Greetings fellow Fodorites,

I will be flying to Costa Rica (San Jose) and spending 8 nights in Uvita with a friend of mine. This will be in early March.

I just received my guidebook on CR and have lots more to read on Fodors.

Since it's the dry season, I believe I won't have to rent a 4-wheel car, although I read some roads are bad. Not sure if we'll be on those in particular. We plan to spend time at the beaches, snorkeling, do some hiking, whale watching, visit some towns, etc.

I understand that there are local buses, but I'm still researching. Plus taxi's are inexpensive - if we want to use a taxi to get to a restaurant or beach. So I'm not sure if it's worth having a rental car all 8 days or do a mix of rental, taxi, bus. But then that might be two one-way car rentals.

Our flight arives in the late morning but our flight home is after midnight, which means we probably should leave Uvita in the afternoon - about a 3.5 hour drive. I don't particuarly want to drive to the airport at night not knowing the area and traffic, etc. If we got to San Jose early, we could drop off the car but not sure if we can store our luggage for several hours, as we won't need to be at the airport until around 10pm.

I'm looking for the best way to get around but still be safe and comfortable if we do rent a car.

Thanks,

Monica