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[nerdasaurus]

This isn't academic travel so much, but I'll be in Costa Rica (Pacific side, Montezuma) in March and was thinking of renting a car to drive from the airport in San Jose to Montezuma. Advice, experiences, road conditions I should consider? Thanks!

nerdy

[barred_owl]

Do you like crazy traffic, drivers changing lanes unpredictably across 6 lanes of highway, diesel fumes, traffic jams, and roads perpetually under construction?  Do you like to take your life in your hands when driving somewhere you've never been?  Do you enjoy toll booth stops every few hundred meters?  Can you read directional signs written in Spanish?

Those are the conditions you're likely to encounter leaving San Jose for any other part of the country.  Driving in and around San Jose is not for the faint-of-heart.  Once you're out of the city, most roads become two-lane, but can be riddled with potholes (depending on where you are), and you must always be vigilant for pedestrians.  The country roads will twist and turn across the central mountains, and are marked, but not always obviously.  What looks like a short drive on the map can take much longer than you might expect, too.  Tourists do choose to do their own driving in CR, of course, but there are alternatives.

If I were going to CR again (and would love to!), I'd hire a van/driver--there are a number of companies that offer this service.  Once you get to Montezuma, if you need to get anywhere farther away than walking distance, taxis are relatively cheap.  There may be bus service, too, but I'm not sure if there is a route to Montezuma--and the bus trips can be slower because of frequent drop-offs/pick-ups (plus you have to get to downtown San Jose to get to the main station; airport is in Alajuela, a suburb). 

Two other words of caution, IF you decide to drive on your own:  Don't attempt to leave SJO (airport) in your rental car and head out of town immediately.  Better to get a good night's sleep, first, have some delicious gallo pinto for breakfast, and then go.  Second, load up on the insurance--fender benders are a dime a dozen, and you don't want to have to pay for the damage to the rental car.

As a starting point, check out the travel guides/follow the links from these two sources: 

The Tico Times, the CR English language newspaper, and
the Official CR Tourism site

Don't get me wrong:  I LOVE Costa Rica (and March is a great time to go, btw), I just wouldn't want to do my own driving there.  The people ("ticos/ticas") are wonderful, wildlife abounds, and they make some great coffee there, too!  Good luck, and ¡buen viaje!

[monita]

I agree with barred_owl's assessment, and would discourage driving in Costa Rica for first-timers.  Between driving conditions and break-ins for rented vehicles, it's just not worth it.  The other big hassel is that you'll have to take the ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera, which is a pain with a vehicle.  Montezuma is tiny, so you won't need a vehicle once you get there.

Two easy options for getting to Montezuma:

(more comfortable, but more expensive)  Use a mini-bus.  They're usually $30-35 for the trip, air conditioned, have good drivers, and usually stop for lunch along the way.  The company I've used frequently is called Montezuma Expeditions, and they run from a hotel called Los Volcanes in Alajuela.  I think they'll pick you up anywhere in Alajuela or San Jose, though.

(more adventure, but much cheaper)  Take the bus.  There is a direct route bus from San Jose (not the Coca-Cola station - the other one) that goes to Puntarenas for about $3-4.  It takes 3ish hours, depending on traffic and weather, and is a modern clean bus.  From Puntarenas, take a taxi to the ferry dock.  The ferry is about 1 1/2 hours and costs like a buck.  On the Paquera side there is an old smelly bus that goes all the way to Montezuma for about $2, which takes around 2 hours.  It would take all day to do this, but it's dirt cheap.

I lived in Costa Rica for a few years, not far from Montezuma.  Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

[barred_owl]

<<making notes on monita's post>>

Great info on the local details, monita!  My travels went north, almost to the Nicaraguan border ("We could see Nicaragua from our house!"), so I wasn't as sure about travel out to the coast.  A few of our students took the bus to Jaco from the downtown bus station at the end of the trip, but didn't have much to report about it.  I loved having a driver--on the way out of San Jose, it was just me and the driver.  He stopped at interesting sites along the way, we had lunch at a little roadside stand, went to a supermercado to get cold drinks and some snacks, bird-watched, and practiced our respective foreign languages.  It was great!

[cat_on_track]

Maybe things have changed fundamentally since I've lived in Costa Rica (Alajuela used to be a city in its own right and would have never been called a suburb), but I've adored driving there. Yes, if you drive a rental, you are identified as turista and it's open season. I rented private vehicles, have a driving style that was honed in Athens, and prefer a good dirt road over an asphalt/pothole slalom course. Make sure you thank the truckers - they tend to wave you by when it's safe to pass.

Hehehe - I got a second-degree sunburn on that ferry! It got me out of a speeding ticket just about half an hour later :)

Basic rule: local drivers (riders, pedestrians, iguanas, and snakes) ALWAYS have the right of way. Relax. You'll get there.

[locutus]

I was there about 6 months ago. I agree with barned owls assessment completely.

[offthemarket]

Agreed.  Once you're out of San Jose, driving around is fine.  But getting around in the metropolitan area is beyond difficult if you're not a local.  Having a car can be very nice, depending on your destination, if you want to toodle to places easily.  If you're happy on the tourist route and taking busetas from various companies to their activities, then by no means take a car.  But if you want to go to places that are atypical, a car would be very handy.

You could ask the rental car place in San Jose for clear simple directions how to get out of town, and how to get back to the rental car place when returning to town.  If you ever get really lost, just pull over and flag down a cab driver, and ask them to drive to a place and let you follow them.  It's very inexpensive and does the trick, and cabs are everywhere in the city.  Have a great time.  While you're at Montezuma, I would recommend getting to visit Mal Pais, and Cabo Blanco nearby is fantastic.

[notaprof]

I also ditto Barred Owl.  I have been to Costa Rica twice but the last time was two years ago.  I thought drivers in Turkey were scary until I experienced Costa Rica.  I never drove in San Jose but the traffic experience means sharing a road meant for a third of the cars that are actually driving on it with hundreds of teenage demolition drivers.  It was pretty hairy.  My taxi driver made some moves that would be outlawed on the Extreme Sports network so it might be a plus to be in control of your own car but you'll be facing these crazy drivers at every turn.  Once out of the city, there was a nice highway from San Jose to Cartago and I am sure it extends beyond that, but all the other roads were two lane highways with sections that were okay and sections that were more potholes than pavement.  If it is the rainy season, and it is pretty much always rainy season,  there were even portions of some highways that were just dirt roads and if you don't have four wheel drive when the afternoon downpours hit, you would most certainly get stuck.  

The bus system is cheap and works well, I would go with a bus ride and enjoy the view out the window rather than being focused on the holes in the road.  The scenery is beautiful.  

[barred_owl]

I just found this article/blog by a current CR resident.  As all of said so far, the blogger does not entirely discourage self-driving, but there are enough cautions and caveats that I would think twice about doing so.  Note the section about the scams to rip-off tourists who are driving rentals.  And, OP, don't forget that no matter what the time of year, it gets dark around 6 p.m. every day--given the cautions mentioned in the blog, that's an important consideration as well.

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

On edit:  Regarding thefts from tourists--it happens, but CR is no more or less dangerous than most other countries in terms of crime against tourists, including the US.  Common sense is key.  Oh, and depending on how you choose to exit the terminal at the airport, be prepared for an onslaught of cabbies looking to secure your business.  That was my first "welcome to CR" surprise! ;-)

[monita]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

[johnr]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

Only a tico could jones for gallo pinto ; ).  Now Ron Centenario, that I understand!

[notaprof]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

Only a tico could jones for gallo pinto ; ).  Now Ron Centenario, that I understand!

Add some Lizano Salsa and even a Yank would like gallo pinto.  I brought three bottles back home with me and I was rationing them but my son took off with my last bottle.  That stuff could make cardboard taste good.  I can't explain why it was so good but it was unlike any salsa I have ever had.

[barred_owl]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

Only a tico could jones for gallo pinto ; ).  Now Ron Centenario, that I understand!

Add some Lizano Salsa and even a Yank would like gallo pinto.  I brought three bottles back home with me and I was rationing them but my son took off with my last bottle.  That stuff could make cardboard taste good.  I can't explain why it was so good but it was unlike any salsa I have ever had.

Well, I'm a Yank, but I do love the stuff (gallo pinto, that is).  Maybe it's the name--if it were just called frijoles negros con arroz, it might taste different?  Or maybe I just lucked out and always had the tastiest gallo pinto.  Never had it with the salsa, but that suggestion is now in my notebook.  And, ¡Si! Mas ron, por favor.

Now, one food I will never jones for is hearts of palm salad.  It's not that it tastes bad (it's okay the first time), it's just that we had it every freakin' day at the place we spent most of our time, which was adjacent to a hearts-of-palm producing farm.  Reminded me too much of raw cabbage after the first dinner.

[johnr]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

Only a tico could jones for gallo pinto ; ).  Now Ron Centenario, that I understand!

Add some Lizano Salsa and even a Yank would like gallo pinto.  I brought three bottles back home with me and I was rationing them but my son took off with my last bottle.  That stuff could make cardboard taste good.  I can't explain why it was so good but it was unlike any salsa I have ever had.

Well, I'm a Yank, but I do love the stuff (gallo pinto, that is).  Maybe it's the name--if it were just called frijoles negros con arroz, it might taste different?  Or maybe I just lucked out and always had the tastiest gallo pinto.  Never had it with the salsa, but that suggestion is now in my notebook.  And, ¡Si! Mas ron, por favor.

Now, one food I will never jones for is hearts of palm salad.  It's not that it tastes bad (it's okay the first time), it's just that we had it every freakin' day at the place we spent most of our time, which was adjacent to a hearts-of-palm producing farm.  Reminded me too much of raw cabbage after the first dinner.

You didn't eat gallo pinto every freakin' day too?

[barred_owl]

(Unrelated to driving, but inspired by all this Costa Rica talk:  Oh man, I am sooooo jonesing for gallo pinto and fresh pineapple right now...maybe an Imperial beer, too--or ice-cold Fresca, straight from the bottle!)

Mmmmm..... or a ron centenario with icy cold coke (the kind with real sugar).  In a hammock.  Omigod.  I miss Costa Rica so much!

Only a tico could jones for gallo pinto ; ).  Now Ron Centenario, that I understand!

Add some Lizano Salsa and even a Yank would like gallo pinto.  I brought three bottles back home with me and I was rationing them but my son took off with my last bottle.  That stuff could make cardboard taste good.  I can't explain why it was so good but it was unlike any salsa I have ever had.

Well, I'm a Yank, but I do love the stuff (gallo pinto, that is).  Maybe it's the name--if it were just called frijoles negros con arroz, it might taste different?  Or maybe I just lucked out and always had the tastiest gallo pinto.  Never had it with the salsa, but that suggestion is now in my notebook.  And, ¡Si! Mas ron, por favor.

Now, one food I will never jones for is hearts of palm salad.  It's not that it tastes bad (it's okay the first time), it's just that we had it every freakin' day at the place we spent most of our time, which was adjacent to a hearts-of-palm producing farm.  Reminded me too much of raw cabbage after the first dinner.

You didn't eat gallo pinto every freakin' day too?

Nope.  About twice a week at our field site, and once in La Fortuna (for breakfast).