Car hire in Costa Rica

Playa Conchal just outside Tamarindo. Much easier to get to with a car!

I thought I'd add one more post to my Costa Rica collection with a bit of info on car hire in the country, since it was one of the things we struggled to decide on before we arrived.

During the (extended) planning phase for Costa Rica I was adamant that we weren't going to hire a car - mainly based on a mildly terrifying image in the Lonely Planet of a 4x4 powering through a pretty fast looking river, and accompanying info in said Lonely Planet detailing how many river crossings you could expect to come across and how to navigate them. Attempting to drive a hire car across a tropical river had 'divorce level argument' written all over it!

HOWEVER. When we arrived (with my Mum in tow) it quickly became apparent how difficult it was going to be to get around without our own wheels. There were very few Ubers in San Jose that would seat all five of us (which lead to a very long wait at the airport on arrival, and then an uncomfortable journey with four of us squished on the back seat). I re-looked at the travel plans and then looked again (in a bit more depth) at car hire. It turned out that there was very little cost difference between all the buses/taxis etc we'd need to take (for five of us) vs car hire for the bulk of my Mum's stay.

One of the things that swung the decision for me was this insanely helpful blog post that goes through all of the main highways in Costa Rica and gives them ratings for road conditions, terrain, whether there are any river crossings, traffic levels, tolls and whether you need a 4x4 vehicle. 

I used this to map out our entire route and once I'd figured out that there were no pesky river crossings I was much happier about the prospect of driving!

There were, however, plenty of unpaved roads, heaving downpours while driving (which made things tricky!) and animals in the way at times. But it was still so much easier than using public transport (especially as a group of five) and both me and Steve really enjoyed the driving in the end.

It also made certain places so much easier to visit - Cabuya, Montezuma, Playa Conchal and the journey from Tamarindo to La Fortuna especially. though you could also do lots of the tours from La Fortuna with transport added in, it was much easier and cheaper with access to a car for a few days.

For info, we paid £530 for a compact SUV for 9 days via discovercars.com

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