Driving to Nosara: San Jose>NicoYa>Nosara Liberia>Nicoya>Nos ara bus service but it does not go One will need to rent a car to travel to Nosara. Yes there is of two airports, the closest anywhere near Playa Pelada. You will enter the country at one Both have plenty of Liberia, 2.5 hours drive or the capital san Jose, 4.5 hours drive' rental car options. costa Rica are horrific' Renting a vehicle in costa Rica: As stated above the roads in you will be doing' When it comes to renting a vehicle, decide on what type of driving You can get by with a Anything outside San Jose in the rainy season will require an SUV. you are driving anywhere else, standard car if you plan to stay on the main roads but if some are better suited for get an SUV. Bare in mind that not all suvs are the same and of small SUV's like Suzuki the Costa Rican roads than others. There is a great abundance you rent one of these if Jimmy and the Daihatsu Terios and it is not recoillmended that you are over six feet you are going to be driving on anything other than pavement or if check the spare! tall. Find the biggest suv you can afford. Bigger tires, better ride! thinss to watch out for' Insurance for rental cars in Costa Rica is easy but there are a few cost an additional $12- There is mandatory liability insurance in Costa Rica and this will from your carrier stating so with $15 a day. If you have liability coverage' bring a letter that only listing the the statement,, ...this coverage is valid for Costa Rica..." Letters counties excluded will not be accepted. in the Most of Most people have collision damage insurance for their automobiles us' sure your carrier allows these policies cover rental car outside the US. Check to make a dirt road in outside the US and covers you on an "un improved surface", like "ou.rug" card like Visa and an SUV. A good back up for this to charge your rental on a major credit not secondary. then decline the cDw ,t ttt" time of rental. visa coverage is primary to Nosara, you will take san Jose>Nicoya: 15 hours) If you are driving from san Jose out of San Jose (past the main Interamerican Highway (Carretera Interamericana) north travels north and west the large international Juan Santamaria airport). This highway dollars changed into toward Guanacaste Province. Make ,*, yo, have a couple hundred - such as gas colones in san Jose. you will need colones for your road-trip money other tourist/beach areas) stations, sodas and restaurants. Once you get to Nosara (or dollars are accepted most everywhere' mountains, rising out of on the main Inter-Ameripan highway, you will wind through the for several hours' the Central Valley, then down the other side of the mountains, northerly course' Eventually the highway will flatten out and straighten into a more You will keep driving you will be on this flat stretch of highway for a couple of hours. then you need to keep straight until shortly after you notice highway signs for Puntarenas, (the new bridge over the a look out for the signs po-irrtiog to the Puente de Amistad on the right side out on the Tempisque River). This will be a left turn, but the signs are main Interamerican HighwaY. be on the Nicoya After you cross the new bridge at the river Tempisque, you will (large town)' When Peninsula. Keep follo*i"g G paved highway to the City of Nicoya a 4'way red flashing light you are almost to Nicoya, you will to an intersection with "o*. of Nicoya' - tt.r" will be signs there that indicate a left turn into the town follow the Liberia>Nicoya: (2.5 hours) exiting the international airport tum left and road on as it is now sign post to signs to santa cruz. Approaching Santa cruz follow the right and drive staight Nicoya. Approaching Ni"oyu there is a huge 4 way stop, turn to Nosara. through town and over the small bridge and continue on the road"' no NiCOya>NOSafA: Drive straight through the town of Nicoya on "main bustling town' You will turns. Drive slowly, as there are a lot of fedestrians in this southward on pavement eventually be out of town on the other side. You will continue just the obviously main paved approximately 30km, some twists and turns, but stay on highway. is also a hardware store Eventually you will see a large Gas Station on your left' There get gas - last chance on the and little "soda" cafe for snacks and drinks. Stop here and way to Nosara. a sharp curve to the Right after you leave the gas station, the concrete highway makes offto the right, tei. et the apex of that ,rir", you will notice a small dirt road turning meters as it is downhill. That is the road to Nosara. Be careful especially this first 500 downhill and steeP. once again' some This dirt road is about 25KM, but over I l/2 hours driving' There are' signs that tell you tums and twists, but stay on the "main" road. There are also occasional many small towns and how many kilometers you still have to go.... You will pass through tum right villages. There is a T:intersection at a small village called Barco Quebrad4 (there should be signs there, and the main road should be obvious)' positive that you are still on The people along the way are very friendly, so if you aren't Most people will at least be the main road, just stop and ask someone "Donde es Nosara". area of Nosara, it will be able to point in the rigirt direction. When you get to the beach hotels"' very obvious that you huu. found it. SigUs, surf shops, restaurants, and you wil come to Continue on through some twists and turns, about another 5 km, grocery stores, medical care' Nosara Centro, the business district, where you will find city services and shoPPing. you slow down' For the The road between Nicoya and Nosara is not a problem as long as small towns along the way first 30 minutes the roai is paved but seldom straight. In the to come out of nowhere' Hit there are some very pronounced speed bumps &at that seem you followed by the back one at full speed una your front end will jump up in front of That is where they hide these end. When you start io .o*. up on dwellings, slow down' road hazards. in a certain distance of There is a law in Costa Rica that there must be a school with out in the middle of evtrry school aged child in the country. As a result there are schools law and there is a nowhere with one teacher and one child, just to comply with this both sides of the highway school about every 10 Kilometers. Many of these schools span Get used to it' There are and when they mean slow down they mean it. 25 KPH max! schools all over the Place. you have never driven it It is not advised to drive the Nicoya-Nosara route at night if one of the reasons for before. Many of the locals refrain from driving this route at night. direction down to only this are several spots where the road goes from one lane in each them better in the day time' one lane due to the culverts being washed out. You can see good thing about driving You will need to remember where they are at night. The only The down side to this is this route at night is there are few if any other cars on the road. that if anything happens while in route" careful of' Bridges, they There is one thing about driving in this type of terrain to be very contours the terrain' are extremely dangerous. When they design a road it typically descends, then Should the route need to cross over a stream or river, the road typically to the terrain' These turns 90 degrees so as to have the bridge cross at a 90 degree angle one to the bridge has the bridges are one lane only and the rule of the road is that the fust proceed, only to have righiof way. As you approach the bridge you see no one else, and he gets to the bridge someone come *o*dihe bend into view on the other side sometimes gravel or wet or before you. Where are you going to go. It is always down hill, and a car in the middle' both and the only way out has a ravine to the left and right of it you the fact that there is Luckily there are usually signs that look like this ) ( alerting to Slow down' a one lane bridge ahead. Costa Rica is fullof them. Be careful' there are no fiords to The route to Nosara cfosses many rivers and streams and luckily just like in the movies' In cross. By that I mean driving through the water to get across, does not exist' Be careful the dry season this is a common feat on routes where a bridge fast. Most auto insurance coverage as the rainy season approaches as these rivers swell up relationship between will not cover water mishaps. If in doubt wait for a local.