Driving at night in CR....
 

Maybe I'm taking people's advice to literally??? But here's my question...I want to rent a car when staying at the Lost Iguana....I know it gets dark early in CR....People say not to drive at night....So how do people go out to dinner?!?! Do I drive to dinner, if so won't it be dark? Is this okay??

Like I said, am I being too literal with the don't drive after dark advice??

Thanks!

We have driven in the Arenal area at night to go to dinner and also to view the eruptions near the Nat Park on that bad road. It helps if you have driven the road during the day and know what you are in for.

We also drove through Dominical one night last year looking for dining options and our right front tire found a pothole up to the axel! Thankfully I was driving very slow at the time. After taking a look to check our dillema I was able to back out and get on our way. :-) Drive at night-- but VERY CAREFULLY if you have to.

lost, you'll be fine, as earthtraveler says, once you've familiarized yourselves with the roads in the area just a bit. We've driven at night (and into the wee hours), but on roads we know and with a great deal of caution. Usually short distances of 15-30 minutes. Have a great trip!

I think you should take the don't drive at night advice pretty seriously. Did anyone see the photo of the Izusu Trooper that fell in the big pothole. The photo was on the front of www.nacion.com. I think it's safer to scout out your dining place during the day and then take taxis. Or, do as we did, have a great lunch out and dinner back at your hotel. Enjoy!

thanks for the advice.....My husband has become an expert at dodging the potholes, people and cars in Boston....so I think we will give it a try!

The no driving at night "rule" is more for long distances - city to city stuff - driving from Lost Iguana into La Fortuna isn't one of those - the road was in pretty good shape the last time I was there a few months ago...

Just watch for animals and people wandering onto the road, cars with no lights (saves gas!!!) etc...

Cheers,
Andrew

We drove at night, but only short distances on roads we had driven during the day (well, actually our first night we tried to drive 10 minutes from our B+B into Grecia for supper, but didn't see the sign in the dark and it took an hour to find the right town) but other than we had no problems driving at night. Just go slow (as the road permits) and watch for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers parked on the road talking to friends, ongcoming traffic in the middle of the road, cows and, of course, potholes. I would not drive long distances at night or you WILL get lost.

Hmmm...well, a couple of years ago, we stayed at Villa Caletas. We found the food to be terrible and decided to venture forth at night for dinner.

Once down the steep hill from the hotel, we found ourselves on a newly paved road with no cat eyes, painted edges demarking road edges, and no center line. We were almost killed.

We don't drive at night in Costa Rica unless we know the road like the back of the old hand.

Carol