Costa Rica Transportation

San Jose is becoming more and more dangerous. If you travel by bus and/or taxi, make sure that you do not have any cellular, camera or other valuable items in sight. Put your money in your socks or anything, bags may be stolen.

Beautiful country! Had time to visit all of it! People are lively and friendly! Great for nature lovers! It is worth paying an extra 60 or so us dollars to have a private visit to see Arenal Volcano on foot! Avoid going in groups, you won't see much! The food is fabulous wherever you go! And don't forget to have 25 us dollars ready when departing, you'll pay for visiting the country! But it's worthy. There are ATM's everywhere and they give cash in local currency and us dollars. In the national parks if you have a chance go for a Tirolinas Ride!! It's scary but fabulous! And once you're past the adrenalin rush, you don't want to stop! I didn't feel any kind of animosity towards gays and lesbians, travelling with my partner. Everybody is treated equally well. Beware of transportation! Small distances can take a long, long time to reach! Most roads destroyed by storms/rain.

get a good map and a great companion and go exploring
on your own...hiking boots...do the sky tram..there is a
jeep-boat-jeep to the volcano that saves a lot of travel
time/discomfort..if you take the bus up sit on the right
side as far forward as possible for the views

Be sure to visit the waterfalls, Isla Tortuga, and the national park Cabo Blanco.

Wow. I was only here in transit from Panama to New York, but spent about 15 hours in the damned airport. The arriving plane from Miami lost a wheel on approach to the airport which landed on a hut and caught fire to it... While we are watching the fire, and the plane limping to the gate, we are told there will be a short delay. The airport is all glass so you can see what is happening outside. 3 little costa rican guys with a replacement wheel and a screwdriver stared at it not knowing what they should do for a couple hours looking very confused. Eventually they pulled off the old one and slapped on a new one in a way that gave no confidence we would ever survive the trip home. We boarded 10 hours later, and just before the door closed three passengers screamed and sprinted for the door causing us another hour delay while they removed their bags. This country does not instill confidence in the safety of their airport and airplane maintenance! I surely won't rush back there after watching this (and videotaping the funnier parts!).