9. Local Transportation, Roads and Driving

A local fellow with his ox cart in Guanacaste

To rent or not to rent, that is the question. Rent-a-cars are plentiful and not too expensive, but the cost of insurance will often equal the cost of the car. Your U.S. based insurance policy is not effective in Costa Rica. Your credit card will cover some of the insurance cost but not all. In brief, an SUV capable of hauling around a family will end up costing about $1,000/week with all of the insurance coverage and the total coverage package is a good idea. If your trip is ten days or more and you’re splitting cost with another couple, it may be worth getting a car. Otherwise, it may be easier to stick with taxis and tour operators.

You can even hire a driver and car to take you, say from the San Jose airport to a beach resort in the northwest for about $200 for a van that will comfortably accommodate your family. You’ll have a friendly, helpful guide, you won’t have to worry about directions or local driving conditions (it’s not like at home), and you can enjoy the scenery.

With the resorts, you will probably have a number of days when you don’t venture off the premises. If you schedule a zip-line tour or a trip to a volcano or something, a guide and van will be included. Locally you can generally walk or grab one of the plentiful taxis.

The restaurants that are near the resorts will pick you up and or drop you off at no charge. Sometimes it’s nice to walk to the restaurant and then have them drop you back at the resort after dinner.

If you choose to rent, do some shopping on line. You will find many agencies with names that may not be familiar. Examples would be Economy, EuropCar, Toyota Rent-a-car, Thrifty, Alamo, and others. There is nothing wrong with these companies and they might save you considerable dollars. You will also find the big names that you do know, Hertz, Avis, Budget, and National. Pay close attention to whether or not the quoted rate includes all of the mandatory insurance, some of it, none of it, full insurance, etc.

It will cost a bit more, but go with a 4X4. If you’re going to go off exploring, you’ll be glad not to have to worry about an occasional unpaved road or a stream you encounter.

In general the best choice is probably to use a taxi/van to and from the airport. If you want to venture off for a day or two there will be plenty of cars available at local agencies in the towns or resorts.

Driving at night is not recommended. It’s not a security issue. It is a safety issue for you and for the local people. The areas around many of the resorts are still rural communities. Many of the local folks will be on the road at night on foot, on bicycles, on horseback, etc. and they aren’t accustomed to thinking about reflective clothing and so on. Roads are often narrow and with little or no shoulder. There are generally no street lights in these rural areas. If you do find yourself driving home after dinner, go slowly and carefully.

Under no circumstances should you plan to be traveling at night to or from the airport, or to or from one resort area to another. You have daylight until about 6:00 pm year round. If your flight is scheduled into San Jose at 2:00 pm and you plan to pick up a car and drive for four hours or more to a resort destination, even a small flight delay means that by the time you get luggage, get your car, etc. you could easily be leaving at 4:00 pm. You won’t get more than 140 kilometers (70 miles) before dark. There is a lovely Marriott near the San Jose airport. Enjoy it and begin your trip in the morning. See the next part on roads and driving.

The little bandits, the Coati’s coming out of the forest near Lake Arenal, to hold up the traffic and demand food. They’re harmless and fun.

If you decide to venture off the main roads during rainy season you may very will find that the road and the creek bed got confused.

Along the Road to Playa Avellanas. We drove on through without a problem.

The country’s main artery is CA1 which runs from the border with Panama in the south to the border with Nicaragua in the north. It is a two lane road for most of the way with a third passing lane in some mountain areas nearer to San Jose. As it goes through San Jose it resembles a U.S. interstate although access is not as limited as on a U.S. interstate.

Cars in Costa Rica drive on the right as we do in the U.S. For the most part, language and signs are international and present no problem to an English speaking driver. Other roads to the coasts and between the major towns and cities are paved two lane roads. Many of the roads in the country, particularly as one leaves the central valley, are unpaved and in some places impassable during the rainy season as they may cross streams and so on.

Everything in Costa Rica is in metrics. That means that speed limits are in kilometers per hour and gasoline is purchased in Liters. For a rough conversion of distance, 1 km is about 6 tenths of a mi. (There are 3.8 liters/gallon so if you want to know what you’re paying for gasoline in dollars, multiply the price by about 4 and then use the Colones::dollars conversion. So if the price of a liter of regular is 640 C, (Feb 2012) that’s about 640 X 4 = 2,560 C (round down to 2500 C, move the decimal three places left and multiply by 2, or about $5.00 per gallon.

The highest speed limits you will see are generally 80 kph, about 50 mph and the mountainous nature of many of the roads further reduces effective rates of travel. In general, figure that any given mileage will take twice as long to drive in Costa Rica as it would in the U.S. or Canada. As you would at home, pay close attention to reduced speed limits near schools “escuela,” or intersections. You may very well find the Policia watching those reduced areas very closely.

One more note on driving. Gas stations, depending on where you are traveling, will not be as commonplace as what you may be accustomed to. Don’t let the tank get too close to empty. If it’s at half a tank or less and you are in unfamiliar territory and pass a gas station, fill up.

The price by the way is fixed by the federal government and all stations will have the same price. There are inexpensive bus services such as a 6 hour, $35 offering between Tamarindo and San Jose stopping at major hotels, the airport, etc. There is also regular bus service for much less but it is also much slower. Many of the local folks use these buses regularly. Automobile ownership is not universal by any means.