Traveling from Montezuma to Monteverde isn’t very difficult or expensive. You don’t even have to book private transportation. We did a little research and figured it out on our own which saved us a lot of money!
Read about all of our Costa Rica travels here.
Cost of Traveling from Montezuma to Monteverde
It cost a total of around $7 and took around 6 hours. By contrast, private transfers booked through a tour agency in town were around $30.
Getting to the Ferry Terminal in Paquera
We started by going to the bus stop in Montezuma it is near the beach to the right of downtown (not too far from the waterfall entrance.) Tell the driver you want to get off at the ferry terminal in Paquera.
Taking the Ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas
We then took the ferry across the Gulf of Nicoya to Puntarenas. The ferry is big, they had cars and huge trucks on it! The views are nice and the ride is a little over an hour. Cons: they blare annoying music. Pros: there is a snack store. We recommend cerveza and peanut m&ms.
Getting from Puntarenas to Monteverde
Once we arrived in Puntarenas we thought we would have to wait 3 hours based on the bus time table we saw online. This wouldn’t have been horrible considering there are cute beach front restaurants and the view is nice. However we jumped on a local public bus and walked a bit to the bus terminal. I’m not even sure which direction we went, we just kept saying “bus a Monteverde.” Everyone was super kind and kept pointing us along until we found the bus and it took us directly to downtown Monteverde. We didn’t have to wait at all and we only spent about 15 minutes total in Puntarenas. From the bus station in Monteverde we took a taxi to our hotel.
The public transportation route from Montezuma to Monteverde was fairly easy and cheap! Try it out instead of booking a shuttle. You might be surprised. Overall, we wish we would have rented a car for our entire trip like we did on our honeymoon. It is definitely the easiest and most cost effective way to get around Costa Rica if you are going to several cities and have more than one person.
Want more information to plan your trip to Costa Rica? Check out the Costa Rica Lonely Planet here.
Happy Travels,
-Ray
