Pat_Rick

We just got back from CR today. We found driving in CR to be no big deal if you follow some simple guidelines:

1. You need to have a GPS, we bought a map download for Garmin from NavSat before we left, and it was great. CR has very few street names and numbers, you find places by POI names. We were able to find little hole-in-the-wall restaurants by typing in the names. A typical set of directions is “ drive 400 meters on Road, then turn left on Unpaved Road, in 300 meters, turn right on Road”. The only time we sort of got lost was trying to go to Playa Marbella which came up on the GPS but was not actually selectable. So we set the GPS to a neighboring beach and got there by asking locals for directions.

2. You really must purchase the full insurance when you are renting a car. Your credit card insurance is not acceptable (the whole deal is a government-run monopoly). We paid an extra $55/day for the insurance for a 4WD mini-SUV with Dollar-Rent-A-Car that covered 100% of anything that happens. We talked with another traveler who took the middle level insurance option that is $750 deductible, he had a little ding when he returned the car and they charged him the whole $750.

3. Gas stations are few and far in between, so don’t let your tank go below ¼ tank. Gas stations are all government owned, open 24 hours, and the price is about $7/gallon. The NavSat GPS will show you the nearest gas station most of the time.

4. Most roads are two lanes (barely-bridges go to one and you yield according to the sign) with no lines, many are dirt with potholes, we drove from San Jose Airport to Tamarindo, spent 5 days around the beach area, then drove to La Fortuna, spent 5 days around there, then back to San Jose to fly home. We drove a total about 1000km. I would say 95% of the roads are two lanes, only the main highways around San Jose have 3 to 4 lanes and nicely paved.

5. Local dogs pretty much think they own the road and just wander on them … be careful.

Pat and Rick

xelas

Good observations. let me address some of your points:

1. very handy, if you use one back in your country. Otherwise a good paper map is as good, and asking locals is always a way to find even the most secluded beach.

2. Not true. The insurance you cannot avoid is the mandatory third party liability insurance. But you can avoid paying for damages on the rental car (usually they call this CDW); you will pay for damages and later your c/c will cover to you (if your c/c has such coverage included). How much the rental car will charge for damages on the car is up to their business ethics; I know a number of companies that will charge exactly as much as the repair costs are.

3. Very true. And if using gasoline, use Super (95 octanes). Regular with only 91 octanes may not give sufficient power to the engine on some of the steepest roads.

4. Indeed so. But driving the two lane roads is much more comfortable as there is less traffic on them, and also other participants drive slowly. Traffic on new Caldera Hwy - road 27 - is hectic even by Tico standards. Same on roads near and in San Jose. If possible, stay away and use taxi or bus to get to downtown.

5. Local dogs pretty much OWN their road; its their turf, after all. Be kind to them. Also, after sunset, there are many pedestrians, bicycles, cows on the roads and none of them is using any light reflective items. So drive double careful at night.

Katzgar

2. "But you can avoid paying for damages on the rental car (usually they call this CDW); you will pay for damages and later your c/c will cover to you (if your c/c has such coverage included). How much the rental car will charge for damages on the car is up to their business ethics; I know a number of companies that will charge exactly as much as the repair costs are. "

this is true but not practical in that you may potentially need to put the entire replacement cost of a vehicle on your CC, that's a lot of credit.

november_moon

We were happy to have the GPS as well. I don't rely on one much at home and am a good map reader, but there were a couple times when without the GPS, we would have missed turns.

We ended up driving out to Tamarindo after dark - hadn't planned on it, but we got delayed in the morning. Driving was ok, but we were quite happy to get to our destination - and we saw lots of people in the road, which was unnerving since it was so dark. There was also the gas station with no lights in the bathroom...yeah, fun. I held it, thankyouverymuch.

colibri

North of Varablanca our GPS was totally useless. It doesn't recognize the main road up towards San Miguel was reopened last year. We had a map and had no problems getting to our destinations.