What to do with a few hours to kill in San Jose?
 

We leave for CR in 11 days, and I'm trying to arrange our transportation from the airport to our 1st stop, Arenal. We arrive at 10 am, and I'm told it takes an hour and a half to get out of the airport. We won't be able to make the once a day flight to Arenal, so our choices then seem to be hiring a driver for about $130 and heading off right away or taking a minibus shuttle through Costa Rica Transportation Service (found them on arenal.net) for $44 which leaves at 3 pm. I'd like to save the money but what to do in San Jose until we leave at 3 pm? I'm guessing we'd need to eat, but what else is there to do for a few hours? Any suggestions?

Someone recommended taking the free shuttle from the airport to the Marriott, having lunch there and hanging out by their pool for a few hours (it's me and my 7-year-old, I'm sure he'd like that after the plane ride from San Francisco and before a 4 hour drive to Arenal), but since we're not staying there, are they strict about that kind of thing? Would they even notice? We're only travelling with carry-ons (thanks to you all!), so we're not schlepping big suitcases around with us.

Any (other) ideas would be greatly appreciated.

First off, I'd book thru interbus instead http://www.interbusonline.com/ as it's only $29 per person and leaves at 3pm. It's probably the same bus as arenal.net and marks their price up. Get a pick-up, select Rio Segundo, from the Garden Court hotel, it's a $3-$4 taxi ride away from the airport. The Garden Court has a pool I believe. Personally I'd just play it by ear and see how much time you have when you get there, then maybe take a taxi to somewhere for lunch. I was to have a couple hours between arriving at San Jose and the Interbus pick-up to Arenal but thanks to delays barely made it at all.

Thanks for the tip, tully. Arenal.net's shuttle is $29 per person too + half-price for my son comes to $44 total. I just checked out the Interbus web site, which I had looked at before, but didn't quite get. (Now I see how it works.) Maybe I'll just reserve the shuttle through them, since they seem pretty reliable. And maybe I'll have less time than I think!

I'm looking at interbus for us out of San Jose to MA. Someone recommended Hotel Villa Bonita and we were looking at staying there but it doesn't seem like an Interbus stop. Any other recommendations for 1 night in San Jose, arriving late so don't want anything too pricey. Thanks.

You can stay at Villa Bonita and just take a taxi to the Garden Court Hotel, one of Interbus' pick-ups. Just a few minutes, should only be a few bucks fare.