We will be flying in to San Jose and renting a car for a week. Plan is to drive to La Forunta, spend an adventurous 3 days, then drive to Tambor/Cabano/Malpais to vegetate on the beach. On day 7 drive back to San Jose, day 8 fly home. This seems like a lot of driving, but budget-wise better than flying. The big question is, do we need a 4x4 to do this? We will be travelling the first week of June.
Thanks!
If you are only driving on the main roads then you do not need 4x4.
Im going to suggest that if you can or are willing to afford an suv go for it because your life will be easier with it! We drove from la fortuna to monteverde in a sedan on the dirt and gravel roads, and then from monteverde to punterenas the same way, and we survived but an sub would have made it...better.
The other thing I wish I had known is: prepare to pay more than twice whatever you get quoted online for a rental. They give you a price and then a quote for insurance but that doesn't cover liability, which costs twice as much as collision. Then taxes, fees, blah blah blah. And I heard the rental guy tell a girl it would be $275 to rent the gps.
The other thing I wish I had known is: prepare to pay more than twice whatever you get quoted online for a rental. They give you a price and then a quote for insurance but that doesn't cover liability, which costs twice as much as collision. Then taxes, fees, blah blah blah. And I heard the rental guy tell a girl it would be $275 to rent the gps.
We did not need the SUV on the paved roads between areas, but did need it when visiting restaurants or tourist attractions (road into zip line, road into rain forest, etc). Some of the dirt roads off the main roads in La Fortuna were quite rutted.
Contact your charge card customer service before leaving home, as your charge card may cover part of the car insurance. There is a mandatory national insurance ($10-$15/day---can't recall now) but I did not need to purchase the additional liability insurance. I have a fairly basic AmEx and it covered the excess car insurance. (There are six countries AmEx won't touch; Ireland is one of them so driving in CR is safer than driving in Ireland.)
I would definitely rent the GPS also. Maintains harmony inside car on long family drives. I did not look into purchasing CR maps for use on my GPS so we just rented the GPS instead. You may find it less expensive to download CR maps to your own GPS unit, if you own a free-standing unit.
Edited: 10:59 pm, April 27, 2012I am really curious how this goes because we are doing the exact same drive. I would love for you to tell me when you get back. Family of 4 going from SJO to La Fortuna then Santa Teresa by Tambor.
Much appreciated,
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