Zancudo - A Challenge Getting There and Away
Costa Rica
There's the easy way and there's the budget way, and even the easy way isn't very easy! Here's the cheapest way to get to and from Zancudo, all the way from the San Jose airport.
Destinations, Getting To and Fro
Zancudo - A Challenge Getting There and Away There's the easy way and there's the budget way, and even the easy way isn't very easy! Here's the cheapest way to get to and from Zancudo, all the way from the San Jose airport. Getting To Playa Zancudo from San Jose | Deciding Which Route | Via Golfito / Boat | Via Neily / Paso Canoas Leaving Playa Zancudo | Via Golfito / Boat | Via Land Itinerary / Cost Examples (by cost) Option 1 $?? Rent car near airport + fuel door to door SJO to Zancudo Option 2 $130 Sansa Airlines SJO to Golfito $3 taxi to the pier $60 private boat or taxi to Zancudo Option 3 $20 Taxi/Uber from SJO to Tracopa station $13 bus to Paso Canoas shop - get supplies $50 private taxi to Zancudo Low-Cost Itinerary / Cost Examples Option 1 $1 SJO bus then walk to Tracopa $13 11 am bus to Bella Luz $? 7-8pm get someone to pick you up between Conte & Laurel Option 2 $1 SJO bus then walk to Tracopa $13 5 am bus to Paso Canoas shop - get supplies C1,000 colectivo to Laurel C2,000 4pm bus to Zancudo Playa Zancudo, cherished for its remoteness, is also remote in regards to transportation. There are easier ways to get to Zancudo, like driving down in a rental car (really the only straightforward way to get to Zancudo) or flying from San Jose to Golfito, then hiring a private taxi, boat, or rental car once you land. Regardless those are not the things we do when we're on a budget so I'll leave those details for the other sites. There are two basic routes getting in and out of Zancudo. Via boat from Golfito (a town on the inland coast of the gulf that is also a main way to get to Puerto Jimenez on the Osa Peninsula), and via land down toward the south (by way of Ciudad Neily or the border town of Paso Canoas if using public transportation). UPDATE: Since Coco stopped running the daily public boat from Golfito, unless you can utilize the coconut telegraph to find out if anyone in town is already taking a boat over and back that day going by land is the cheaper option. ;) The public transportation can be difficult to pin down and sometimes changes with the seasons. I've done my best to document both what I have experienced and what I have found out from locals. Your best bet is to be flexible with your time. If you are renting a car, Google maps often gives incorrect directions sending you down and impassible road! See {{POST|379}} for details. Be sure to read {{POST|363}} for an overview on the public transportation in the area. Getting To Playa Zancudo from San Jose From the airport, your general plan of attack should be to get into the actual city of San Jose, take a bus from the Tracopa bus terminal, heading south to either Golifto/Rio Claro, Ciudad Neily, or Paso Canoas, then take public transportation from there to Zancudo. Sounds pretty simple, right? Not. Given the timing of it all, it's almost impossible to do it all in one day. Whether going via Golfito/boat or further south by land, you have the same timing problem. Even if you leave San Jose on the earliest bus to Golfito, you won't arrive in time for the noon boat taxi. You might arrive the exact time that the local bus is scheduled to leave for Zancudo, so be sure to tell your bus driver that's your intention and if he sees the Zancudo bus go by, to stop it! And unless you take the 5am bus from San Jose to Ciudad Neily, you won't be there in time for the once-daily bus to Zancudo that leaves at 2:15pm. No matter which route you choose, you first have to get out of the airport and get on a bus going south. You can get to the Tracopa bus terminal for only $1 (opposed to the $25 quoted you at the airport) by taking a pubic bus from in front of the airport, then walking (or taking an Uber) to the bus terminal. See {{POST|359}} for details. {{IMG2|1426}} {{IMG2|1425}} Now let's look at the boat vs. land options so you can decide where to take your Tracopa bus to! Whichever town you decide to go to on Tracopa, be sure to take the Costenera (coastal) route rather than the Cerro de la Muerte (mountain) route which is winding, slower, and less direct (many stops). The literal translations are waterfront and death hill. Choose wisely. LOL {{IMG1|1435}} Weighing Out Boat vs. Land - Which Route to Take? Getting to Zancudo by Boat If all the stars align, taking the boat from Golfito is the nicest way to go. You only have a 30 minute boat ride instead of spending hours more on buses, and you get into Zancudo a few hours earlier than the bus. I personally prefer this route although it's not always possible to do. Your main hurdle is that the public shared boat doesn't always run, much less so during the green (low) season. See full details below. Another thing to consider is that you'll be dropped off at the dock in Zancudo (rather than the bus that drops you anywhere along the road), so you might incur extra cost getting to wherever you're staying. See full details below. Getting to Zancudo by Land (Public Bus) The lack of concrete bus schedule information in the area (both online and from locals) and schedules that change by season, make this option a little more confusing. But a lot of locals travel this way so it's likely something will work out. Transportes Barrantes shows (most of) the current bus schedules around the area. Check their home page too for special schedules and see {{POST|363}} for an overview. Whether you decide to get to Zancudo via public bus from Golfito, Neily, or Paso Canoas, you'll eventually end up on the same Neily - Zancudo bus (the blue line in the map drawing above). So which one you choose is more a matter of where you want to (possibly) spend the night, where you want to buy your grocery provisions (see {{POST|355}} ), and how much time you want to spend on the slow bus. Unless you are in Golfito already, it makes more sense to head to Neily if you want to go by local bus. There are private taxis that will take you but all rides are very expensive. Taxis average $50 USD to go between Golfito or Paso Canoas and Zancudo. Going by Way of Golfito Bus to Golfito The Tracopa buses from San Jose to Golfito (7-8 hours) leave super early in the morning (6:30 am) and then not again until 3:30 pm. However, there are other options than the San Jose - Golfito bus. The town of Rio Claro is only about 1/2 hour away from Golfito and there are buses going there from San Jose more regularly. The key times being 10:15 am, 11 am, 1:05 pm and 2 pm (C7,660 $13). If you land at SJO in the afternoon, see if there's a night bus, otherwise the Golfito route won't make sense for you. Your best bet is to head to Neily either that night or first thing in the morning, then take land trans into Zancudo. Even if you go toward Golfito first thing in the morning, you'll still have to spend the night in Golfito before heading to Zancudo the following morning since you simply won't get there in time to catch the noon boat. Check the Tracopa site for the current schedules. {{IMG2|1427}} {{IMG2|1428}} If you take the bus to Rio Claro, from there you only pay about $1 for a public bus (1/2 hour) to Golfito. Just ask someone when you get off the bus where to catch it. It's green and says GOLFITO in the window. You pay the driver when you get on, and ask him to let you off at the muellecito (the small public pier). It's across the street from the Supermercado Pearson and next to Hotel Golfito. {{IMG2|1414|R}} When I took the bus to Rio Claro, I made sure to ask the driver if that's where I get the bus to Golfito in case there was more than one Rio Claro stop; I wanted the correct one. He said to stay on. The other side he said. Well soon we were no longer in town! When I re-questioned him about it, he let us off on the side of the highway where the Golfito bus eventually came by on it's way back through Rio Claro where we had just come from and on to Golfito. No biggie, we got there. So just get off in Rio Claro. Spend the Night in Golfito You will arrive in Golfito too late for the public boat, and you also likely missed the 3pm public bus. Spend the night in the Hotel el Tucan. It's just past the supermarket on the inland side of the street. The woman who runs it will treat you like family. We paid C15,000 ($25) for a double with aircon. The Hotel Golfito is okay too but a little more expensive at C18,000 ($30). Budget eats at the supermarket (grab a cold beer - C1,300 for a large), Buenos Dias, and Chicken Bros. {{IMG2|1431}} {{IMG2|1415}} Boat to Zancudo The public shared boat only goes once a day at noon, M-Sa in the high season, and M, W, F during the low season and only if there are at least 3 people going! At time of writing, Eric (aka Coco) is the captain. You can reach him at +506 8638-7712 to ask if the colectivo boat is going and confirm when and where. If not, he'll be more than happy to take you by private boat for $60 (vs. $5 for the shared boat!). So let's assume the shared boat is running. All fresh and rested in the morning, take the public ferry (colectivo bota) that leaves at noon from the ramp right across from the supermarket, next to the Hotel Golfito and costs C3,000 ($5) each. Before you head off, buy your groceries at the supermarket and ask them to deliver them to the dock for you. They'll do it for free. :) There's also and ATM at the bottom of the stairs to Hotel Golfito. Get whatever money you'll need for your time in Zancudo. If you're lucky and the tide is up, you'll go via la trocha (the mangrove river) which is really picturesque. You may even see dolphins in the gulf! {{IMG2|1432}} {{IMG2|1433}} {{IMG2|1417}} {{IMG2|1418}} Ride to Your Cabina If your cabina or casa is not within walking distance, hopefully you have arranged for your host to have someone pick you up when you land. If not, you can be sure that Eric might run a taxi service for you (for a fee of course!). At time of writing, a couple of local guys are running TAXZ. Give them a call and if they're around, they'll pick you up and give you a ride for a few thousand colones (+506 8435 4968). {{IMG1|1420}} Eeks, No Boat? Bus from Golfito to Zancudo If you end up in Golfito with no boat to take, it's not impossible to take some buses that will eventually get you to Zancudo. You'll want to take the 10:00 am or 3 pm bus to Pavones (ask more than one person to find out the current schedule - you'll get different answers from everyone) but get off early in Comte where later in the day (3:30 pm ish) a bus will come by on it's way from Ciudad Neily going to Zancudo. The bus will drop you off anywhere along the road you ask it to. Or if you're feeling particularly daring you can try to hitchhike form Comte. Good luck. ;) Going by Way of Ciudad Neily or Paso Canoas Bus to Ciudad Neily or Paso Canoas The comfortable Tracopa ride takes around 7 hours with a couple of breaks along the way, including one to eat. Neily is about half an hour before Paso Canoas and is more of a quaint town than the bustling border town of Paso Canoas. {{IMG3|1430}} {{IMG3|1429}} {{IMG3|1383}} There are plenty of hotel options in C. Neily within walking distance of where the bus drops you. Paso Canoas is a bit sketchy. There are a few hotels on the Costa Rica side near the bus station, but it's safer to find a hotel a little bit away. Just hop in a taxi for 500 colones ($1). Your hotel might even pick you up when the bus arrives if you call ahead. {{IMG1|2221}} Bus from Neily to Zancudo Get on the bus that leaves Neily at 2:15 pm, hits Laurel around 3pm (or is it 4pm??) and gets into Zancudo around 5:30pm+. I do see the bus coming into town at around 5:35pm each evening. Bus from Paso Canoas to Zancudo Going via Paso Canoas is a longer way on the whole, but can have its benefits. This is where the local expats of Zancudo go to provision for their stay. Yes, they provision as you would a boat. This is where you get good prices on food and booze. From Paso Canoas you'll head to the town of Laurel. A shared taxi should cost C1,000 (about $1.75) and takes about half an hour. From there, you'll get the Neily bus as it comes through at 3 pm on its way to Zancudo for around C1,600. The ride takes at least an hour and the bus will drop you off anywhere on the road that you ask. See Leaving Playa Zancudo below for photos of the Paso Canoas area and where the taxis are in relation to the bus terminal. You can optionally take a shared taxi from Paso Canoas to Comte (the next stop on the bus's route) for C2,500 (45 min) and then on into Zancudo. If you can find someone to pick you up on Langonstino (it's not too far from Zancudo), you can get an earlier bus from Neily / Laurel / Comte; the one that leaves Neily at 9:30am for Langostino. Getting From San Jose to Playa Zancudo in One Day I haven't tried either of these, but in theory they should work. You can really only do this if you overnight in San Jose, so I suppose it's not really getting there in one day. 1) 7am Tracopa bus from San Jose to Golfito. You arrive in Golfito at around 3 pm, exactly when the Golfito - Pavones bus is scheduled to depart. On your way into Golfito, have the driver drop you off at the intersection for the 238 (the raod that heads south to Comte, also referred to as Conte). You should be able to catch the Golfito - Pavones bus on its way by. You can always risk it and take your bus all the way into Golfito to wave down the Golfito - Pavones bus so you're not stuck outside of town if you miss the it. 2) Take the 5am Tracopa slow mountain bus from San Jose to Paso Canoas. You arrive in C. Neily at around 12:15 pm and in Paso Canoas at 12:45pm where you should have plenty of time to shop, eat, walk around before catching the regular Neily - Zancudo bus. Leaving Playa Zancudo You basically have the same two route options in reverse, but the good news is that both can be done in one day - woohoo! Other than a couple of buses heading South to David in Panama and a few to San Isidro from Rio Claro, all buses go to San Jose but there are many stops in between where you can get off if you don't want to go all the way to the city. See {{POST|358}} for more details and options on your way out. Leaving by Way of Golfito / Boat The public boat to Golfito leaves at 7am, but be sure to check with Eric (+506 8638-7712 ) if and when the boat is actually going. Taking the boat over to Golfito on the way out is definitely more fun, but it has its drawbacks. • You have to find a way to the dock in Zancudo (if you pay for the $60 private boat, Eric will pick you up). • It costs more. {{IMG1|1419}} You need to check the Tracopa schedules to see which bus works for you. Not all buses that orginate in Paso Canoas make a stop in Rio Claro, but Rio Claro has some buses of it's own that originate in Ciudad Neily that you can't get from Paso Canoas. If you are going to San Isidro, that leaves from Rio Claro. Taking the boat, you will miss the super early bus from Golfito to San Jose and the next one isn't until 1:30 pm, so hop on a public bus to Rio Claro and you'll have a lot of options to head north from there. E.g. there's an 8:30 am or 9:15 am Tracopa to San Jose. In a pinch, you can take a private taxi from Goflito to Rio Claro $30 (C18,000). Yikes. See Going by Way of Golfito / Boat above for photos of the Golfito area and where the dock is. Leaving by Way of Land The public bus leaves Zancudo at approximately 5:30 am from the tip of Zancudo. Depending on where you are staying along the road, be on the road at around 5:45 am. Just stand on the side of the road, listen to the morning birds, and wait for it to come by. The first bus that comes by is the school bus taking the high school kids, so don't worry when it doesn't stop to pick you up. Hop on the public bus. {{IMG1|1422}} You have two choices here: 1) Take it to Comte (45 min) for C1,100 and get a colectivo taxi from there (40 min) for C2,500. This is a better option if you need to get to Paso Canoas earlier. I did this because I was nervous about the time but it turns out I would have been fine going on to Laurel. 2) Take it to Laurel (1 hr+) for C1,600 and get a colectivo taxi from there (30 min) for C1,000. Since the public bus stops anywhere and everywhere along the road any time someone wants to get on or off, this option takes more time, but less money. For your colectivo, the taxis (cars waiting where the bus stops) will be more than willing to take you in a private taxi (for something like $30 USD!) so make sure you specify colectivo. Hopefully there is at least one other person from your bus who wants the same so you'll share the ride with them (I don't think the taxi will go if there's only one person) and your driver will try to pick up additional people along the way. You can always hop off the bus in Comte and if you can't get a colectivo, just hop back on the bus and take it to Laurel. If you want to go to Paso Canoas later in the day, like maybe you prefer to spend the night there but you don't want have to get the 5 am bus, try to get someone to drive you to Langostino and get the 1 pm bus from there to Comte or Laurel where you can get a shared taxi into Paso Canoas. Transportes Barrantes shows (most of) the times for the local buses around that area, in particular the one that goes from Zancudo, to Comte, to Laurel, to C. Neily and back. It is missing the La Langostina to Comte / Laurel at 1 pm. Check their home page too for special schedules. Or if you want to leave super super early and get on your way, the 4am Tracopa bus out of Paso Canoas actually originates in a town called Bella Luz at 3am. It's closer to Zancudo but there are no public buses that go there at that hour so you'd have to find a ride or take a taxi for $30. Tracopa Bus from Paso Canoas to San Jose The taxi drops you off on the corner at the border for Panama. Off to the left and across the street is the ticket office for the Tracopa bus line. The buses actually leave from just a bit further down that road (same side of the street) where the immigration offices are. Just like when you come south, make sure it's the Costanera (coastal route) and not the Cerro de la Muerte (mountain route)! *** Buses sell out **** Mainly the popular routes. I was told that it's best to buy a ticket for the 3am bus out of Bella Luz the day before and from my experience the same is true for the 8:30 am out of Paso Canoas. The 8:30 was full but the 9 was almost empty. Yes, this causes a problem all the way around. I just went for it and ended up on a more expensive and less convenient bus. You could always invest in a field trip to Paso Canoas a few days in advance to buy the ticket (round trip it would cost you around C4,200 / $7+) or try to find someone in town who is going and have them buy the ticket for you. Or just take it slow and plan on experiencing either Golfito, Rio Claro, or Paso Canoas for a day or two. {{IMG1|1387}} {{IMG1|1386}} {{IMG2|1434}} {{IMG2|1382}} At around 11:30 am, the bus makes a 20 minute stop just before Uvita for lunch. The restaurant has clean (free) bathrooms and reasonably priced cafeteria style food. But being the budget traveler I am, I packed my own lunch. ;) San Jose / Airport In San Jose, just like when you came, walk to the public bus terminal and take a public bus to the airport. Boom.
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