La Fortuna eSIM
In La Fortuna you connect to Kolbi or Movistar, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 31 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Kolbi and Movistar
- Typical speed in Costa Rica
- 31 Mbps typical, 7 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover La Fortuna
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $9.89 | $9.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $6.63 | $19.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $7.38 | $36.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $5.29 | $52.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $4.59 | $91.89 |
How Costa Rica compares across North America
- Regional typical speed
- 33 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Kolbi, Movistar
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Guatemala, 32 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Honduras, 28 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 3: San Jose, La Fortuna, Tamarindo
Landing at Arenal Airport (FON)
- Airport
- FON / MRAN
- Distance
- 7 km from the centre of La Fortuna
Getting into La Fortuna
- Road from Arenal Airport to La Fortuna (FON)
Worth knowing about La Fortuna
- La Fortuna's own airport is a privately managed airstrip 7 km east of town with an 800 m asphalt runway, served only by small aircraft such as Cessna Caravans and Twin Otters.
- Scheduled flights into Arenal come only from other Costa Rican airports - San Jose, Quepos, Liberia and Tortuguero - so every international arrival routes through San Jose or Liberia first.
- Two different San Jose airports feed La Fortuna: Aerobell flies from San Jose-Tobias Bolanos while Sansa flies from San Jose-Juan Santamaria, and they are not the same terminal.
- La Fortuna is a district of San Carlos canton in Alajuela province, created on 5 February 1952, with 16,150 residents at the 2022 census.
- The district covers 229.7 square kilometres and sits at 253 metres elevation.
- National Routes 4, 141, 142, 702 and 936 serve the district. Arenal Airport lies 7 km east of town on Route 141.
- SUTEL's list of connected public spaces shows one site in La Fortuna, Clinica Fortuna in San Carlos canton, rather than a park or plaza in the town centre.
- Costa Rica's free public wifi is the Zii network. SUTEL's steps are to select the network Zii_para_todos, open a browser and accept the terms and privacy policy. No phone number step is listed.
- A Zii session lasts two hours in public spaces and four hours in libraries, at 6 Mbps per user, with 100 simultaneous users supported per site.
- SUTEL's prepaid line registration accepts a cedula, the minors TIM card, the DIMEX residence document for foreigners, or a passport. The system confirms identity by SMS password.
- SUTEL publishes an interactive map of mobile service quality results at calidad.sutel.go.cr, with evaluations from 2025 onwards and historical reports back to 2012.
- FONATEL's Comunidades Conectadas programme builds fibre and phone towers for 262 low income districts and 24 indigenous territories where commercial operators do not invest.
- Arenal volcano rises 1,633 metres about 15 km southwest of La Fortuna district. It erupted continuously from 1968 to 2010 and has been dormant since.
- Lake Arenal is Costa Rica's largest lake at 85 square kilometres. It was tripled in size by the Sangregado dam built in 1979.
- From November through April strong steady winds blow at the western end of Lake Arenal, one of the world's better known windsurfing and kitesurfing areas.