We leave Monday for Costa Rica!! My question: On our return trip do we REALLY need to be at the airport 3 hours early? Our flight out isn't until 1:45 p.m. on the following Monday, and I was hoping it would be less crowded then than in the morning. We will be coming from Peace Lodge, and I hate to leave a minute before I have to! Thanks.

It's hard to say! I'd hate to say no you don't need 3 hours and you miss your plane. Personally, 2 hours has always been plenty for myself, on the other hand I always take very early am flights, so 5am is not as crowded as it might be around 10am or so.

Keep in mind, the drive from Peace Lodge to SJO takes about an hour, but some of that is on winding one-lane roads, so if you're stuck behind a truck or traffic, that could delay you as well. If it were me, I'd probably arrange to leave PL no later than 10am.

You'll probably be okay, but the real answer is: Who knows? There's never any guarantee about SJO. I've had it take over two hours, or I've zipped right through the tax line, check-in and security in 10 minutes. I always get to the airport three hours before my flight just in case.

Thank you both. I will make arrangements with Peace Lodge when we arrive to have a driver pick us up at 10.

If the booth is open try to pay your tax when you arrive (before you go through customs). Then you won't have to bother with it the day you leave and that will save a lot of time.

First, definitely agree to pay your departure tax upon arrival if possible. We didn't know that you could and would've saved a lot of time.

FWIW, we arrived at SJO 3 hrs before our flight and thought we'd have plenty of time. Not! Made it to the gate with less than 10 min to spare (which is too close for me). The airport was packed and the security line was out the front door and down the ramp. And the departure tax line was long (re pay it early). Don't know if this was an abberation or not, but we know of people that have had similar experiences. BTW, this was a Sat. in Aug for a 1:30 pm flight. Just an FYI.

We have a 6:55am flight on a Tuesday morning. Do you think it will be as crowded at that time? I really don't know if we can get there at 4am!

We always get there early and then our flights are delayed. It's all very unpredictable.

I find early mornings to be the busiest time at that airport. Many of the big flights to the United States leave between 7 and 10. Lines can be very long.

I always allow three hours just to be safe. Sometimes I need it. Most of the time it doesn't take that long. Anybody who tells you that "two hours will be fine" can't guarantee that.

Oh well, I guess we are going to have a very early morning. My husband is not going to be very happy!

There is some good souvenir shopping at the airport - there's a Cafe Britt shop with a blue morpho butterfly sign that has some great wooden bowls and things. Also, sometimes there's a man that plays a guitar and sings and sells his cds - I'd bring a good book just in case.

Small food court too. You can something for breakfast at the Burger King there.

We got a kick out of the food; we wanted one last taste of Costa Rica, and what did we find? Burger King, Church's Fried Chicken...

We just returned from CR yesterday.
Our flight left at 3 pm. The airport was a mess. Long lines everywhere (to get into the airport, to pay the departure tax, flight check-in, to get through security, and to buy food). Needed every bit of 3 hours.

We arrived home from CR last Tuesday, got to the airport at 1:15 pm for a 3:50 flight and had an hour to spare.

There were long lines but they moved fast.

I think these last two posts illustrate that this is toally unpredicatable. Sometimes you need almost the full three hours. Other times you'll breeze through everything in just a few minutes.

I don't know if you'll get this in time to help or not, but some hotels will collect your departure tax for you. When I stayed I payed my tax at my hotel the night before I went to the airport. It was easy to do and I had no problems. I had an early morning flight out, and went 3 hours early to be safe. Check in was a breaze, and ended up sitting around forever. But you never know. Lines could be out the door. Better safe than sorry!

We returned from Costa Rica last week and took everyone's advice about prepaying the departure tax. There was no line and it was on the way through Customs - easy to do. We had a Monday 1:45 p.m. flight and arrived 3 hours early. There were no lines, and we had a good two hours to kill at the airport! I guess better safe than sorry, though. On a side note, Peace Lodge was fabulous, and I highly recommend it (especially for honeymooners).

This is starting to make me panic. When I booked our intra-country flight from Puerto Jiminez, our Delta flight was scheduled to leave at 2:00pm. Now, Delta moved the flight up to 1:00pm. Our Nature Air flight arrives at Pavas at 10:30. We only have 2.5 hours.

What do I do?

You'll be fine. I had the same problem last year with the early flight from Puerto Jimenez canceled and my Continental flight out of SJO moved up an hour. I discussed it with the Nature Air office in Puerto Jimenez and they arranged for someone to be waiting to whisk me away when I deplaned in Pavas. Took about 2 minutes and we were on the road. I got to the airport with 1.5 to spare and it was fine. If all goes on time, you'll get there (SJO) with at least 2 hours to spare. Almost all of the time, that will be plenty. It's just every now and then a person needs that full 3 hours and you never know. I wouldn't worry about it.