Used to use Tropical Tours to go to Santa Teresa and never had an issue, with the exception of one time their driver was carelessly handling my surfboard and gave me a lot of attitude when I asked him to be more careful, still the shuttle service was good so I looked past it at the time. Getting back from Nosara yesterday is why I will never use Tropical Tours again. I had booked a shared shuttle to get back to Liberia airport. My initial payment (via paypal) had failed several weeks before my trip so I went back and re-entered my payment a week prior and got a confirmation that my payment was received and was processing. The day before my shuttle I reached out to make sure they knew where my pickup location was, instead of helping me out, their representative dodged my questions and accused me of not paying. I sent them the confirmation and they dug their heels in and continued to accuse me of not paying. I asked them why the payment had not processed on their end if I put it in a week ago and they insisted that there is no problem with their system- no explanation just straight refusal. I had used paypal the night before to pay for my hostel so I am not sure what the issue was (ie I don't spend my freetime studying paypal in case these types of situations come up, that's usually the job of the company to know their payment system and be able to troubleshoot). Still the rep continued to have an attitude and insist I hadn't paid and that it was not their fault- no intention to help me pay or find a solution, so I had to scramble on the last day of my trip to find a cab and could only find a private for $150 (Happy Cab Nosara- they have shared shuttles too, great service). This was a stupid problem to have and put a damper on the last day of my trip (not to mention having to pay an extra $100 for a private). Having taken scores of shuttles and busses all over Central and South America I have never dealt with such a cocky and careless service. My two cents, the last few years Tropical tours has become the premier turn and burn shuttle service in Costa Rica and as a result the attitude and quality of service has degraded grotesquely. I would recommend looking into other shared and private shuttles which have much better service. If you do book Tropical Tours and have an issue, expect to be left on your own!

Due to the recent Liberia airport closures I rebooked my flight to leave from San Jose and contacted Tropical Tours for transport from Playa Hermosa to SJO Airport. The friendly and courteous driver, Donald, arrived early for our scheduled 8am departure and got me to SJO comfortably early for my departure.

The bus didn’t have USB entry or power outlet. The driver was driving fast, but the staff is good and it is easy to book it..

Erick was the best driver we had in Costa Rica and went out of his way to make sure we had an amazing experience. Even though he was just our shuttle driver a couple times (San Jose to La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio to San Jose) he was full of knowledge and taught us many different things. He made any stops we wanted and even took us for smoothies at Crocodile Bridge! He also took us to La Paz Waterfall Gardens and was our personal “tour guide” around the park. He made our trip one we will never forget and we’ll be recommending him to everyone we know who visits Costa Rica.

We were a group of six and used tropical tours for all of our transportation across 11 days in Costa Rica. We did SJO-San Jose-Tortuguero-La Fortuna-Monteverde-Quepos-SJO. Very seamless, easy to speak to over WhatsApp whilst in the country and re-arrange timings as needed. Drivers were also friendly and stopped for whatever we wanted and all the vehicles we used were clean and comfortable for the long journeys between locations. Overall a great experience with them and would highly recommend for travellers!

DO NOT recommend this service, they got me talking on whatsapp for 30 min giving me the impression my seat was booked than on the same day that I have to fly they tell me that they shuttle is not going to Liberia because I never booked anything online, my frustration is why the Fu**#$ could they just not say all reservations have to be done online and give people the impression that it was book

never going to use this company again ! I’ll get on a bus and not use them . The driver in Montezuma in last minute tells me I have to pay extra for my extra suite case cause he has no room cause the van is full . He lied !!! It was not full ! I asked for my money back and decided to take the bus . They refused to give me my money back . Either he gonna leave without me after I paid or I have to pay extra . This was my first time ever in Costa Rica that I was charged extra . Never happened to me with any of the other companies. Never ever going to use this horrible company !! I did not tip any of the drivers which I usually do and never going to use them !!!

This company contracts other transportation companies, so we had no way of communicating directly with our driver until he/she arrived. Two days before our scheduled shuttle to the airport, we emailed Tropical Shuttles and requested that our airport shuttle time be changed from morning to afternoon. They email back with a confirmation of the change, but they apparently failed to communicate the change to other people in their company. The shuttle arrived in the morning. Fortunately, we were at our hotel and we told the driver that we had changed the time. Tropical Shuttles sent us a testy email saying that we had never changed the time. I sent them the confirmation of the change. Crickets. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND TROPICAL SHUTTLES. Save your money and patience; book directly with a REAL transportation company.

Apart from our driver being 40 minutes late I throughly recommend this transfer! The shuttle bus was clean, comfortable and our driver couldn’t have been more helpful even tho we spoke different languages. It took around 2 hours to get to Playa Herradura, which was quite a surprise as I presumed we’d get our boat at Puntarenas! The guys on the boat were amazing unloading the people and luggage from the incoming boat and then loading us all on. We had a 1 hour boat trip (which was fabulous) directly to Montezuma and again a seamless transfer to another bus (again spotless) and a quick 35 minute ride to Santa Teresa. I thought it was excellent value for money and would definitely recommend it for a quick, organised transfer. PS we were able to call the company whilst we were waiting for our driver and they did say they were running late but assured us they were coming

This was only company who seemed to offer this route . We booked this through Blue Jay experiences ( end of Tamarindo on left handside also Tourist information) Gabriel was very helpful. It was cash only . Having seen some reviews,was a little concerned especially as we were picked up in Villarreal, en route . We were at pick up point in good time but bus was 35 minutes late ( and no communication but then driver is busy sorting bags and pickups ) We were VERY relieved to see bus and afterwards a good service. The driver worked hard sorting bags at drop offs . The shuttle was pretty full. Tip - make sure you take the correct luggage !!! I would rate this 3 1/2 if I could !

I took a shuttle from San Jose to Santa Teresa, the travel time took almost 8 hours! I’ve done this trip before and last time I got there in half the time. I feel like there is some critical information missing after you make the booking. Providing approximate timing of the trip in advance is helpful, letting customers know if there will be a break during the trip is helpful, providing a list of hotels so customers know the pick up points in advance is helpful. I had to cancel a hotel booking due to the shuttle not stopping in that area, I was given 1 option for a nearby hotel which was an absolute trash of a hotel. The website also doesn’t allow you to book round trip tickets. I decided to take a flight back to San Jose and I don’t regret spending the extra dollars for a 30 minute flight. My driver was lovely, that’s the only positive of the experience.

We booked Liberia to Montezuma private transport. Our flight arrived on time but we were delayed in customs for 1.5 hours. When we got out to arrivals Leo was there with a sign with my name on it and huge smile. He wasn’t bothered at all by us missing our meet time by over an hour. He asked us if we wanted to stop and eat quickly or later on, we chose later on. He took us to this great little restaurant and we asked him to join us for dinner. The whole ride he answered all of our questions about Costa Rica including religion, politics, hot topics, history, etc. he gave us insider info on where to go and what to do and where to eat. His English is amazing and he’s self taught! About the last hour of the trip I got sick (combo of exhaustion and nerves) and he graciously pulled over at least 5 times for me. I was really embarrassed but he was super kind and told me not to worry and that it happens. I’e read the other reviews and I think people need to chill out, yes it is a little bit of trouble to book the ride and it’s not a seamless point and click experience like we have other places in the world. I wouldn’t hesitate to book with them again.

We utilized Tropical Tours shuttle from Coco Beach to Montezuma. We switched vehicles 3 times. The middle vehicle was a crowded bus packed with people and no air conditioning. It was chaos with groups of people going to different places, luggage being thrown on the roof, stacked behind peoples seats. None of drivers spoke fluent English. A small group of us got dropped off at a gas station and had to stand outside with our luggage for 30 minutes because the truck waiting couldn’t accommodate all of us and they had to call another vehicle. There was very little, if any, communication about where we were, what was happening or where we were going.

I live locally and attempted to help guests book travel to the airport. The booking process is somewhat unclear and I was shocked at how rude the staff was when we attempted to ask for clarification and assistance. After reading similar reviews we decided to use a different company.

Took a private shuttle from SJO to Mal Pias. Our plane was late arriving but they were there waiting for us. The drive was amazing along with the ferry ride and everything including tickets were taken care of. The ride back to SJO was just as great. Both drivers were personal and professional. Great shuttle service and highly recommended