It is spelled Sierpe, not Sierpa ...... seems like my Italian side was dominant when writing the last post ... to all Sierpeites, I apollogise

hello i got a question i hope im not repeating. Is there two ways to get to drake bay driving? one with the car ferry and the other off the pan american highway? We are driving to Drake from Jaco and looking for the best route. Thanks in advanced

No, there are two roads that cross on to the Osa Peninsula, one through Sierpe (the same place tour boats to Corcovado leave from) and the other from the Junction of Pan American Highway and Highway 245 at Chacarita. The somewhat rough, but much more scenic Sierpe Road uses a small, single car ferry that leaves from the edge of town. This road climbs over the peninsula and joins Highway 245 after about 20 kms (south) at a village called Rincon. About 5 kms further south on Hwy 245 is the junction with the Drake Bay Road which travels west for about 30 kms. Travel time from Sierpe to Drake Bay is about 2.5 hours using this route and 3 hours the other way (depending on conditions). If you were to start from Palmar Sur on the Pacific Highway, I suspect the travel time would be about the same and the distance about 30 kms shorter via Sierpe.

There is also a ferry at Peurto Jimenez on the south Osa Peninsula to/from Gulfito. It is passenger only. Highway 245 is paved and is an excellent road from the area of the Drake Bay Road junction south to Puerto Jimenez. It is in fair to good condition north from there to Chacarita with some sections being improved in 2013..

thanks

Just got back from Costa Rica and used the route to Drake Bay via Sierpe. The day we embarked to DB we also left Jaco. We left Jaco at 09:00 and arrived to DB at 14:30, 5.5 hours. We stopped a few times along the way, in Sierpe and along the beautiful way from Sierpe to Rincon to take pictures and admire the scenery. I found that the road between Sierpe and Rincon was not too bad. You need high clearance and power, that’s all. Technical driving experience is not needed. We drove an Automatic "Bego", two persons + luggage and it was more than O.k.

On the way back we used the same way with much less stops along the way. From DB to Sierpe it took us just 1:30 hours. From DB to Alajuella it took us all together 6 hours.

A word of caution: When we arrived to Sierpe, the first time, we stopped at the Las Vegas restaurant. They automatically tried to convince us to park the car at Las Vegas parking and use the boat taxi. Both the restaurant owner and the one of the boat taxi operators, together with the help of the "audience", said that the road is blocked due to dirt/mud fall or something like that……Lucky for me, I have asked my hotel owner in DB a day before if the road was in good condition so I knew it is not likely to be true. Anyway, I picked up my cell phone to call the hotel owner to ask him what was going on and the moment they realized that, they told me that they "just called to ask about the road" and that they were told that "during the night it was cleared….." . Well, that was for us the time in Costa Rica that we encountered such a scheme….Shame that for parking or taxi boat fee they would do such a thing. As I said, it was the only time it happened to us during our 22 days trip…..Costa Rica is beautiful and so are the people!

You will be surprised what people around here will do to book a boat ride or a transfer...glad you have a phone and call the hotel...

Thank you for the report!

roadadvisor