We had a wonderful vacation this past March in Costa Rica and are considering returning next year. We would like to spend 3-4 nights at Bosque del Cabo and another 3-4 at Marriott's Los Suenos in Herradura (using Marriott Reward points). We would fly USAirways into San Jose.

What I need suggestions on is what would be the best way to get to/from Osa. If we went there first, I know it would be best to fly there directly from San Jose. Then I'm wondering about renting a car to drive to Los Suenos and keep the remaining time. I'm told we could pay a fee to have a rental car either delivered to Osa or picked up there. Or if we could hire someone to drive us there.

If we would go to Los Suenos first, we would rent a car in San Jose and keep it for our time at Los Suenos. Then we could either drive to Osa, or return the rental car and hire someone to drive us there. We would probably fly back to San Jose from Osa.

There will be my husband and myself plus our two sons travelling. So while flying is definitely the quickest, it's also more costly... and I'm terrified of flying in those small planes! However, I want to go to Osa so bad, that I'll consider it if it's necessary.

We did have a rental car for our entire trip this year and survived driving to the Pacific coast, Arenal and back to San Jose. It would be helpful to hear about others that have made the drive to Bosque del Cabo. How bad are the roads? About how long would it take from Herradura? Anyone ever hire a driver to take them there? Any ideas on how much a driver would cost?

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on these options. I know from reading these posts how popular Bosque is and would like to make reservations asap, but am uncertain whether to book it at the beginning or end of our trip - partly depending on our transportation choices. Thanks for your help!

Erin, We drove from Nosara to Quepos and then Quepos to Bosque del Cabo last summer in July. I would not recommend driving. We had driven all around the year before but this drive was just too long and unpredictable. We had received information from people in puerto jimenez before making the trip. There was one point where the road was completely gone and the traffic was re routed to a small street and through a stream. All of the locals were sitting and standing around watching as the cars forded the stream and went up the hill back to the road. There are tremendously long stretches with nothing. I have no idea what one would do if you had car trouble. The road from Puerto Jimenez to Bosque del Cabo is pot holed, hilly, curvy and also involved going throught some streams. Luckily we had gone to the office in town that Bosque has ( I didn't even know they had one there) and gave the guide a ride back there and that helped us find it. Please do yourself a favor and fly there.

Karen, thanks so much for the recommendations based on your experience. It does sound rather treacherous and I'll definitely keep it in mind as we work out these details.

Being that I'm SO terrified of flying in those small planes, in my illogical mind, crossing some small streams doesn't seem as bad. Also, I'm wondering if the roads would be better in early March during the dry season than in July. Do you remember how long it actually took to get from Quepos to Bosque?

Any other thoughts anyone? I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has hired a guide or driver to take them to Osa. Thanks!

Erin, I think the drive took us about five or six hours. We stopped for gas and snacks. I am not sure that it being the rainy season had that much to do with it. Before attempting that drive I would get some advice on the road conditions from Bosque and or a hotel in Puerto Jimenez.Tell them where you would be coming from and get very specific directions. We actually got lost twice on the way back to Dominical and Quepos even though we did not get lost going on the same road.

Direct drive from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez is about 7 hrs down the interamerican. There are areas that are extremely foggy.
If you find a driver I would just have him stay down there. That is an awfully long and expensive ride for a driver to have to do both ways twice. Bosque does have quarters for some of the help that your driver could stay in. Bosque is out aways from Puerto Jimenez so you might enjoy having him around to investigate the area. The road to and from Bosque from Puerto Jimenez has gotten horrible. They regraded some of it but as you leave the flatter land it gets really rough. There are several stream crossings as well as some "bridges".
I'm not sure what a driver would cost for that trip but I feel that it would be at least $100 per day. That is something you would have to negotiate. The ultimate cost would depend on his costs for lodging if any and food if any.
I also hate flying down there in those little planes but we have done many private charters as well as regularly scheduled flights and it is so much easier and quicker. Generally the regularly scheduled planes are not the real tiny ones but seat 18-20 people. I feel a little more secure (don't know why) in those. Getting in and out of the central valley can be a bit bumpy for a few minutes but then it is usually pretty calm. They fly pretty low so you can see a lot. If you want to fly to the Osa after Herradura you could go to Quepos and fly down to Puerto Jimenez from there. That would make it a shorter flight than from San jose and you would not get into any of the bumpy areas. The flight is not listed and I would recommend you have Leo in Bosques office make the flight arrangements for you. I believe at this point it is $83 one way from Quepos to Puerto Jimenez.
There are car companies that will even deliver cars as far as the Osa but you pay a price to have it done.

Suzie2,
Thanks for the info. I value your suggestions greatly, since I relied on many of your writings at this talk site for planning our first trip to Costa Rica.

At this point I'm thinking we'll fly into SJO and get a connection to Puerto Jimenez. If we arrive in San Jose at 11:50am, would we have sufficient time to catch the Sansa flight at 2:05pm? We really would like to avoid staying overnight near the airport.

I've read mixed reviews about Sansa and Nature Air. Isn't Nature Air out of a different airport? How long would it take to get from SJO to their terminal? Any recommendations on one vs. the other in terms of reliability, safety and having larger planes? (It's the little planes that scare me the most, too.)

I'm still unsure of how to get from Bosque up to the Los Suenos Marriott later that week. It sounds like most people don't recommend driving it. But I haven't totally given up yet. I don't know if I can handle 2 small planes in one week! Plus with 4 of us travelling, cost is an issue.

You mentioned the road being very poor between Puerto Jimenez and Bosque; and there being a lot of fog en route from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez. Would it help if we got the hotel transfer from Bosque to Puerto Jimenez and then got a rental car delivered to drive from there up to Herradura? Or are those roads just as bad? Would it be better to arrange a driver to take us from Puerto Jimenez to Quepos - where we could definitely pick up a rental car and drive the rest of the way ourselves? We'll want a rental car for the rest of our stay anyways.
Or should I just bite the bullet and fly in and out of Osa?

We'll be travelling in early March, if that has any bearing on the road conditions. I'm just trying to get an accurate grasp of how bad the roads are. We drove to Arenal, and while it was slow going due to fog, and roads were poorly marked, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I guess one of my concerns in Osa is if we should get lost, or have car trouble, are there many others travelling those roads? Or will it be days until we're found?

Well, thanks again to all who have offered suggestions!
Erin

Erin, I think you should fly - driving there just doesn't sound like a good thing to do. We stayed at Lapa Rios a couple of years ago and decided to fly from Quepos and back to SJ and think it was a good decision. Spending 6 hours in the car twice in one week doesn't sound like fun.

As to NatureAir and Sansa, I believe NatureAir is the only airline who will actually fly from Quepos to Puerto Jimenez. We did that when they were still TravelAir. What they do is make their regular SJ - Puerto Jimenez flight detour and stop in Quepos to pick up additional passangers. One disadvantage to that is that NatureAir usually flies much smaller planes than Sansa. Both flights to and back from Osa we took with them were on small 4-6 passenger planes (coming back from PJ to SJ, my husband had to sit in the co-pilot seat as there was only room for 4 in the passenger cabin). Nature Air flies from a small airport that is about 1/2 hour from the international airport.

If I were you, I would get a car in SJ when you arrive and drive to Los Suenos, then drop the car off in Quepos and fly to Puerto Jimenez and then back to SJ. I think Los Suenos may be disappointing after Osa.

As far as time for flight to Osa. You should have plenty of time if you aren't on a wide body and have to wait for a lot of luggage. I would suggest that two of you get over to immigration and get in line while the other 2 get the luggage. Sansa is right next door to the main terminal (SJO). You can walk there.
Nature Air is at the Pavas airport which is about 1/2hr from SJO. That would be a little too tight timewise.
I mostly fly Nature Air because their schedules are better for me but have flown Sansa several times with no problem.
You probably won't get much response on the driving to Quepos/Herradura from the Osa because not many people do it. It isn't all that easy a ride and pretty long. Read some of the travel reports where people just drove from Manuel Antonio to Dominical. They were pretty miserable but at least there was a town not too far ahead. It can be a pretty lonely drive from Dominical and then beyond Palmar Sur/Norte.
You could contact Costa Rica Transfers to see if they would pick you up and drive you. Otherwise it might be better to go through a travel agency that would have a list of other drivers. I have seen lots of drivers/guides that travel with groups like yours many times over the years but I think most of them were arranged through a travel agency or tour desk.
I would also check around with the different car rentals to see what their charge would be to bring a car to Puerto Jimenez. I suspect not all of them will do it but have heard of people having it done.
Having a cost comparison would really be beneficial obviously.
Don't know if you have contacted Orlando, our driver/guide/and now friend. As long as it doesn't interfer with our plans next Feb I would highly recommend him. He is not a speed demon but, after having worked for Cost Rica Expeditions and another travel company before going out on his own, he knows his way around CR. Don't recall his saying if he has driven to the Osa though. He speaks fluent english.
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I wish I could have some magical names and numbers for you but most people do fly in and out of Puerto Jimenez. We have used a lot of drivers over the years arranged through travel companies.

Iza and Suzie, thanks for your responses to our dilemna. We're slowly making progress. We've made reservations to fly into SJO and then go straight to Bosque for 4 nights.

We'll hopefully get seats on the Sansa flight at 2:05pm from SJO to Puerto Jimenez. Can I book these or is it best to let Bosque handle it? How far out can I reserve the Sansa flight? With needing 4 seats on their last flight of the day, I assume I need to do it as soon as they're available.

I still haven't resolved the issue of getting from Bosque to the Los Suenos Marriott in Playa Herradura. I know we can get a transfer to Puerto Jimenez, fly to Quepos and then drive the rest of the way. But it sounds like the flight would be in a 4 or 5 seater and the cost is now $91 a piece. So with my fear of flying, coupled with paying $364 for the 4 of us, I'm still looking for suggestions in terms of hiring a driver, or getting a rental car (We'll want a rental car for the rest of our trip anyway.)

Suzie, I did send an email to Orlando, but haven't heard back yet. I did get a quote of $320 from Costa Rica Transfers to take us all the way from Puerto Jimenez to the Marriott. I was surprised that it would only be $250 for private transfer service from Puerto Jimenez to San Jose. I thought that San Jose would be further away and that the roads getting there were worse than going up the coast to Playa Herradura.

Well, anyone have any other recommendations in terms of drivers or travel agencies that I could contact?

Thanks again!

If you are booking your flight to Puerto Jimenez I would do it as soon as possible. We had the same flight booked and confirmed with a confirmation # from SJO to Puerto Jimenez on March 27, 2004 at 2:05pm on Sansa. The 5 of us checked in on time and they had problems finding our reservation. Finally the told my husband that we were going to be on the second flight even though we were confirmed on the 2:05pm. We ended up waiting for about two hours and finally a flight took us to Puerto Jimenez. Once we arrive at the hotel I looked at the schedule that I had and their was no later flight for that route showing. We also used NatureAir on our return and they also had some problems, they picked up to many people at Drake Bay and were short one seat for the Puerto Jimenez passangers.I hope you have better luck then we did.

Mauicat, I'm sorry to hear of your problems with your domestic flights. I really wish we could avoid flying on them, but I'm running out of options. Do you mind telling me how your flights were booked? Did you do it, or did your hotel or travel agent book them? I'm just wondering what we can do to prevent a similar incident from happening. I will definitely try to reserve our flights from SJO to Puerto Jimenez asap. Thanks!

Hi Erin44,
I booked them with a travel agent in Costa Rica but I feel that it was not caused by them. I think that Sansa must just over book sometimes.

When using the in country air lines I like to have my hotels book the flights. Leo (Bosque del Cabo) is good about reconfirming flights for you. The one time I booked it myself there was a change but I was not in a position to be able to call the airline myself to confirm so didn't know about the change.
Isabel at OsaTropical is also another good person to have make your Puerto Jimenez arrangements with. Christian, who works with her, is the person with the clipboard who shows up to check you in when the plane comes in.

I agree with Suzie, definitely use local people to make flight arrangements for you. I have heard stories about Sansa "loosing" reservations made from US on line or otherwise. We had no problems either with Sansa or Travelair when we had the hotel staff make our arrangements for us.


Going back to your original question, if you are still considering driving, see if a rental car company can deliver the car to you on Osa (Puerto Jimenez; and have Bosque bring you to PJ). I know that some companies do that for a fee. This way you could fly one way and just do the drive one way instead of both.

Just a few more questions... We're going to have Bosque del Cabo book our Sansa flight from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez. It makes me a little nervous to know that if we should miss the connection, we may not have a lot of options. We arrive into SJO at 11:50am and hope to catch the last Sansa flight at 2:05pm. If for some reason we arrive late, I'm told that our only choice to get to Osa that day would be to hire a charter for around $500-600 for the 4 of us. Pretty costly since we're already out the $300 from our missed Sansa flight. If we wait until the following day, I'm told it will be difficult to get the 4 of us on another flight since it's during their peak travel season in March. The only other thing I can think of would be to hire a driver to take us the following day. Anyone have any other suggestions?

It was metioned that I should look into travel insurance. We've never used it before. Would this provide reimbursement for other means of transportation if we did miss the Sansa connection?

Lastly, we've decided to drive or hire a driver for getting from Bosque in Osa to the Los Suenos Marriott near Jaco. Costa Rica Transfers quoted me a rate of $320 for the 4 of us in a private van. Transportation Montverde quoted me $180. The fee to have a rental car delivered to Puerto Jimenez is $150, plus the daily rate and gas - plus the likelihood of us getting lost. It seems logical to go with Transportation Montverde. Has anyone ever used them before? It would help to know that they are very reliable - so that we don't get our hotel transfer from Bosque to Puerto Jimenez, only to find out that no one is waiting for us to drive us the rest of the way.

Thanks again to all who have offered suggestions!

TTT please.