Hi Travelers;
We fly into Liberea. Have 3 weeks to trek to Panama City. We hear alot about people renting cars in CR. Our first week will be a loop tour. From Liberea, to the Pacific beaches, south around Peninsula de Nicoya and back into Monteverde/Arenal. Then we will head on bus to the east coast. So Would this trip be better in a rental car or riding buses???
We are very adventurous travelers and love exploring off the beaten track. Please help us with this??
Zoo

Hi Zoo,

Sounds like a car would work well for the first portion of your trip. The roads in CR can definitely be a bit on the adventuresome side, but the driving really isn't that bad. You'll want an SUV with decent clearance especially if you'll be driving to Monteverde. I've driven on 2 CR trips and enjoyed the extra flexibility that provided.

Make sure you plan your drive times for daylight hours as road conditions can be highly variable and streets are not particularly well marked. It's easy to get a bit turned around, although that can be fun too!

Zoo when are you going? Driving in the rainy season can be more dangerous than the dry season as roads can quickly become flooded or washed out.

We went last year in April and drove without any problems, then in June I went back with a school group and we had a tour bus and the roads I had driven on in April were not as good in June.

we will be needing the car from feb. 22-mar 2. Thats what we allowed to go from Liberea to pacific towns and beaches. south to Pennisula Nicoya. Around that and back up into Arenal/fortuna and return car in san Jose. Does anyone see a problem with that. We are very adventurous and do not get to worried or nervous about things. Please respond people as your help is great.

Costa Rica seems to be the one country I hear so many people renting cars in as their choice for Transportation. I believe that is because the geography and road system just makes it the best way to get around and see as many things as possible. A few people said they traveled by bus but said half the day is wasted planning and waiting for the bus.

Any recommendations on which car rental company to use? I am looking for a rental (prefer automatic and SUV) out of SJO airport. I haven't heard of some of the smaller rental companies (just hertz, alamo, etc...) Any tips?

We just got back from CR. Amazing, AMAZING place!!! I'm working on the trip report... but here's a quick answer:
1) Rent a car! We rented one from Mapache, a local company with offices throughout CR. Had a wonderful experience. We rented an automatic Nissan sedan because most companies don't have automatics unless you choose the larger sized SUVs. Mapache was one of the few that had a mid-size automatic sedan.
There's a post on this forum about pros/cons of renting at SJO airport and in CR in general(15 or 20% additional tax for airport rentals).
We had asked Mapache to deliver the car to our hotel in Alajuela at 7:00 a.m. The car and a very gentlemanly rep from Mapache were at our hotel at 5 mins to 7:00 a.m. to promptly do the paper work & get us on the road at 7:00.
We returned the car at the end of our stay in Arenal at Mapache's office in La Fortuna. We were running 10 mins late. We'd arranged a Monteverde bus to pick us up at Mapache's office that morning. but when we got there, the Mapache office rep told us that the bus had just left since we were late. They were so nice that he called the bus driver, found out where he was and quickly drove us 15-20 mins away to where the bus was making another pick-up. There were no issues with returning the car whatsoever!

2) Bus Travel in CR - although Interbus has been favorably reviewed on this site, our experience was not good. Driver wasn't cooperative, rude and they didn't pick us up as promised & were almost 30 mins late for our pick-up. Crowded bus etc etc. Will write more about this later.

3) Roads in CR- While the roads in CR aren't great, we had no issues. here are some patches where it's rougher than others... but our sedan was just fine & we never felt the need for an SUV. If you drive to Monteverde, you may want an SUV, but the road wasn't so bad that only an SUV can clear it... it's not paved and all that but it's not like you were driving through landslides or going through pools of water a la the old Land Rover commercials. But an SUV can't hurt.

Having a car will give you lots of flexibility (lunch/dinner options, drives along lake Arenal etc etc.) and it is well worth the price.

In August of last year we rented a car from Adobe Rentacar while staying at a hotel on Playa Panama (Papagayo area). The car was delivered to hotel for no charge, the car was in excellent shape, and was also picked up at hotel for no charge. We did not rent 4-wheel drive and had no major problems but did encounter a couple of off the beaten path roads we had to give up on. I would suggest 4-wheel drive. The main roads are easy to drive on and the car proved to be a grand idea. Adobe is quite good.

We rented an automatic transmission Nissan X-Trail from Tricolor, and were very, very happy with our choice.