How to get to Santa Teresa Costa Rica

Santa Teresa Costa Rica has become a very popular place during the past years. As it has been mentioned several times, beautiful beaches, great surf conditions, wide variety of yoga services, tropical gardens and nice vibe make it a favorite among the off the beaten path destinations.

Even though, the trip to this area is quite long, after all, truly worths the time. The options to visit Santa Teresa beach are varied, and could take from 45 minutes to 6 hours depending on the transportation used.

Santa Teresa beach is located 150 Km west of San Jose, in the Nicoya Peninsula, part of Puntarenas province. Here a list of the options available to visit this unique beach town, using San Jose as the start point:

Car: The fastest way to reach Santa Teresa by car is using Route 27, which will take you to Puntarenas downtown in around one hour, depending on traffic and weather conditions. At the very end of Puntarenas town you can find the Ferry Station, here you need to buy the tickets for the next ferry to Paquera and make the line to get into it. Depending on the time of the year the schedules vary, however is always advisable to plan your time base of the ferry hours. The ride in ferry is very nice and it takes around 45 minutes. After getting off the ferry, you have to follow the road down to Cobano and then head the crossroads at Playa Carmen, to the right you will reach Santa Teresa, to the left is Mal País. The total time could be around 4 hours. Here is the ferry schedule and rates.

Domestic Flight: The easiest and convenient way to reach Santa Teresa is by air. If this option fits your budget you can book a flight to Tambor, SANSA and Nature Air are the two airlines operating flights to the area. Once you arrive to Tambor Airport you can contact Santa Teresa Vacations for transfer service to your hotel in Santa Teresa. Price is around $55 in modern buses, bilingual guides and drivers and an excellent reviews on Tripadvisor, or in case you are staying in a hotel in Santa Teresa, most of them will give you the transfer service for a fee. It can take around one hour and 30 minutes total time, the flight is just half hour and the ride from Tambor could take between 45 minutes and one hour. Check on Nature Air and SANSA schedules. Airfares vary depending on the time of the year.

Public Transportation: Two direct buses depart from San Jose and Santa Teresa every day, one at 6 am and one at 2 pm. ¨Transportes Hnos Rodríguez¨ runs the service, which already includes in the fare the cost of the ferry ticket. The price per person is approximately $12.00. The journey takes 6 hours in total and the bus terminal is located in ¨La Coca Cola¨ in San Jose downtown. Another option using public transportation is taking buses going to Puntarenas, once in there take the ferry to Paquera and then take the bus from Cobano to Malpaís/Santa Teresa, which runs twice a day at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The bus company can be reach at ph: (506) 22217479.

Shuttle: Daily shuttle services have specific departure times from San Jose to Santa Teresa beach. The rates are usually per person per way, the price is around $50.00. Interbus is one of the companies offering this service, it runs one shuttle to/from Santa Teresa at 9 am. Total time is around 4-5 hours.
Private Shuttle: Santa Teresa Vacations offers Private Shuttle to Santa Teresa Beach. Price is around $230 in modern buses, bilingual guides and drivers and an excellent reviews on Tripadvisor

As you can see, the options to reach Santa Teresa beach are wide and satisfy all tastes and budgets, giving one more reason to visit it and start enjoying a stay in one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world.

One last tip; check on this excellent lodging choices for your stay in Santa Teresa Beach:

Hotel Tropico Latino. The hotel is located right on the beach, being easily reachable with any of the above options. Facing the ocean, offering yoga classes and retreats right in front of it, a Mediterranean cuisine restaurant and very cozy rooms, this hotel combines the necessary elements for an unforgettable vacation in Santa Teresa beach.

Pranamar Oceanfront Villas is a beachfront hotel in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. Pranamar specializes in Costa Rica yoga retreats and Costa Rica surfing vacations, with daily yoga classes for hotel guests and the public.