theneuf

Hi there,

We're hoping to get out to Hotel Punta Islita in a couple months, and are trying to plan out the trip right now. My first question is how on-time are the local airlines out of Punta Islita to San Jose? We're looking at a flight that leaves San Jose back home at 2pm, while most of the local airlines seem to get you back to San Jose by 10 or 10:30am. Do you forsee any problems making that flight?

Also, any recommendations of hotels near San Jose airport for the first night we get there? I'm hoping to find someplace reasonably easy to get to that's a larger hotel. We'll then head back the next morning to catch an early local flight to the airstrip in Islita. Thanks for any help!

tully

Costa Rican airlines....on-time?! LOL They might be on time, they might not, really there's no telling. My flight to Quepos left about 1/2 hr late, no biggie. My flight back to SJO was a comedy of errors....luckily I had a 5 hr layover which was cut to under 3 1/2 hrs by the time I got there.

There is a Hampton Inn & Suites right by the airport. There is also a Country Inn & Suites and also a Best Western not too far.

LA_FadeAway

Why do you want a "larger" hotel? If it's just for reputation, there are several smaller (more economical) places with good reputations, such as http://www.vidatropical.com.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I know people do make those connections successully, but I'd never chance connecting from a domestic flight to an international one in the same day. (I've also known plenty of people who didn't make their flights.) A couple of months from now puts you at the beginning of the rainiest time of year, and the chances for flight delays increase. I'd fly back to San Jose the day before I was going to leave the country ... not as much fun, I know, but the peace of mind would be worth it to me.

There's also the matter of which domestic airline you choose. If you go with Nature Air, you'll arrive at a different airport than the international one. It's about a 30-minute taxi ride between the two if there's no traffic. Sansa, the other domestic airline, does serve the same airport, but from a different terminal.

JeanH

The flip side of flying the domestic airlines is the time we were flying from Palmar Sur to Quepos and arrived in Quepos before our flight was supposed to leave Palmar Sur. You can do those sorts of things when there are only four passengers and they're all there early.... Jean