Small Country with lots of adventures just getting places
My favorite way. to go cross-country in Costa Rica is by horse, but that may not work for you.....
Costa Rica is as much adventure getting to places as being in places. Unlike vacations where you fly from place to place, the serendipity of Costa Rica usually happens as you are driving -- spotting a jaguarondi or toucan, crossing a river without a bridge, pulling off to take pictures of monkeys. These are YOUR moments to treasure. Moving about on the roads, curved and narrow, scenic and terrifying, is one of the most authentic (and frustrating) adventures of Costa Rica.
If your interest is less touristy places, you'll need a private vehicle because the tour buses and Interbus services don't go there. You have lots of options to explore Costa Rica, depending on how much time you have, your sense of adventure, comfort with Spanish, your budget, and your priorities. You can MIX AND MATCH your options -- some parts you might want to have a driver, other places you can go on your own; some parts use your hotel's suggested or included transport.
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Rental car, and drive yourself
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Rental car
small 4x4Unless you are only in San José, rent a 4x4 car. Most likely you will never use the 4x4 capability, but 4x4 cars have higher clearance and higher tires sidewalls. Costa Rica roads - including many major paved roads, are FULL of potholes and nasty speed bumps. Small wheels and low-profile tires end up with bent wheel rims - a very expensive damage you will have to pay for when you return the car.
Renting a car does not necessarily give you "ultimate freedom". Where and how you park your car while swimming at the beach or exploring a waterfall or other times when you will be away from the car is a prime theft opportunity, so you have to be more cautious on what is left in your car and how visible it is. Rarely are cars stolen, but contents "walk away" from unguarded cars.
Volare will determine which rental agency is best for your itinerary. Some agencies offer remote pick-up services. Some agencies will deliver the car to your hotel. You don't have to be in the same rental car for your whole trip. Costs for 4x4 rental cars run from $82 to $120 per day, depending on the size of the car and length of contract. Remember there are local taxes and required insurance costs not listed in the car rental web sites, so don't compare thee costs to what you find directly through agency sites.
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Rental car with driver
If driving in a Latin country on narrow roads and bad road signs is not your idea of a vacation, let us do all your driving.
Volare can arrange a driver (not bilingual) for a day or your whole trip. Costs range from $90 for partial day to $120 per day if full day or $200 per day if multi day-- fees include driver's expenses for lodging and meals. These costs are in addition to the rental vehicle costs. Drivers are not bilingual, but are pretty expert in taking care of the car while you are enjoying the adventures. The drivers we recommend are clean, non-smokers, and responsible people (not too young!).
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Bilingual guide
A bilingual guide is well worth the money ($330 per day or partial day, in addition to rental car cost) if you are really interested in learning about Costa Rica, nature, history and culture, not as a classroom exercise but by living and breathing it with your guide. This arrangement is the most flexible and secure for you --stop watching your watch! Your full time bilingual guide serves as your driver, interpreter, first aid responder, shopping consultant, and allows you to take on even more exacting adventures. You'll definitely want a bilingual guide/driver if you are doing remote hiking, or spending time away from tourism centers. Volare guides are educated in what matters most to you -- nature and habitat, how to handle a horse, speaking with Indigenous people, picking out the right restaurants and food. They are expert with everything from finding the right meds in a pharmacy to taking care of lost luggage to getting you into private interesting places.
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Private Transfers and Taxis
Mini bus transfers are economical for shorter distance transfers for 3 or more people - within two or so hours between points. Many transfers can be arranged with hotels, and often a mini-bus can be rented for the day for local tours. Even travelers with their own rental cars may prefer the mini bus service so you don't have to deal with protecting the parked car or finding the route. The buses usually have noisy small diesel engines and are usually hot (no air conditioning) so not the most comfortable way to travel for some people. Tours usually include transfers from large hotels to the tour site -- when you don't mind sharing the experience with 15-20 other people, this works really well and is inexpensive.
Taxis run about the same as mini buses but carry only 3 people. Once out of cities the taxis tend to be 4x4 vehicles, so preferable to mini-bus when trying to get to a place in the country. Again they have diesel engines, usually not air conditioned, and move slowly.
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City Taxis
In San José the BEST way to travel is by taxi - no parking hassles, economical. Taxis have "marias" - meters - and start at about $2 for a short trip. Some drivers (when business is slow and you are pure tourist) will drive in almost circles to run the meter up. Before getting in the taxi ask "cuanto vale hasta...." meaning "how much to ...." your destination. Even if you don't understand, the driver thinks you do and goes more or less directly. Most taxi drivers are very honest (and if you add "Pronto! = Hurry!) he knows you'll tip well -- add 10% to the Maria and be happy.
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Fixed Route Transfer service (Interbus)
Excellent service between major tourism destinations - San José, La Fortuna, Tamarindo, Manuel Antonio, Jaco. Otherwise the Interbus service is less complete. Interbus is cost effective if one to three in your group; four or more then private transfers or rental car is more cost effective. As an example, Interbus from Fortuna to the airport is $47 (plus tax) per person.
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Internal Flights
You can see flights on the domestic airline map (compliments of NatureAir). Many flights and routes are dropped during low season. All flights are completed between sunrise and sunset as no airstrips (except San José and Liberia international airports) have runway lights or radar or control towers. The Caribbean destinations operate only early in the morning (because of cloud formation). Remote destinations like Tortuguero, Drake Bay, and Bocas del Toro are tied to tour operator schedules for all-inclusive tour packages. Pacific destinations depart as late as 3:30 PM, arriving in San José before sunset. Remember Costa Rica has a 12 hour day (plus/minus 35 minutes) year round. Sunrise is 5:00 to 6:15 and sunset 5:00 to 6:15.
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Hotel or Tour Operator Transportation
More remote, but very popular destinations, like Tortuguero, Barra Colorado, Osa Peninsula, are often packaged with transportation - usually a flight from San José plus vehicle which takes you directly to your hotel. If your itinerary includes these destinations Volare will be sure of designing "what happens to my rental car" into the itinerary.
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Public Buses
A really great way to meet Costa Ricans, people watching outside the bubble of tourism. Costa Rica's public transport system covers every village, even with only dirt road access - maybe only once a day, sometimes only 3 days a week. But even the most remote towns have some bus connection, and always a fun way to meet people. You can cross the whole country for less than $10 by public bus.
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By Bike, By Foot, By Horse
These are options we encourage, but we don't get a lot of call for them. There are really good routes to cross Costa Rica via bike. Road bikes compete with lots of heavy traffic. Mountain bike routes still need to use paved roads for bridges, but otherwise it's possible to do several routes coast to coast without pavement or much traffic (a few horses and old Land Rovers). Same is true for horseback but it either takes 3 weeks on one horse (and three pack horses for the gear) or arrange Pony Express style refresher horses to meet you en route for changing mounts, in which case it can be done in a week.
On foot is a real possibility as well. In fact, each year is the "Romería de Los Angeles", when over a million Costa Ricans walk from their homes, some as far away as the Panamanian border, to Cartago, in the center of Costa Rica... some 200 miles and many walk for 8 days. The Pope in 2012 declared a miracle did in fact happen in Cartago in 1635, which has increased interest in this pilgrimage throughout Latin America, so in 2012 over two million people participated. The pilgrimage draws numerous non-religious participants as well as the devout. En route pilgrims sleep for free in spare space in corrals on farms or in the "Salon Comunal" - a village open social center. It is a national festival and very social, ending at the Basilica de los Angeles in Cartago on August 2.
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Google Maps?
Google Maps service is very incomplete away from San José and not to be trusted. The GPS map provided by car rental agencies lack the same detail, especially in the north and northeast parts of Costa Rica (the part of the country that is growing most rapidly). The 50,000 to 1 Geological survey maps (made by the US government) were last last updated about 40 years ago, so large sections are either blank or do not reflect recent growth. Since we in Volare have tracked all the routes we've driven over the past 20 years with our own GPS mapping unit (a Garmin GPSMap76csx, a unit built specifically to make maps) we have actual and real routes with details we found important. We use this data combined with the Garmin commercial map software to create individual travel routes for our guests.
Of available commercial maps the most exact and complete is the National Geographic map of Costa Rica.
