Getting around in Costa Rica - Updated

Getting around in Costa Rica is very interesting.

Bus stops can be anything from a mini hut at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.... 

to standing at the side of the road and hoping you are in the right spot for the bus that you want. In San Jose this was the case. We had to ask several people and a couple of drivers before we found the right spot and the right bus to take us to Escazu.

On the local busses where you do not have to purchase a ticket in advance, the drivers have these foam boxes where they collect and sort the money received in fares. This becomes a pass-time for them that is as dangerous as texting while driving!

In Monteverde we have a local bus that travels up to the Monteverde Reserve about 4 times a day. It has a set schedule and anyone can get on or off at any of the stops. It costs 600 Calones (just over a dollar) to go from Santa Elena to the reserve or less if you get on or off anywhere in-between. Other than that the only option is a taxi. Most taxi’s use a meter but not all of them do but the town is small so you become familiar with how much your taxi should cost. If your going from point A to point B and both of these points are outside of town, the taxi driver will likely charge you for his time to get to point A as well.

In Puerto Viejo there was a local bus but we never used it. It had a set schedule running to the farthest beach and back. Taxi’s of course were always an option and you also had the option of renting a bicycle for the day. That was the most fun but not always practical due to the rain. We haven't seen this option anywhere else.

Quepos/Manuel Antonio had a regular bus running between the two every half hour or less which was great because you didn’t have to plan too far ahead. The two towns are only 7Km apart so you might go into town more than once a day. I learned that you also had the option of ‘collectivo’ taxi’s which are basically a shared taxi ride and of course you could hire a private taxi.

Next there is getting around between towns:

The local ‘Tico’ bus’ are like a greyhound bus. Depending on how far apart the towns are these busses run on a regular schedule with a fixed fare and again you can get on or off anywhere in between for a reduced fare. So for shorter distances ie from Quepos to Dominical the distance was 44Km and the bus ran about 3 or 4 times a day. You could not book a ticket, just show up and pay the driver. Standing room only was definitely an option. This 44Km bus ride took an hour and a half due to all of the stops in between. Although the distance between Monteverde and Puntarenas is considerably farther, it operates the same way. You can’t book it and you could end up standing for 4 hours (even though it is only 75Km).

Bus schedules are posted at the bus station and/or at the bus stop but there is no guarantee they are accurate.

When we went to Quepos we were told (and looked up the schedule on line) that the bus runs at 7AM 8AM 11AM … however when we arrived in Puntarenas at 8:50AM we found that there was a bus at 9AM. We were able to continue our journey without a big wait.

On the way home from Dominical I knew there was a bus to Monteverde at 1:30 and 2:15 and this was indicated on the sign so we knew we would have a 4 hour wait. When we started talking to some of the locals we found that there was an 11AM bus. By the time we made it back to the bus stop the bus was just pulling away. VERY Frustrating!

Your second option for managing these distances is a tourist bus/Interbus Company (https://www.interbusonline.com/home/home.asp). So far I have paid anywhere from $3 to $20 for a Tico bus depending on the distance. They are comfortable but not air-conditioned and have many stops. A tourist bus is more expensive but more direct and thus takes less time. They are also air-conditioned.

So it took us two busses and cost about $7 each to get to Manuel Antonio. If we had taken a tourist bus it would have been one bus, a bit faster but $57 each. I don’t think we would have saved much time on the ride there as it was pretty fast but this is worth looking into for the ride home if we do it again.

The third option of course is a private taxi (http://taxialfaro.com) and this is much more expensive but if we had a third or fourth person would be worth considering.

Finally, Douglas noticed on the map that there are local airports (http://www.natureair.com) at some of these locations. I will investigate this further because yesterday was a 12-hour travel day and we both ended up with food poisoning or something so the evening was even worse than the day of travel. This also messes up our plans because we both raced home to attend events that now neither of us has the strength to do.