– This article is written based on the experience on March 2024. –
I decided writing this article up as not every information on the internet about travelling to Tamarindo from San Jose is fully actual nor accurate. It took a while and gave me some headache figuring out which is the optimum way to go to Tamarindo -lovely surfing town in Costa Rica- and why the bus would be my first choice for the trip.
First, a little story
After a quick research we come across a few options to reach Tamarindo: by plane, by shuttle and by bus ot renting a bus.
To be honest I don’t like driving car. 🙂 Besides, my plan was visiting only Tamarindo, catching the waves to improve my surfing abilities while continue working in remote. Hence, it was not a good deal renting a car and leaving there parking for next 10 days.
Flying was not my first option either since it was costly to save only few hours. I eliminated it.
As bus trip was not recommended at first place because of the reasons like ‘buses are not that comfortable’, ‘there is no AC’ or ‘it took longer than anticipated’ etc bus trip was not my first choice either. Due to these reasons I decided going by shuttle. In general it was recommending 5-5.30 hours express trip in a comfortable small bus. Then, I started looking for shuttle companies on the internet.
It was not easy convincing shuttle companies
The companies I found haven’t mostly answered my calls. I also tried whatsapp numbers shared on the websites. Some of them finally responded back. The ones I was able to reach was not giving service to Tamarindo, or they were organizing private service per customer demand instead of a regular schedule.
It was getting overwhelming but I found finally 2 companies having availability for the day I was looking for. There was no standart in pricing. One was quite expensive for such a short trip around $80. The other one (Interbus) was $55 for similar conditions. I confirmed that one not only for more reasonable fee but also early departure in the morning. Addition to my confirmation on whatsapp they requested me sharing some personal information like name, passport etc. After I prepared and sent these information via email next morning they answered me that there was no available seat for the day/hours I made pre-reservation!!! It was a real frustration! Was not supposed to be that difficult organizing a trip to one of the most famous/known spot of the country from the capital.
This is where I decided to travel by bus and took action
First I checked bus stations mentioned in posts I found, listed them and headed over the first one ‘Terminal 7-10‘. As I read some people had inconvenient experiences after buying the ticket online I decided doing it in person. Arriving to the terminal they answered me that the buses to Tamarindo doesn’t work from that terminal anymore, and redirected me to another terminal near by: ‘TIG (Transporte Inteligente de Guanacaste)‘. Remember Guanacaste is the name of the region where Tamarindo located.
Finally TIG (Transporte Inteligente de Guanacaste) was the correct bus terminal owning the journey between San Jose and Tamarindo. I requested a ticket for the next morning 8.30am and paid 6895 colones approximately $14.
There are 2 ways to reach Tamarindo. One is via ‘Puente de La Amistad’ (Friendship bridge), the other one Liberia where the second international airport is located.
The bus was going by `Puente de La Amistad`. We had a 20 minutes stop on the way, then arrived to Tamarindo after 6 hours trip around 2.30pm afternoon. Comparing the given duration by shuttle there was not much difference. Besides, the bus was quite comfortable and AC was working well. Also we havent stopped that often. Though when we stopped for a new passenger or to drop one it was quick to resume the trip. It was a great price performance journey.
To go back to San Jose from Tamarindo I did get the bus again. There were few options in the day starting early morning until afternoon as you can see in the schedule above. I took the one at 5.30am. The experience was similar. Comfortable journey back to San Jose. It took 30 minutes longer this time.
Summary:
In a nutshell, even though I read in some posts that the bus trip to Tamarindo from San Jose is not recommended I would definetly put it at my first choice next time when I visit Tamarindo, and recommend doing the same everyone with no hesitation.
Leave a Reply