The Reality Of Driving In Costa Rica

There are various options of transport around Costa Rica, from buses and tourist shuttles to hiring your own car. All have their pros and cons, but for us hiring a car made much more sense. If you use Costa Rica travel groups on facebook, to research your trip, then you’ll probably notice that most people have complaints about extra charges or lost bookings with car hire companies. But the Costa Rica car rental company that always seems to come out on top and be a popular choice is Adobe Rent a Car. So of course we chose to hire a car through Adobe for a smoother car hire experience!

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Why Hire A Car In Costa Rica

First, let’s talk about why hiring a car in Costa Rica makes more sense. Buses are cheap, but take a long time due to the many stops and are often packed with people. This makes for very hot and long days travelling. A popular tourist options is to book tourist shuttles to go from place to place. However, if you are travelling to several places the cost quickly stacks up.

For a family of 4 it costs £140 to go just from San Jose to la Fortuna by shuttle. Then add in that we had another 4 long trips between areas that we were visiting it would quickly add up to over £750 in just tourist shuttles. Obviously you would need to add in the expense of taxis etc. to get around the area you’re visiting too. Whereas we could hire a car from Adobe Rent a Car for only £600 for the entire 2 weeks visit. Definitely makes sense economically.

4x4 hire car in Costa Rica, child putting bags in boot

Another thing to consider is that you can stop the car wherever you want to get food, snacks or go to the toilet. Or if you get travel sick you can stop at the side of the road easily! We also weren’t restricted by having to stay in the centre of towns. Instead we could stay at those properties 20 minutes away in the lush rainforest, without feeling isolated. And we saved money on driving to attractions, rather than paying for expensive shuttles. For example Cavernas de Venado only cost $35 an adult, yet with the excursions offered elsewhere they easily charged around $100 per person for the trip! So it can certainly save money allowing you to book directly with National Parks and attractions and travelling there yourself.

The Reality of Roads In Costa Rica

Yes, the roads may not be the same as at home. For people from the UK it’s a change to driving on the right hand side of the road, compared to the left at home. But the condition of the roads can be rather varied depending on where you are going!

There are some fantastically smooth roads, but also a large number of gravelly tracks and VERY potholed roads. In our experience the roads were worst around Monteverde in the hills. It’s quite common to be driving along a lovely smooth paved road, when BAM. Suddenly the tarmac ends and you’re on gravel! We used the Waze app for directions (as recommended by everyone in Costa Rica!) and ticked the box for ‘avoiding gravel roads’. However, to get to certain destinations this is impossible. So you will more than likely find yourself on a gravel road at some point! Just take it slowly and let any locals past that may want to go faster than you are.

The Worst Roads?

Worse than the gravel roads are those with potholes. These are usually found away from the main tourist areas on smaller roads. But also on the way to Monteverde from Tilaran. The road is fairly ok for some of the way. Then there will be pot holes or switching between short sections of tarmac and gravel for miles. You will have to go slow in these sections and weave around the road a little to avoid damaging the car. However, we did find that Waze time predictions were correct. They included these slower roads and are fairly good at predicting how long it will take.

As soon as you’re back on main roads the driving is much easier and faster again. Route 1 on the West coast is really easy and smooth. There may be queues for road works etc., but no different to any other country in that respect. Similarly, the roads to La Fortuna from San Jose and around Arenal and Manuel Antonio were excellent.

Don’t Forget Foreign Road Signs

Another point to remember when coming from the UK is that there are some rules that are different. For example, at certain traffic lights you can turn right on a red light. If you don’t you’ll get beeped at by cars behind you! Check out the Costa Rican road signs online too, some are obvious, but others less so. The most important signs are ‘Alto’ meaning stop and ‘Ceda’, often written on the road, meaning to give way to the other traffic.

Adobe Rent a Car

As I mentioned previously there are various complaints about Costa Rica car hire companies. From charging extra money once you have already booked online, or losing bookings entirely. Adobe Rent a Car always seems to have good reviews and was the obvious choice for our trip.

Collecting The Car

We were picked up at the airport by a representative of Adobe Rent a Car. They were waiting just outside the walled section where the buses can pull up. After being driven through the streets around the airport, we quickly arrived at the Adobe Rent a Car office. It’s on a small street in the Alajuela area, where there are plenty of hotels to stay in. Very useful if you arrive later on in the day as we did. After around 20 minutes of checking forms and leaving card details for a deposit (in case we wrecked the car!), we were soon ready to depart.

It’s also worth noting that there were stacks of kids car seats at the depot. The vast majority are booster seats, but there were a few baby seats and high backed boosters too. I’d imagine you would need to book a car seat to ensure there is one available on your arrival.

As I knew that we would be heading up into Monteverde where the roads weren’t the best we had chosen the 4×4 Hyundai Tucson Superior. Having a 4 wheel drive isn’t necessary for all of Costa Rica, but it certainly was required for our itinerary! As you can read above, certain roads were not paved, so we could have damaged a non-4×4 vehicle.

The first thing we appreciated was the air conditioning in the Tucson, it certainly helps when it’s HOT! It was also equipped with a screen for Sat Nav, so I quickly got our route to the hotel up on the screen and off we went. My husband was the one driving, I’m better as the navigator! And admittedly the first time driving out onto the streets is a bit scary. Especially when it’s busy and you’re driving on the opposite side of the road from normal. It was only 20 minutes drive to our hotel, but after a nerve wracking drive in the dark we safely arrived!

Returning The Adobe Rent a Car Vehicle

We had no problems with our Adobe Rent a Car during out 2 week stay in Costa Rica. There is a number to call if you do have any issues. You can also find various Adobe Rent a Car offices scattered throughout Costa Rica. Mostly in the major tourist towns.

We returned the car in the morning of the day we were departing. It seemed that everyone else was returning their cars at the same time! Fortunately we found a space to park up within the depot and took our bags over to the waiting area. A member of staff checked the car over and made sure we had returned it full with Super Gasoline. Everything was ok, there were no extra charges and they just took my card details again to remove the hold for the deposit. We jumped on the next shuttle back to the airport, a lovely smooth transition!

Verdict – Would We Use Adobe Rent a Car again?

Yes! We would definitely use Adobe Rent a Car again. It was easy to book with no extra charges or any scams. It was also very simple to return, with staff being incredibly helpful at all stages. Including helping us work out how to drive the automatic vehicle! In the UK most of us drive manual cars, it’s strange using an automatic at first.

So don’t miss out on exploring Costa Rica, hire a car so you can visit all the amazing sites that are off the beaten track too. And if you want to know a little more about the country then here are 15 fun facts about Costa Rica to get you started.

The Reality Of Driving In Costa Rica

Why Hire A Car In Costa Rica