The route we actually took — from the southern coast to the cloud forest to Santa Teresa
Costa Rica was one of those trips where we covered a lot of ground.
We flew into San José, rented a manual Nissan Frontier and basically drove a giant loop around the country — first all the way south toward the Panama border, then up into the mountains of Monteverde, over to Santa Teresa, and finally back toward San José by car ferry.
And when I say drove, I mean Jake drove. A lot. By the end of the trip, that truck had taken us from highways to dirt roads to roads that Google Maps apparently believed were roads but absolutely were not.
If you’re planning a Costa Rica road trip and want a mix of surfing, rainforest, adventure and beach time, we loved how different every stop felt.
Stop 1: San José
We landed late at night and purposely booked a Hilton near the airport rather than immediately starting our road trip.
Thank God.
Between finding the Avis shuttle, driving through the darkness convinced for a minute that we were being kidnapped, and then discovering at the rental counter that we needed additional insurance paperwork we did not have, we were DONE.
We picked up our silver manual Nissan Frontier, checked into the Hilton and slept. The next morning I worked while Jake hung out at the pool, we played giant Jenga over lunch, and our Hilton status gave us a late checkout before we started the long drive south.
Would we do it again? Absolutely. If your flight lands late, don’t try to be a hero and start driving across Costa Rica in the dark. Stay near the airport, sleep, eat breakfast and start fresh the next day.
Stop 2: Puerto Pilón / Southern Costa Rica
This was probably the most remote part of our trip and one of the most memorable.
We stayed in this almost-treehouse Airbnb near the ocean with our host, Brais, and his family. There were hammocks everywhere, banana trees in the backyard, surfboards available to use and a horse farm basically next door.
I was still working during this part of the trip, which somehow meant taking meetings and finishing work from a hammock while Jake disappeared to surf. Not the worst office.
Brais also cooked, and one night we sat around eating his homemade pizza while a yoga retreat was having dinner nearby.
The biggest reason to come down here was the surfing and how completely removed it felt from the more touristy parts of Costa Rica. The beach was wild and quiet, with dark sand, fallen palms and local fishermen.
You HAVE to: arrange horseback riding on the beach if you can. Our host connected us with his neighbor, and we rode straight from the property onto the beach. It was my first real time horseback riding and easily one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
Stop 3: Monteverde
After the coast, we headed into the mountains for a completely different Costa Rica. Monteverde was clouds, rainforest, suspension bridges and adventure.
Jake went bungee jumping while I very happily watched from the platform because I had recently had knee surgery and absolutely was not joining him.
We also did the Skywalk through the rainforest and suspension bridges. It drizzled a little, which honestly felt appropriate for being up in the cloud forest, and it wasn’t overly crowded when we were there.
This is one of the things I loved most about our itinerary: the scenery changed completely from stop to stop.
Monteverde vs. La Fortuna. One thing we didn’t fully appreciate before the trip: places can look close together on a Costa Rica map and absolutely not be close together by car.
We chose Monteverde and skipped La Fortuna because adding La Fortuna would have meant another several hours of driving through and around the mountains. We still want to go back for La Fortuna and the waterfalls, but I’m glad we didn’t try to force everything into one trip.
Stop 4: Santa Teresa & Mal País
From Monteverde, we drove several more hours toward Santa Teresa.
We actually stayed in Mal País, a few minutes down the coast, in one of my favorite Airbnbs of the trip: a glassy A-frame-style house surrounded by forest. We could hear and see howler monkeys, had hammocks, an outdoor shower and an outdoor soaking tub. Our host even had an ATV delivered directly to the house for us, which became our main transportation around Santa Teresa.
This was our beach portion of the trip.
Jake rented a surfboard and surfed Playa Hermosa. We met back up with people he’d met while bungee jumping in Monteverde, had drinks and dinner at Nantipa, explored town, shopped, ate burgers and drinks at Eat Street more than once, and found a quiet sunset spot around Playa Mar Azul with tidal pools and almost nobody around.
This is where I would intentionally leave some open time. Rent an ATV, surf, find beaches and don’t schedule every hour.
Getting back to San José
Rather than drive the entire way back, we took the car ferry. After the amount of driving Jake had done on this trip, this was such a good decision.
Only the driver stayed with the vehicle during loading, so I boarded with the regular passengers while Jake drove the truck onto the ferry. Once we were aboard, we could finally just sit and enjoy the scenery.
It was calm, relaxing and a much nicer ending than another massive drive.
The ferry: Paquera → Puntarenas, run by Naviera Tambor. The crossing is about 75 minutes. We took an early one — we were on the water by 5:30am on checkout day.
What we’d do differently
Start long drives earlier. We learned this lesson immediately.
We ended up driving after dark on our way south, lost service, followed Google Maps onto increasingly questionable dirt roads and eventually reached a “road” that looked more appropriate for an ATV than our truck. At one point we genuinely thought we might die in a Costa Rican field.
We did not.
But still — leave earlier. And download your maps before you lose service. Everyone will also tell you to use Waze rather than Google Maps, and everyone is right.
We’d also leave La Fortuna for its own trip rather than trying to squeeze it in.
Get the 4WD. Some of the roads we met were not roads by our definition.
Sort the rental insurance before you land. Ours needed a specific letter from the credit-card company proving coverage, which we did not have at midnight. That cost us about $1,000.
Our route at a glance
San José → Puerto Pilón / Southern Coast → Monteverde → Santa Teresa → car ferry → San José
Best for: people who don’t mind driving and want surf, rainforest, adventure and beach.
Would we do this route again? Yes — although next time we’re leaving before dark.
Related: Read the full Costa Rica Chronicle →