.
- Santo Domingonearest town · 15 km in a straight line
- Parking 180 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 km in a straight lineCar hire at SJO airport (San José)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- June and from September to Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
425 kW
About 1.2 m³/s falling 37 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 106 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsCatarata de La Paz
- —waymarked walking routes
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 8toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 5other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascada de La Paz, Cascada Magia Blanca, Cascada Encantada and 2 more
- —caves
- 1campsites
- 10hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmTiquicia Lodge, Cabañas Vara Blanca, Poas Volcano Lodge and 7 more
- 7restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Santo Domingo15 km in a straight line
- Sabanilla15 km in a straight line
- Río Segundo18 km in a straight line
- San Juan20 km in a straight line
- Alajuela21 km in a straight line
- San Rafael22 km in a straight line
- San Josecito22 km in a straight line
- Mercedes Norte22 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 31 | 32 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 30 | 30 |
| Night °C | 22 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 38 | 22 | 29 | 76 | 220 | 209 | 184 | 198 | 256 | 301 | 188 | 70 |
| Wet days | 7 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 20 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 5.2 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 4.4 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (37 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 183% | 74% | 41% | 230% | 117% | 194% | 148% | 161% | 173% | 163% | 409% | 299% |
| 2021 | 85% | 57% | 248% | 352% | 111% | 169% | 188% | 252% | 167% | 98% | 54% | 70% |
| 2022 | 27% | 48% | 480% | 213% | 147% | 193% | 134% | 105% | 129% | 109% | 193% | 55% |
| 2023 | 106% | 78% | 404% | 91% | 103% | 117% | 122% | 105% | 87% | 145% | 113% | 74% |
| 2024 | 23% | 172% | 156% | 167% | 353% | 328% | 259% | 119% | 161% | 119% | 467% | 171% |
| 2025 | 103% | 110% | 212% | 286% | 203% | 238% | 209% | 81% | 147% | 157% | 82% | 112% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
La Paz Waterfall
Costa Rica
- 37 mHeight
- 1.2 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun, Sep–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37316) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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