At the risk of being redundant, can you tell me if I'd use the new road? We plan to go from:

San Jose to Arenal
Arenal to Manuel Antonio
Manuel Antonio to Jaco
Jaco to San Jose.

I wonder if it will be difficult finding the road if we only have old maps. Is it the extension or improvement of some other road?

Thanks for the info Jeff :)

How's the hand, Percy? Hope you're doing okay!

Deb15July, the new road is to the south of the Monteverde-San Jose drive and would be completely out of the way. Time from MV-SJO is approx. 3.5-4 hours.

Hey, Percy. . .been wondering about you, thinking your typing fingers might have gotten frostbite! How's it going?

I would use the new highway if I were going to Monteverde. It gets you near Puntarenas much quicker, and from there, you head just north to the Inter-American Highway and the turnoff to Monteverde. You could bypass that moutainous section between San Ramon and Puntarenas. Of course, you couldn't bypass the road to Monteverde itself.

Percy, I hope you are doing well. :)

So Jeff...what do you estimate the trip time would be if I follow the route you describe? SJ to Monterverde?

Fwiw, there was road construction on that mountainous section between San Ramon and Punarenas when we went through on Jan 26. It added about an hour to our trip.

Deb15July you can get driving times from www.yourtravelmap.com/costarica/travelmap/

The thing is -- there have been problems with the new highway. First, there was the weekend where traffic came to a standstill with so many people trying out the new highway. Second, there was a fatal crash yesterday and the highway was closed for some amount of time.

Now I wonder if so many people are using this new highway, the InterAmerican Highway will be much better. I have traveled it many times from just south of Liberia to San Jose and sometimes it is slow and cranky with a lot of big trucks and sometimes, we just breeze through. It doesn't seem to depend on the day of the week or even time of day - apparently just luck.

You should always be aware that whatever highway you are on, you will have the possibility of construction or road repair, accidents, breakdowns or get behind big trucks that go slow. Or even little trucks that go slow - you know, the little truck that is so loaded with watermelons that the fenders are almost touching the tires?

PS - the highway is not four lane all the way - some passing lanes, etc, but in many areas is two lane.

My apologies for the misguidance! It never occurred to me that it would save time to take the new highway to Puntarenas, then continuing on to Monteverde. Thanks, Jeff.

I'll jump in here with a question. Where is the best place to get onto the new highway going away from San Jose? Actually, what I'm really asking is where does it make the most sense to spend the night now in order to get on the new highway the next morning the quickest, without having to backtrack -- Alajuela; Escazu; Grecia; Atenas?

Specifically, if we're headed to points south (Uvita).

Thanks!

Jeff, I have never been to CR. I posted the other day about my son suffering from serious car sickness and I pretty much ruled CR out since I read that the roads are so bad. With this new highway, would it be possible to pick a base camp off the highway and hang out for a week? Could we get to some interesting sites primarily using the new highway? I think he will be fine if we have to off road it for 15 - 30 minutes but 3 to 4 hours on curvy, pot hole type roads will not make for a pretty vacation. I haven't given up my dream of CR - yet.

The highway starts at La Sabana park on San Jose's west side. It goes west to Escazu, Santa Ana, and Ciudad Colon, just like it always did. It continues west, with an exit at La Guacima (near the Butterfly Farm) and an exit at Atenas. Beyond the town of Orotina is the exit where you'd head south and east to Jaco and Manuel Antonio. The new highway itself continues west to Caldera, the commercial and cruise port near Puntarenas. From there, it's just a quick to Puntarenas itself, or north to connect to the Inter-American Highway going northwest.

okwdvc,
I really hope you can have your dream of a visit to CR. I too get pretty car sick, but I'm planning to take Bonine when traveling curvy roads and fly to at least one location. I'm always much better if I can be in the front seat and have plenty of air...and if I drive I usually have no problem whatsoever. Never quite figured that out, but I've heard it has something to do with your brain and your eyes being in sync.

Hi plumboy!

You can get on the new highway in Escazu. In case you stay in Alajuela you have to drive to Atenas on the old roads and can continue on the new highway from there.

Thanks -- that's what I was looking for. I had a feeling Alajuela wouldn't make as much sense.

The highway opened four weeks ago today and there have already been five traffic deaths, all due to excessive speed.

Also, it rained on Monday and the rains (not heavy at all) caused a landslide that blocked the road until the debris could be cleared away. The fear is that when the rainy season arrives for real, this could be a regular problem.

JeffCR -- would we take this fwy from MA-Puerto Jimenez? We've received 3 diff time estimates for this drive from people in CR: 3 hrs, 4 hrs, 4.5 hrs (last is from our driver). Your opinion on the drive time, please?

You wouldn't take the new highway. It would be out of your way to go back to San Jose. Just keep folloing the coast south from Quepos. I'd say it would take around four hours, maybe less.