After you’re done exploring Costa Rica’s capital city, San Jose one of the most popular locations to head to is Arenal. Arenal is, of course, the volcano and the National Park, but the town that you’ll head for is La Fortuna. This is a relatively easy journey, and probably the most difficult part of the trip to La Fortuna from San Jose is getting out of the city to start with. And for this trip, you have options in terms of transport. So here are the different methods of transport to go from San Jose to La Fortuna, how long they take, how much they cost, and what your choices are. Here’s our guide on how to get to La Fortuna from San Jose.
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BEST WAY TO TRAVEL
The Easiest Way to Get to La Fortuna
The easiest way to go from San Jose to La Fortuna is a shared shuttle.
The popular area of Arenal National Park with the volcano and the glorious lake is a stunning place to visit and it’s one of the top places in Costa Rica to come. And, at just a few hours from San Jose, it’s pretty easy to get to. You just need to choose how you’ll get there. So here are your options.
La Fortuna is 130 kilometers (80 miles) from San Jose, road transport to La Fortuna will take around 3 hours (for a taxi or driving), between 3 and 5 hours for a shared shuttle, or you can take about 4 to 5 hours to take a direct bus to get here. Whichever way you decide to get to Arenal and La Fortuna our guide to the area is here.
How to Go from San Jose to La Fortuna – Transport Options
In this guide on how to go from San Jose to La Fortuna, we’ll cover the fastest way to travel from San Jose to La Fortuna, the most convenient way to go to La Fortuna from San Jose, and the most popular way to get to La Fortuna from San Jose.
You can rent a car and drive to La Fortuna, take a private transfer, or a shared shuttle, or take a super cheap direct bus from San Jose to La Fortuna.
How to get to La Fortuna from San Jose
There are several ways that you can travel to La Fortuna from San Jose, the most convenient way is to either rent a car and drive, or to take a private transfer. The next most convenient way is to take a shared shuttle, which includes pickup from your hotel in San Jose and drop off at where you are staying in La Fortuna. After that, you can take a direct bus from San Jose to La Fortuna, which is the cheapest way to travel.
We’ll go through the options in order of convenience.
Private Transfer or Taxi from San Jose to La Fortuna
Taking a private taxi to La Fortuna from San Jose is the fastest way to go to La Fortuna, as you’ll get transported from your hotel in San Jose directly to your hotel in La Fortuna. If there are 3 or more of you, this is likely a really good deal. This is the most comfortable and convenient way to travel from San Jose to La Fortuna. You can check prices for San Jose to La Fortuna taxis here.
Driving from San Jose to La Fortuna
If you decide to drive from San Jose to La Fortuna, then you’ll have a choice of routes (and Google is pretty good here in Costa Rica). The shortest route is fine and travels on good roads. You don’t need a 4WD vehicle to take this route. It will take you around 3 hours to travel to La Fortuna from San Jose, depending on the traffic (and where you are) in San Jose.
There are several options for renting a car in Costa Rica. We recommend using Discover Cars to get quotes from all the big names and select the one that best suits you.
When driving in Costa Rica, it’s always best, especially on roads like this, which have some windy sections, to try and drive during daytime hours. The sunsets are usually at around 18:00, so you’ll want to plan to be done by then.
As you leave San Jose you’ll need to pay a couple of tolls, but they’re small amounts, up to about 800 CRC. You can pay for these with cash (Costa Rican or small USD bills) or with a credit card.
Most people who travel to La Fortuna from San Jose will take a shared shuttle and there are 8 or 9 of these each day run by several different companies. The first shared shuttle leaves San Jose at 07:00 and the last shuttle to La Fortuna from San Jose leaves at 15:15
Check the times and prices of shared shuttles to La Fortuna here
Shared shuttles usually take about 4 hours to go from San Jose to La Fortuna. The exact time will depend on your pick-up. When you book your shared shuttle, you’ll be given a pickup time, and depending on the order of other passengers being picked up, it may be earlier or later than your scheduled departure time.
Book a shared minivan from San Jose to La Fortuna here.
While you’ll be in shared transport on this way to go to La Fortuna from San Jose, it will pick you up at your hotel and it will drop you off at your accommodation in La Fortuna.
Bus from San Jose to La Fortuna
This is the cheapest way to go to La Fortuna from San Jose. The buses from San Jose to La Fortuna cost 2,600 CRC. These buses are run by the company, Autotransportes San Carlos and they leave from Terminal 7-10 at 08:40 every day.
There is just one bus a day and there are just 50 seats on the bus. Standing is allowed, so you’ll want to get there about 45 minutes before that to buy a ticket. Buy tickets ONLY from the ticket counter. Ignore any of the touts telling you that the bus has already left or is full. It might be. But only the Autotransportes San Carlos ticket counter should be trusted. The touts will be trying to sell you an overpriced taxi. If you want a taxi, then prebook it with a trusted source!
The other BIG downside of this bus? There’s no A/C. So that’s about a 5 hour trip on a hot sweaty bus. Good luck!
The Terminal 7-10 bus station in San Jose is downtown and the address is Calle 8, Paso De La Vaca, San José Province, San José, Costa Rica. This bus to La Fortuna from San Jose arrives at the La Fortuna Bus Station, which is at 702, Alajuela Province, La Fortuna, Costa Rica. La Fortuna is a relatively small place and the bus station is pretty centrally located near where most people will stay.
You CANNOT prebook these buses, you have to turn up and buy a ticket at the ticket counter, in cash. You can call the company and see if they have tickets available – the number is +506-2460-5064.
If your trip to La Fortuna is time sensitive, then either pre-book a shuttle bus, or get to the terminal EARLY to guarantee a seat on the only bus each day.
The quickest way to get from San Jose to La Fortuna
The quickest way to get to La Fortuna from San Jose is to take a private transfer. It takes about 3 hours to go to La Fortuna from San Jose from door to door and you can book a taxi from San Jose to La Fortuna here.
The cheapest way to go from San Jose to La Fortuna
The cheapest way to get to La Fortuna from San Jose is to take the public bus. You cannot pre-book this bus, you have to buy tickets at the Terminal 7-10 bus station in San Jose and there is just one bus a day at 08:40. There’s no A/C on this bus and it arrives at the La Fortuna Bus station.
Travel Tips for Exploring Costa Rica
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- Book accommodation in Costa Rica with Booking.com
Popular Routes Around Costa Rica
Here are our guides to some of the popular routes around Costa Rica.
- How to go from La Fortuna to Monteverde
- How to go from Monteverde to Nicaragua
- How to get from SJO Airport to San Jose
- How to go from San Jose to Manuel Antonio
- How to go from San Jose to Tamarindo
- How to go from Puerto Viejo to Cahuita
- How to go from San Jose to Jaco
- How to go from Manuel Antonio to La Fortuna
- How to go from San Jose to Puerto Viejo
- How to go from Puerto Viejo to Tortuguero
- How to go from San Jose to La Fortuna
Final Words on How to Go from San Jose to La Fortuna
The journey between San Jose and La Fortuna is a popular one to take in Costa Rica. And there are a number of options for how to travel it, from the cheap public bus without A/C to a shared shuttle, but if you’re a driver its also a nice way to get to La Fortuna, so long as you arrive in daylight hours. It’s a popular route to take, so make sure you book early to get the time of the shuttles that are the preferred options for this journey in Costa Rica.
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