Costa Rica San Jose Airport Transportation?

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Ari

You have several choices:

1) Airport Taxi (always parked outside). They will charge between $12 and $15 to take you to any hotel downtown.

2) Seat-In Bus transfer. This is a tourist shuttle that will pick you up at the airport and take you to the hotel. Booking is necessary (indication of your arrival flight). This transfer is not private, so you might have to drop of some other people at other hotels first. Buses are for not more than 8 people.
The cost is about $5 per person.

3) Rented vehicle. You should also reserve in advance, although some rent a car companies are always waiting at the airport to take you to their offices (most of them 2 minutes away from the airport).
When rentig a car you have to consider some things. Contact a local travel agency that will be able to help you with this. (www.tropicalpass.com)

To travel around Costa Rica you can also use the seat-in bus, which you always have to reserve.
Advantage: they will pick you up at your hotel and take you to your next booked hotel.
Not so good: they have fixed departure times. And also they have about 70 routes around Costa Rica but do not cover all - but the main attractions for sure.

If you like a bit more adventure you can also take the public bus. The service is very good. Not so cool: most important places connect only with San JosÃ©, so you would have to come back to the city once in a while. Few buses connect from one destination to another.

All of these options are very safe, just use your common sense like you would anywhere else - donÂ´t leave luggage unattended, don't leave your camera on the restaurant table while you go to the bathroom, and so on.

Please consider the following precautions during your trip, that are the same wherever you travel around the world: Do not leave your luggage unattended at the airport or with a stranger, do not carry any strangerÂ´s luggage through customs or immigration, and always carry your money within an inside pocket or a body pouch, or money belt.

Daily spending money could be carried in your bag or front pocket. Credit cards and travelersÂ´ checks are good tools when you travel. Carry a separate package with the following information: a copy of the identifying pages of your passport, the number of your credit cards, travelers checks, bank accounts, airplane tickets, and emergency phone numbers. Valuable items should be left in a safe box. Avoid crowds as well as dark and lonely places, and deal with well-known tourism agencies instead of unknown persons. In other words, take the same precautions you would have when visiting any other country, but do not let that decrease your enjoyment of this experience.

About the currency: you can pay with dollars and credit card almost everywhere. I do recommend to have some colones (local currency) in your pocket all the time, for small purchases and also because some people might give you a bad exchange rate.
Exchange rate today August 17th: US$ 1 = Â¢ 518,08 (colones)
The excahnge rate to the dolar changes every day.

Costa Rican currency is the colon. It floats daily against the dollar and can be exchanged at banks and change booths. American dollars and major credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, except in small business establishments or hotels and restaurants in remote locations. Travellersâ€™ checks are not exchanged as favorably as cash. If you pay by credit card, a small surcharge is sometimes added. ATMs are available in most cities and towns with bank offices.

Euros are not yet very popular in Costa Rica, very difficult to change and hardly accepted. At the bank you will pay a much higher commission when changing into colones. It is better to stick to the American dollar and always have some change in colones in your pocket.

I hope this information will help you a bit more. If you have any further questions you should contact the experts, that will be able to assist you with any questions, reservations, good tips, etc.

Enjoy COSTA RICA!

Tico Roots.

OK, when you get to the airport there are going to be a bunch of taxi drivers out side offering there services to you.
They are airport taxis ''orange cars''
Now here are some tips on saving cash when going to downtown.
The airport taxis are orange and they are more expensive than the (regular taxis that are ''red cars'' )
The red taxis cannot go in the airport unless they are dropping someone off but if you walk to the main street right in front of the airport you will see the red taxis. All you have to do is offer the red taxis 6,000 colones which is the equivalence of less than $12.
So the actual cost of a taxi from the airport to center SanJose downtown is $12. with a ''red'' taxi. (regular taxi)
With a orange airport taxi it will be more expensive, maybe between $25 to $30 bucks.
And also, in the main street right in front of the airport there is a bus stop and busses pass by every 10 minutes and the cost of the bus ride is less than $1 and you will get to downtown in less than half an hour by bus.

yellowstone

I go there all the time. The best way are the airport taxis. They are orange in color. As you are leaving the airport, but before you get out into the waiting mob there are usually white shirted airport cab drivers waiting. They will take you to by a $12 ticket (may vary slightly according to destination. The ticket booth is to the left as you exit the glass doors. They speak rudimentary English and take dollars.
If somehow you miss everything when you get outside, look to the left. There will be parked the orange airport taxis and they will indicate how you get your ticket. DO NOT use another taxi. I have, and they have usually cost me $1-5 more but I have heard horror stories. If not, go to the left when you exit the glass doors. If you are real poor and have very little baggage and your are adventurous, you can go outside of the terminal (other side of parking structure) and take a city bus for about 50 cents. The buses stop downtown near an area that is creepy at night but all right in the day. You can take a cab from there to your hotel for $2-$5.

Belindita

You can use the orange taxis that are parked at the airport with drivers wearing a uniform (Taxis Unidos Aeropuerto), website: http://taxiaeropuerto.com/english/who_are_we.html
or the Grayline Airport Express ($10 to/from any hotel), website:http://www.graylinecostarica.com/airportexpress.html

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