Getting There, and Getting Around

The Central Valley is the gateway to Costa Rica. The country’s major international airport, Juan Santamaria, is located just outside the city of Alajuela, about a 20-minute drive from central San José and about 15 minutes from Santa Ana and Escazú (both estimated travel times can vary dramatically depending on traffic).

All main highways branch out from San José, making it difficult to go from one area of the country to another without passing through the capital or at least the Central Valley. The good news for residents of the Central Valley is that, because many of the roads are national and inter-cantonal, they’re paved and in fairly good condition compared to provincial roads. There are still, however, an amazing number of deep, rim-bending potholes, and new ones appear all the time without warning because of the poor quality of the road materials. Drive carefully.

You will notice from the maps that the region’s four biggest cities – which also happen to be the biggest in the country – are within about 40 kilometers of each other. Those cities - San José, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia - are all the capitals of their eponymous provinces, which fan out in all directions to cover large areas of the country. So when someone says something is in “Heredia,” for example, they could be refering to the city or the much larger province. Pay attention.

There are tolls on the highways between San José and Ciudad Colón and the highway to the airport. They used to cause tremendous traffic jams during rush hour, so the government decided to close the toll booths during rush hour. Go figure. In any case, the toll is only 75 colones, making it hardly worth the stop. Roads and highways like these that connect San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Escazú are seriously overloaded and cannot handle the traffic being thrown at them, even in the middle of the day. Meanwhile, more high-density condos go up on the West side every year. Construction taking place right now to widen this main highway should help alleviate the congestion (and will substantially increase the toll).

The majority of the roads are paved in the Central Valley, making it easier to get around during the rainy season than in other parts of the country. Still, heavy rain causes the occasional traffic-paralyzing mudslide and don’t be surprised to run into the odd body of water (lake, river) flung across your path in San José during really hard downpours.

If you don’t have a car, a great benefit of the Central Valley is that public buses are everywhere, generally in passing good condition, and extremely cheap. If your lifestyle allows for it, you can get by quite easily without a car. However, the upper-middle class in Costa Rica is very much a car culture, and getting around some of the nicer parts of the Western suburbs can be difficult without a vehicle of some sort. New shopping and housing developments are designed with the driver – not the pedestrian – in mind, after the fashion of suburbs and ex-urbs in the U.S.

Of course, you can always get around in taxis. These are the red cars (most often Hyundai) with the yellow triangle on their door that indicates they are, indeed, licensed taxis. There should be a meter (maría) in the car. Make sure the driver turns it on before he starts driving, and don’t go anywhere with a cab driver who claims he or she doesn’t have one or it doesn’t work. Avoiding cab drivers without meters will also keep you out of trouble, as it can be dangerous to argue with a driver. There have been extreme and rare cases of an argument getting violent.

The fee for the first kilometer was 470 colones (about $0.80) as of March 2009, and it increases a little each year. If you need a receipt, ask the driver for his or her name, company and car number.

Generally taxi drivers know their way around, but if your Spanish isn’t great, it’s always a good idea to have the address written down. Tico directions take a while to get down (see Chapter 16, Culture and Business for more details).

Distance Table

*There is a road from Puriscal to Orotina, but it involves quite a hair-raising bridge experience that the uninitiated may find a little daunting.

The new highway will reduce San José - Central Pacific travel time by at least an hour or two and provide easy access to towns on the Ciudad Colón-Orotina leg