My family will be traveling to Manuel Antonio by flying from San Jose into Quepos. We are trying to determine whether we will need our own car in MA (staying at Hotel Parador) or if we can rely on hotel/taxi to get around. It's our first time in CR and we will be with our young kids.

We were able to walk or take taxis everywhere we wanted to go. Our most expensive cab ride was $5. Things are pretty close together in MA.

MA is very compact, really only one road in and out. Parador is off on a side road but it's not too far. The buses run off the main road often and are really cheap and as vg said, taxi's are reasonable as well.

No car needed. There's also a popluar town bus.

A car offers nice flexibility and we did use ours in MA, but you could definitely get by without one as the other posters have said.

Parador offers a shuttle bus that will drop you off (and pick you up) in front of the Marlin restaurant. You can also hop off when you get down the hill (it is about 5 miles) at the main road. You can grab a bus from there if you want to go toward Quepos, etc. Sign up for the shuttle at the front desk to make sure there will be room for you. They run back and forth about five times a day, stopping around 5:30 p.m. From MA, back to Parador, we paid $7-$8 for two people. The road up to the resort is bumpy and narrow so it isn't every cab driver's favorite. Parador offers a ton of day trips where you won't have to worry about transportation, just be in the lobby area when they tell you.

Enjoy! Parador is really beautiful and the view is awesome.

We did as cmerrell and I'd come to the same conclusion.

Agree with cam and dfr. . .the flexibility of a vehicle is nice, but it is also nice that there are a few areas where cars really aren't needed! This is definitely one of them. .