tecolote

I strongly recomend not driving or riding from San Jose to the Pacific coast: its a brutal experience, definitely not fun. the problem is semitrucks, hundreds of them. On the drive out we were between two trucks going about 15mph. on the way in we were in a ine of 20 cars behind a semitruck going 10 mph in the rain; very painful. the hilly, curvy section is only about 30 miles or so but it takes 3 hours of pain.

My advice: if you fly into san jose, explore that area, there are tons of things to see, poas, arenal, cartago and the climate is very mild not hot and not so humid like the beaches. but dont try to go to beach, its not worth it. in a couple of years an improved road, highway 27, wil be a toll road solution to this problem.

I highy recomend to fly into Liberia in the northern nicoya peninsula for your beach, volcanoe and nature adventures. you can be on the beach in fifteen munites versus 4 hours. there is no crazy city to deal with, no rip off airport hotels and you will save / have 2 exttra days for your trip. there are direct flights to liberia from lax, houston, dallas, miami and other now. please beleive me you will really enjoy your trip much more. all our previous trips we have flown direct into liberia. there are numerous volcanoes just east of liberia city.

costaricaguide

Believe it or not it's WAY better now than it was even a few years ago. It wasn't so long ago that the first 50 km from the airport to San Ramon was just as bad as the last 30 km down to the coast, but the (relatively) recently added passing lanes have reduced the snails pace section by more than half.

An easy option from SJO is to head north to Arenal for your inland adventures first then head to the beach from there.

If you've got a bit of a sense of adventure (and a great sense of direction ;-) you can also head essentially straight south passing through Tarbaca and San Ignacio popping out on the coast near Parrita between Jaco and Manuel Antonio without seeing nary a truck.

shillmac

Have to agree with costaricaguide. We've driven this road many times and it is still worth it. Sometimes it is worse than other times, certainly. But we are always so happy to be there and are so used to the routine that we take it in stride and just enjoy ourselves. We've made it to Liberia in 4 hours before, but yes, sometimes you do get behind slow moving traffic. During those times, tune in to one of the Costa Rican radio stations and just enjoy the music while you crawl!

tully

For me, flights to Liberia are double as what SJO is and not convenient to the places I go. I'll keep flying into SJO and enjoy the ride whether driving or flying! The traffic always varies, so it's not really valid to say it's not worth it.

beachmountainhounds

CR guide, can you please email me at [email protected] for the Arenal - M.A route tou suggest? We're going next month. Thanks!

rivet

Last year on our trip back from MA, there were hundreds of cars heading to the beach, sitting waiting for construction, but it was on a Saturday morning and I am not sure if that is a common problem on the weekends. We were so glad to be traveling the other way.

The only alternative that I know of is to fly in to MA and rent a car there, one agency near the bank or a few others in Quepos. You really don't need a car in MA, but if you are continuing on to other destinations then you will just have to pray to the traffic gods.

shillmac

That's a good point, rivet. The traffic IS worse on weekends. Really slow going toward the beach on Friday; really slow returning to San Jose on Sunday afternoons. We do try to avoid those times on that highway if possible.

costaricaguide

Hi beachmountainhounds

Happy to try to help with route planning. There are a number of options but the fastest is out the back door of La Fortuna (across the bridge behind the soda El Rio) on 142 south to Tigra then San Ramon. Get on the Pan Am "South" (actually east...towards SJ) to the turn for Zargosa and Atenas. At Atenas take Hwy 3 westto Orotina then follow the signs south to 34 for Jaco and on to MA.

As shillmac points out weekends can be bad news and you've got a double whammy on this route since traffic can be bad from La Fortuna to the Zargosa turnoff on Sunday with Josefinos headed home, but it can also be bad through Atenas to Orotina on Friday when they head to the beach.

shillmac

I was thinking of the northern Guanacaste beaches, but certainly this route to the central Pacific coast is a slow one at times as well. Nice views, though. It is so frustrating to get behind a slow moving truck going 7km per hour! But sometimes that's just the way it is. Not for Type A personality types, really. I am in the process of rewiring hubby from Type A to Type C (stands for CHILL!).