Travel Cheap: Navigating the Costa Rican Bus System

Costa Rica is an incredibly beautiful country with so many sites to see. The problem with that is in order to see everything, you need to do quite a bit of traveling in-country.

There are a number of ways to do this and many tourists opt for rental cars and private shuttles to eliminate much of the hassle. However, if your bank accounts are anything like ours, you might want to take some time to figure out how to navigate the Costa Rican bus system!

Our Top Tips

1. Research Your Route Ahead of Time

When traveling from place to place in a foreign country, you’d be hard-pressed to actually find your way there without some prior research. We HIGHLY recommend downloading the Moovit App to find bus terminals and routes (we’ll go into detail on this later).

2. Talk to Locals

While doing your research can get you from point A to point B, asking locals about the quickest routes can often cut your travel time by a lot. Hostel staff helped us find alternative, quicker routes on multiple occasions (just make sure they don’t talk you into an expensive shuttle service!).

Not only are locals a great resource in planning your route, they were so helpful to us in finding the correct buses once we were at a station. A little Spanish goes a long way if you’re feeling lost and often the person next to you can help you find your way with just a little information from your ticket or maps app.

3. Arrive Early

Buses tend to run relatively on time, but getting there early ensures two things. 1: If tickets are sold pre-boarding, you can ensure they don’t sell out. 2: You can get in line right when the bus pulls up and hopefully won’t end up standing for the ride.

4. Bring Small Bills

We ran into three different ways to pay for a bus trip in Costa Rica: 1. Paying online ahead of time for a reserved seat, 2. Paying at the station window prior to bus arrival, and 3. Paying as you board the bus. For two of those three options you’ll need smaller bills in order to pay (prices for us ranged from $5-13).

5. Talk to Your Driver

This is a simple policy in Costa Rica that we didn’t know ahead of time. As you board the bus, or as the attendant collects your money, tell them where you intend to get off. They should try their best to remember the stop, but if they miss it, it’s okay to shout “disculpe!” and make your way to the exit.

6. Keep Your Valuables Close

While small bags can fit above the aisle or with you in your seat, it’s common to throw larger bags under the bus in order to save space. It didn’t happen to us, but we’ve heard horror stories of items being stolen from under the bus as people go to claim their baggage. Be sure to keep your most important items with you inside the bus.

7. Follow Your Maps App

We spend much of our bus rides checking in with our maps app. This enable us to know roughly how close we are to the next stop and not miss it if we don’t understand the driver’s Spanish.

8. Don’t Worry!

If you miss a bus, there’s almost always another. You may have to wait, but that can often give you time to grab a bite to eat and explore a part of the country you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Sample Routes

As we've said, the Costa Rican bus system can get pretty confusing, especially when there's often multiple routes to get from one place to the next. Below we've outlined three of the trips we took, each of which we figured out through a different source:

1. San Jose to La Fortuna (Moovit App):

Getting from San Jose to La Fortuna by public bus requires 1-3 transfers and is very straightforward via the Moovit App.

1. Buses in San Jose don't leave from one central station, so we'd recommend taking an Uber or taxi to Terminal 7-10. At this station, they had us pay as we boarded the bus, but it's worth asking around when you get there.

2. Catch a bus heading to San Carlos. They start running at 5:00am and depart every hour.

3. The bus will stop in San Carlos and you will likely have to transfer. We asked someone for help and it felt like the whole town came to our aid. Costa Ricans are some of the nicest people we've ever met.

4. The bus will take you to the small La Fortuna station conveniently located adjacent to a grocery store. Perfect for a snack after your long rides.

2. Monteverde to Tamarindo (Local Advice):

While Moovit offers a number of bus routes for getting between the two cities, we found a much shorter option, which required fewer transfers, just by talking to our hostel staff.

1. The earliest bus leaves at 8:59am from the Transmonteverde station and buses run every two hours until 3:59pm. Because this is going to be a long travel day with multiple opportunities to miss connections, we recommend arriving in time for the 8:59am bus.

2. At the Transmonteverde station, purchase a ticket heading to Puntarenas. Tell the driver you’d like to get off at the highway. Ride for close to an hour, get off when you reach the Pan American Highway, and cross the road to wait for your next bus (there should be a small shelter you can wave buses down from).

3. Look for a bus heading to Nicoya, Santa Cruz, or even Liberia (though Liberia may extend the journey a bit). It can take some time, but when a bus eventually stops, you’ll be able to board and pay the driver once inside.

4. Finally, in any of these destinations, you can easily find a more regional bus heading directly to Tamarindo.

3. Tamarindo to San Jose (Book In Advance):

While it’s totally possible to take the regional bus route from Tamarindo to San Jose (and Moovit can help with this), we found another option that was well worth it.

1. Head to the TIG website.

2. Select “Ida” for departure.

3. You’ll have two route options, the first through Liberia takes longer, so we recommend the route through Puente de La Amistad.

4. Select the date you’d like to leave.

5. Then choose your time. The only options for departures through Liberia are 5:30am and 3pm, and through Puente de Amistad, 3:30am or 7am. We recommend the 5:30am option (it’s early, but you should arrive before noon and can sleep on the bus!).

6. Once you’ve entered your travel information, hit “Buscar” and choose your seat. Pro tip: avoid the seats 53-57 or you’ll likely end up in a tight back row with five people.

7. From here, you can enter your payment information, the total cost for us was 7,090 colones ($12.71) – SO worth it for a long trip!

8. Screenshot your ticket, and you’re all set! All you have to do now is show up on time for your departure, let your driver know where you’re heading in San Jose, and sit back and relax without having to worry about transfers.

It may be tricky at first, and you’ll no doubt make mistakes in the process, but learning to navigate the Costa Rican bus system is the best trick to saving money as a traveler in Central America’s most expensive country. You’ll not only feel amazing knowing you’re paying less than a quarter of the price of a shuttle ride, you’ll also build your confidence in getting where you need to go and make so many connections along the way.