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| You have two choices as to the port of entry to Costa Rica: San Jose's International Airport (located about half an hour to 45 minutes out of downtown San Joseat at Alajuela) or through Liberia (a city to the north of San Jose. You should check both airports as there can be significant differences in international flight durations, costs and layover necessities and within country costs and layover necessities At the San Jose International airport, SANSA Air is 5 minutes walk from the main international terminal. It runs 2 or 3 trips per day to Tambor in a 12 passenger airplane It takes about 20 minutes in the air. At about USD$85 for a one-way fare, it's no longer a really cheap way of going to Tambor - ALSO: note the weight restriction: 25 pounds per passenger and a buck a pound overweight charges. Nature Air runs out of a different airport ("Pavas). If you are staying overnite in the San Jose area, Nature Air may turn out to be your best bet. In Liberia, both SANSA and Nature Air are available for flights to Tambor If there are 2 or 3 of you, you may want to not travel by air - it ends up not taking terribly much more time, covers some beautiful territory and will be cheaper to go by land and by sea. You can rent a car and travel by road to the coast, take the ferry and then go by road again to Tambor. The ferry trip is about two hours and is quite lovely. The roads on either side of the ferry ride are not bad at all - but winding and narrow, subject to delays. The total trip from San Jose to Tambor will take about 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours, depending on catching the ferry. The mainland ferry port is called Puntarenas - "Sandy Point". We strongly recommend that you consider hiring someone to drive you instead of renting a vehicle and driving yourself. It will probably work out to be about the same price and you will have a much more fun experience. Including gas and full insurance, a vehicle fit for 4 people plus the normal humongous pile of luggage will cost you say $100 for a day. Whoever is driving gets to see nothing except the road in front of him and the oncoming loonies. If you hirer a microbus (7 seater - 5 comfortably with luggage) you pay about $100 for the vehicle, driver and gas, about $15 for his meals for the day and he puts up with the traffic. In either case, you pay for the ferry - about $20 if you are driving, about $40 if you hire someone as he has to get back. We can hook you up with a driver, Pinky (believe it or not, that's César's nickname), who speaks fairly decent English. Pinky wants to treat everyone well, and our guests better, so he will get further references. He'll know where to go for the best and cheapest food/drink and how to deal with what the Costa Ricans think are roads.
You can fly, go drive-yourself, or go by bus or microbus. Especially if there are 4 or 5 of you, the microbus method will be cheaper than flying. For the adventurous, it's a great way to see some beautiful territory. |
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