Our Guide to Travelling Around Costa Rica

Despite its relatively small size, Costa Rica offers a variety of convenient and reliable ways to travel between its diverse regions, from cloud forests and volcanoes to remote rainforests and pristine beaches. Whether you prefer the affordability of shared transfers, the flexibility of private transport, the freedom of self-driving or the speed of domestic flights, there is an option to suit every travel style. Depending on your route, budget and choice, our experienced travel consultants will suggest the best way for you to travel around Costa Rica and this guide explore the options available.

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Costa Rica operates an excellent network of shared transfers for its visitors which can be very efficient and cost effective. The shared transfers are typically organised in minivans taking about a dozen passengers and their luggage, collecting you from your hotel and dropping you off at your next hotel. However, the transfers do often serve several hotels in each location so travel times can be a bit longer than expected, with set pick up times and you may have to wait to be picked up or dropped off. Stops for snacks and bathroom breaks are built into longer trips, but otherwise you don’t stop along the way.

A private transfer is a very common way of getting around Costa Rica, typically using the same minivans that are used for shared transfers but organised on a private basis. Like the shared transfers, the private transfers collect you from your hotel and drop you off at your destination, but there is no waiting around and much more flexibility with the transfer times. The drivers are not guides and their English may be limited, but they are happy to stop to allow you to take photos and stretch your legs as you pass through the beautiful countryside of Costa Rica.

Hiring a car is a very popular option in Costa Rica and is generally considered to be a safe and reliable way of getting around. The roads and standards of driving may not always be up to western standards, but they are much better than most of Latin America and outside of San Jose, there is little trouble with traffic. Having your own car does give you much more flexibility to travel at your own pace and stop off and explore along the way.

Given the traffic in San Jose, it is generally not recommended to pick up a hire car in the centre of the city, and it is no problem to arrange for cars to be collected and dropped off in more remote locations to avoid having to drive in the capital. Guapiles, the small town on the highway between San Jose and Liberia that is the transport hub for visits to Tortuguero National Park is a popular place to pick up a hire car – when leaving from Tortuguero the lodges include lunch at Guapiles and the hire car can be delivered to you at the restaurant here so you can start driving on good roads without too much traffic.

Although Costa Rica is not very large, there are remote parts of the country which are difficult to reach by road. Tortuguero National Park has no road connections and the lodges here are normally accessed by boat, while the Osa Peninsular is at least 7 or 8 hours from San Jose by boat and road. However, there are domestic flights which serve these destinations with regular flights to and from San Jose which can make travelling around much easier.

Domestic flights in Costa Rica are in light aircraft, typically only taking about 14 passengers. This means you can get spectacular views as the planes fly at relatively low altitude through the mountains and over the rainforests. However, it does impose some limitations. Luggage is very limited on the light aircraft – typically restricted to 18kg per person in the hold. While in theory it is possible to purchase excess luggage, this can never by guaranteed as the amount of weight the planes can carry is limited – it is better to pack light or arrange for your luggage to be shuttled between destination overland using the shared transfer service. Schedules are also very flexible – exact flight times are usually only confirmed a few weeks before travel and can change due to weather, especially in the rainy season as aircraft must wait out storms.