We are planning to go to Costa Rica on December 11. We will fly into San Jose airport and arrive at 1:45 pm. Would it be advised to go to Fortuna and arrive at a hotel or should we wait and go to the hotel the next day and stay near the airport at the Best Western or similar. We have been told that the trip from the airport takes 3 to 4 hours depending on the weather and don't want to be driving at night to get to our hotel. We want to reserve our hotel in Fortuna and don't know whether or not to take off or to wait until morning. Please advise!!

It starts getting dark around 5:30 so you would most likely be driving in the dark towards the very end of your trip. You could always get a private driver to take you if you don't want to do the drive. Even if you arrive at 1:45, it will take you some time to get through customs/immigration and to rent a car. Average time for us to get through the airport is about 45 minutes or so, although we've done it as quickly as 20 minutes and it's taken as long as three hours when several planes landed at once. You're really right on the cusp.

thank you for the advice. We really do not want to be driving in the dark so I guess we should wait till the next morning.

I would advise you to wait until morning. We made the drive during our trip last July. After spending several days in Dominical, we drove back to the airport in Alajuela to pick up my parents. Their flight was 4 hours late getting in, so we got a much later start to the drive than we had anticipated. I think we finally got underway around 3:30. We ended up having to unexpectedly stop at a hotel (Lands in Love) midway. We were in the cloud forest in the dark, driving on mountain roads unable to see anything more than a foot beyond our car. The fog was so thick we couldn't see a thing. It was terrible! My daughter and I were in tears, we were so terrified. The guy who checked us in at Lands in Love said they frequently get people trying to get off the road at night. If I had it to do over, we would have booked a nice comfy hotel with a pool near the airport and started fresh the next morning. Then we would have been able to enjoy what we're told is actually a beautiful drive to La Fortuna!

fam, that is scary. I know that exact area that you're talking about it, and the fog is so dense there.