La Fortuna, Costa Rica is a bustling little town at the base of Volcan Arenal. It is the center of adventure tourism in the area and boasts a number of small restaurants and plenty of opportunities to take in the local scenery. The central tourist attraction used to be the regular eruptions and bright red lava flow, though it stopped erupting around 2010. From La Fortuna you can take a number of canopy tours (the Extremo comes highly recommended), as well as go white water rafting and visit the Arenal National Park.
Regardless of the lack of lava flow, La Fortuna is a fun place to stop over — especially if you head that way during the yearly festival in February (as we did). During the festival, there is a small carnival (with bumpercars!), nightly events in the bullring and a number of different parades. I got the feeling that during the festival is the only time you might be able to get a feel for the “real” Costa Rica in La Fortuna.