How to get to Uvita Costa Rica

How to get to Uvita, Costa Rica and Sleep on the Beach for Free

The Costa Rican beach of Uvita is a good place to go for a hike by the Pacific Ocean and to relax a day away. Uvita is approximately three hours by bus south of Manuel Antonio and an hour and a half west of San Isidro. You can get there easily from both of these locations.

From Manuel Antonio you need to first return to Quepos by flagging down a bus going north from the only main road that runs parallel to the coast. If you are in Manuel Antonio you would have first went through Quepos first, so don’t bewilder yourself about finding this town, it is the next town to the north. The fare for this bus is marginal. It is around a 15 minute ride to the bus terminal in Quepos. Here you can get on a bus to Uvita. There are a few buses that run in the morning before 10 AM and another in the evening at 5 PM. It is a three hour ride through the Costa Rican fincas on dirt roads to travel the 50 or so kilometers to Uvita. This bus goes slow.

But it soon meets up with the PanAmerican highway and you ride into Uvita in style. Don’t blink at this point, as Uvita is only a couple of shops on the highway. The driver will probably tell you to get off the bus here. Or you can just look for the white people on the side of the highway with bewildered looks on there faces because they do not know where the town is. The beach is to the west and there is a really nice waterfall around 3 km to the east of the highway. If you want to go to the beach you just walk west along one of the two roads that go west. It is probably a 2 to 3 mile walk to the beach, so be prepared to tramp a little. Get water and all of your supplies at one of the two general stores on either side of the highway. You can now just walk down the road to the little town at the beach. If you take the road that is to the south of town, it is a little easier to get to the beach, as you will not have to ford any streams. Just walk past the general store and information booth on the west side of the highway, go over a bridge, and then take a right. This road goes straight to the coast.

The other way to get to Uvita is by San Isidro. I do not know the bus schedule but I assume that there are a few a day. This bus takes the PanAmerican and is a short ride.

Once at the beach there are multiple cabana options. They are all expensive! Twenty dollars a night for two people was the cheapest I found. But you can camp on the beach with the locals for free.

How to get to the Uvita beach for free:

You walk into town on the main road and you come up to an intersection and there is a road that goes to the south, which would be a turn to the left. Walk down it and then take a right to go to the beach. This is how the locals get into the beach without paying. Otherwise MINAE will try to get $6 a person out of you. Too much to pay, I say. If you can not find your way past the MINAE barrier, ask the kid at the jewelry shop to show you how to get to the beach for free. He speaks English and says that he lives in the USA. You will talk to this kid during your stay. He is friendly and will call to you as you pass his jewelry shop and offer you free coconuts, breakfast, and conversation. Take it all, as I did not find any strings attached.

Have fun at the beach and slip past the MINAE racket whenever you can. The Costa Ricans do.

Have fun,

Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
Heredia, Costa Rica
February 15, 2008

Song of the Open Road Travel Blog * Traveler Photographs.com * Vagabond Fieldnotes

How to get to Guayabo Archaeology Site

How to get to Guayabo Archaeology Site

To get to the Guayabo Archaeology national monument (Monumento National de Guayabo), which is the largest discover archaeological site in Costa Rica, you can first go to the town of Turrialba and then take a bus to the park. You can catch a bus from the main bus terminal in Turrialba and go to the ticket counter that is farthest to the right that says "Guayabo" on the window. The ticket should cost around 250 Colones (50 cents). You can then get on the bus at the farthest side of the station away from the ticket window. There are buses at 8 AM, 11 AM, 3PM, and 5 PM. The last bus to return to Turrialba that goes by the park is at 4 PM. If you walk 5 KM down from the park to the main road there are more buses that go by. If you want to get on a bus that is going down the road just flag it down, the driver will stop. I am told that there is camping at the park of $2, but I did not notice any signs of this.

Photograph of the Guayabo Archaeology site

Wade from Song of the Open Road
Heredia, Costa Rica
February 5, 2008

For more photographs go to Guaybo Archaeological site photos

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Monte De La Cruz- Costa Rica

How to get to Monte De La Cruz, Costa Rica

If you grow weary of the hassles, pollution, and grit of San Jose or Heredia, Costa Rica and want to go for a nice walk in the countryside, you can take a bus and within thirty minutes be in the mountains. Monte De La Cruz is simply a nice way to quickly shed the frustration of the city life below and just relax in the clouds. Fields, horse riding trails, waterfalls, and mountains are all at Monte de la Cruz.

This is the sign that you get off of the bus near. It shows the way to Cerro Redondo and is not difficult to locate.

Directions to Monte De La Cruz:

Option A: Take a local bus from San Jose or Heredia to San Rafael. The local buses will have the name of the place that they are going to clearly written on their fronts. Just find a bus going to San Rafael and get in. This bus trip should cost around 300 Colones.

From San Rafael take another bus to Monte De La Cruz. You can catch this bus next to the big yellow church. This church is a landmark, you can not miss it. San Rafael is not a big town, you will be able to navigate through it easily. The cost of this ride should be around 200 Colones.

Option B: Take a bus from Heredia directly to Monte De Le Cruz. This bus stops next to the National University. There is only one main street that goes by this university, so just ask for directions to it and you can find a bus stop. These buses come every hour and are bright purple and have Monte De La Cruz written on its front. The cost of this trim is only around 350 Colones You can also take a bus from the university to San Rafael and then go on to Monte De La Cruz from there.

After you get a bus that is going to Monte De La Cruz you ride it until you get up into the mountains. You can get off of the bus when you come to the sign that is photographed above which is at a fork in the road. The sign below is at the fork. It is not difficult to locate, and the bus usually stops here to pick up passengers anyway.

Once you get off of the bus you can either follow the sign and hike up to Cerro Redondo or to a waterfall and nice hiking trails on the opposite side of the road. To go to the water fall, walk back along the road for 100m and cross through an opening in the fence and walk by some cows and horses until you get to the river. There is a bridge that crosses the river and below it is the waterfall. There are also plenty of hiking trails that go through here.

Monte De La Cruz is a really beautiful way to escape from the less than charming cities San Jose and Heredia. When in Costa Rica, this makes a good little day trip. You can get there, have a picnic and be back in the city in two hours. Monte De La Cruz is beautiful.

If you have any more information on this part of Costa Rica please comment below.

This is the sign that is at the fork in the road where you get off the bus. Just pull the string to let the driver know that you want to get out.

Costa Rican cows in the agricultural pasture that you walk through to get to the waterfall and the forest.

The river near the waterfall. This is a great place to hike in Costa Rica and it is very close to San Jose Get out of the city and come here.

Wade from Song of the Open Road Travel Blog
Heredia, Costa Rica
January 26, 2008

For more photographs of Costa Rica pleas go to Traveler Photographs.com