By Bus in Costa Rica

All Costa Rican towns are connected by regular bus service. Bus service in Costa Rica is reliable, comprehensive, and inexpensive; fares for long-distance routes are usually $3-$10 one-way. Buses between major cities are modern and air-conditioned, but once you get into the rural areas, you may get a converted school bus without air-conditioning. The kind of bus you get is the luck of the draw (no upgrades here). Bus travel in Costa Rica is formal, meaning no pigs or chickens inside and no people or luggage on the roof. On longer routes, buses stop midway at modest restaurants. Near the ends of their runs many nonexpress buses turn into large taxis, dropping passengers off one by one at their destinations; to save time, take a directo (express) bus. Be prepared for bus-company employees and bus drivers to speak Spanish only.

The main inconvenience of buses is that you usually have to return to San José to travel between outlying regions and that long-distance service is much slower than flying. For example, a bus from San José to the Osa Peninsula is 9 hours or more, whereas the flight is 1 hour. Shorter distances are more negligible—the bus to Quepos is 3½ hours and the flight 30 minutes—and in those cases the huge price difference might be worth the extra hours of travel. There is no main bus station in San José; buses leave from a variety of departure points.

Don't put your belongings in the overhead bin unless you have to, and if you do, keep your eye on them. If anyone—even someone who looks like a bus employee—offers to put your luggage on the bus or in the luggage compartment underneath for you, politely decline. If you must put your luggage underneath the bus, get off quickly when you arrive to retrieve it.

Many visitors take the more convenient (but more expensive) alternative of booking a private shuttle van or hiring a private driver. Both options are still cheaper than flying in most cases.

Shuttle Van Services

Two private bus companies, Gray Line Tours Fantasy Bus and Interbus, travel to the most popular tourist destinations in modern, air-conditioned vans. Interbus vans seat 8 to 16 people; Gray Line vans seat 14 to 28 people. Be sure to double-check information that is listed on the Web site—published prices may not be accurate and routes are not always running. This service costs about $20-$55 one-way, but can take hours off your trip. Hotel-to-hotel service is offered as long as your lodging is on the route; if you're heading off the beaten track, it's a hotel-to-nearest-hotel service.

Shuttle Van Companies

Gray Line Tourist Bus (232-3681 or 220-2126. www.graylinecostarica.com). Interbus (283-5573. www.interbusonline.com).