The town waterfall is really amazing, but there is waterfall up river that provides some opportunity to get some exercise as well as cool off in the water when you get there. It’s a fairly easy hike with only the last half kilometer having boulders and rocks to navigate down.
What is especially great about the hike is that you can see a whole side of Yelapa that many miss when they just visit the pueblo and main beach.
For this hike, the mileages I list start from Gabi’s Tienda (right across from the entrance to Sky Temple) as you walk up river on the main path from town.
About 8 minutes into the hike and you’ll make it to the suspension bridge across the river. Don’t cross the river and continue along the same road up river.
About 30 minutes into the hike (2.7 km), you’ll come upon a blue building, which is a pumping station for the water in Yelapa. Just past this building is the first river crossing. It’s easily wadeable and in the mid-summer months before the rains start you can likely even cross it without getting your feet wet. You’ll see an opening for the path on the other side of the river. About a minute later is the second river crossing. Cross the river and rejoin the path on the south side of the river.
You’ll wind through the forest and then up and through some narrow paths which were made even deeper after Narda in 2019. There will be a large open field on the left as you go up the path and once you start to exit the clearing at the 3.2 km mark there is an open gate to the left with a sign to the waterfall. Turn left through the gate and you’ll wind through the jungle until you climb down rocks to the waterfall. The waterfall is about 1 km from the gate.