dineroguru

Has anyone made this drive before? We will be there at the end of next week and I would love to have the perspective of someone who has made the trip. I understand the ride up to Tabacon and the Observatory Lodge from San Jose area is not bad. I am at a loss for what the conditions will be like on the way back down on the more western route. Any good stopping off points on the way from Tabacon to Quepos would be very much appreciatd. Thanks!

kthyrn

Hi
Yes, we recently made the drive from Arenal to Quepos but we stopped off at Finca que Ama B & B before heading on to the coast. We drove from La Fortuna to La Tigra, then to Atenas and Orotina to reach Finca. The next day we headed to the coast and on down to Quepos. The road is not too bad especially along the coast; the biggest problem is lots of slow trucks in the valley area and it is only 2 lane with few passing areas. If you have a decent map you should be fine. Did that help?

kthyrn

I would recommend a stay over at Finca que Ama if you have the time. It is a lovely B/B. We also stopped for a hike in Carrara Nat'l Park on the way to Quepos. The park is nice and small and not alot of visitors the day we were there. We did a 2 hr hike which was a nice break in the drive.

airwayvz

We made that drive in reverse - Quepos to Arenal - in mid November. It was our first time in CR & i have to say the drive was a blast. I was nervous about it before we went, but my wife & I had a great time navigating our way across the country which was not nearly as difficult as we though it would be & the scenery was wonderful.

The roads on the route we took were fine - and this was the day after the big Quepos earthquake. If you follow the same route we did (but in reverse) it would be something like this:

From La Fortuna go through La Tigra and on to San Ramon. At San Ramon head west towards Puntarenas then follow the coast down through Punta Leona & Jaco then on to Quepos. It's a very simple route - and this is coming from someone who RARELY drives abroad.

dineroguru

Music to my ears or magic to my eyes or something like that! Thanks for the good word on the route down to you all. We will take it slow and try to fit that stop over at the B&B into the program kthyrn. We are there next week!

Sammycat27

How long does this drive take? My husband and I will be making it in May.

airwayvz

The drive will take around 6 hours. maybe a little longer, maybe a little less depending on how many big trucks you get stuck behind.

dineroguru

We are back safe and sound and I have to admit after reading my questions I was way too apprehensive! The roads were 10x better than i thought they would be- including the roads from Arenal to Quepos and from Quepos to San Jose. We encountered a couple stretches of about 2 or 3 miles each where the roads were pretty rough- the rest were paved as nicely as Wisconsin back roads! The turns can be tight with big truck loaded with sugar cane, etc. hogging more than their share of the road- but if you are on you toes so to speak it is no issue. The real safety feature of the roads in Costa Rica is that speeds tend to be about 45 or 50 miles per hour, creating enough time to react. The drive from Quepos to Arenal or vice versa is about six hours. We made the trip from Quepos to SJ in about 3 1/2 hours. Safe trails to all!