About Costa Rica
By plane
Two international airports: Alajuela/San José (‘Juan Santamaría’) and Liberia (Daniel Oduber’). For local flights within Costa Rica, there are two national airlines: Nature Air (http://www.natureair.com) and SANSA (http://flysansa.com). Regular flights are offered from San José to Golfito, Palmar Sur, Drake Bay, Manuel Antonio, Tamarindo, Liberia, Tortuguero and others.
By train
There is only one railway line, existing as a tourist attraction, which runs
from San José to Puntarenas, and it is mainly used by Costa Ricans.
The bus to Puntarenas is faster, but the train offers the special feeling
of a railway journey.
By bus
There are good public connections from the capital San José. You can
download the timetable from the official tourist institute (www.visitcostarica.com).
For other connections, there are shuttle buses (Interbus: www.interbusonline.com)
for tourists. International connections all over Central America are offered
by Ticabus (www.ticabus.com). You can get as far as Tapachula (Mexico) in the
north and Panama City in the south.
By car
There are numerous rental agencies in Costa Rica, international companies (such
as National), as well as local ones (such as Mapache Rent-A-Car). It is not
possible to cross the border to Nicaragua or Panama with a rental car. Minimum
age to rent is 21 years. It is advisable to rent a 4x4 car because the road
conditions outside of ‘Valle Central’ (the region around San
José) are not good, especially during the rainy season. Many tourist
centres (like Monteverde) cannot be visited without a 4x4 car because the
insurance companies will not pay for the cost of any damage.
Meals
Everyday meals are: for breakfast, gallo pinto (rice, black/red beans, coriander
and onions, mixed together) usually combined with scrambled or fried eggs.
For lunch or dinner: casado (rice, black/red beans not mixed) and a slice
of meat, chicken or fish, some salad, a piece of fried banana and vegetables.
And, of course, there is always a fruit juice or a milkshake from fresh,
fruit (mango, papaya, guanábana, maracuja, melon …)
and, of course, coffee! The palm fruit pejibaye, which is unknown to Europeans,
is usually cooked and eaten with mayonnaise.
Going out
In San José, you have a great choice of places to go out in the evenings.
Equally liked by tourists and locals is the 'Centro Comercial el Pueblo',
or simply ‘El Pueblo’, where there are many bars, discos, restaurants
and souvenir shops. For salsa, the ‘Castro’s Bar’ is recommended
(it is actually a disco and not a bar) in the ‘Barrio México’.
Outside San José, there is at least one bar in every village where you
can dance, but during the week there are not many activities going on.
