Creative Transportation Options in Costa Rica – Panga, Lancha, Ferry & even Rafts

Shortcuts – boating across may be much faster than driving around a body of water in Costa Rica. For example the boat ride across the Gulf of Nicoya from Jacó on the mainland to Montezuma on the peninsula (see orange line below) takes about an hour while driving around takes over four hours.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean ·
██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad

Lanchas, pangas and ferries can also add a legitimate element of adventure to your vacation and the scenery is inevitably interesting.

Dugout canoe Costa Rica — Dugout canoes like this one we hired to get us to the trail head on the trans-continental trek are uncommon but still in use in Costa Rica

This directory and map of commercial boat routes in Costa Rica also includes destinations that can only be reached by water, especially in the rainy season when roads or river fords may be inundated.

Small boats are part of everyday life and you can usually find one for “charter” if your explorations lead you to the water’s edge – we once hired a fishing boat to rescue us when we got lost on our bicycles.

██ Jacó/Manuel Antonio/Dominical/Uvita — Drake/Corcovado (Osa Peninsula)

The collectivo “taxi” boat runs between Sierpe and Drake Bay but lodges and travel services package together private boats with vans to provide seamless door to door service from Uvita (~$55 per person, 2.5 hours), Manuel Antonio (~$85 per person, 4 hours), and as far away as San José (~$120 per person, 6.5 hours).

On your own you can arrive in Sierpe by public bus from Palmar (45 minutes departing ~ every 2.5 hours fro 4:00 a.m.) or drive on the paved road to where it dead ends into the river at Restaurante La Perla. There is “secure” parking adjacent to the restaurant for $5 per day.

Donde Jorge located on the dock in back of La Perla operates the public boat and charges $15 each way in the morning and $20 in the afternoon (if you solve that pricing mystery let us know!). Departures from Sierpe at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and from the beach at Drake at 7:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Advance reservations e.g. internet/phone are not available – either arrive early or use one of the private services.

There is a dock in Sierpe but the public boat makes a beach/wet landing in Drake. Some of the high end lodges (Aguila, Jinetes, Copa de Arboles) in Drake Bay also have docks so if you’re taking a private boat check ahead if you’re worried about getting your feet wet.

Corcovado visitors loading onto boats near Sirena station, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Smaller boats based out of Drake service the local lodges and offer daily tours to La Leona and Sirena Stations in Corcovado National Park. Kiosks near the beach and staff at local lodges can help you make arrangements if you haven’t used a travel planner.

NOTE: from September through November severe storms and large swells in the Pacific can make this boat ride extremely rough, dangerous and even potentially life threatening. Many lodges are closed due to inclement weather and heavy rains.

Car Ferry to the Osa Peninsula

Sierpe River ferry loading — Loading a Land Rover on the Sierpe River ferry

The two car/one truck ferry barge across the Rió Sierpe departs on demand from a driveway west of La Perla restaurant (about $7). The 4WD road on the south bank leads to Bahía Drake (entrance to the San Pedrillo/Sirena stations of Corcovado National Park) and the village of Rincón and pavement at Route 245 on the Golfo Dulce. This road is likely impassable in the rainy season.

██ Puntarenas — Paquera/Naranjo

Service from Puntarenas to/from Paquera has been resumed as of April 30, 2024.

Normal Ferry Service

Two car ferries cross the mouth of the Golfo de Nicoya to and from the Nicoya peninsula (The speedboat from Jacó/Herradura to Montezuma carries passengers only). Purchasing tickets in advance is HIGHLY recommended for vehicles especially in high season (December through April).

Puntarenas/Paquera – Naviera Tambor Ferry – PrePay Online

Two large ferries (about 80 cars) ply the route from Puntarenas on the mainland to Paquera on the Nicoya Peninsula which is the gateway to the southern and eastern beaches – Tambor, Montezuma, Cabuya, Malpais, Santa Teresa, and Hermosa. departures from Puntarenas to Paquera >> 4:00 a, 6:30 a, 9:00 a, 12:00 noon, 2:30 p, 6:00 p, 8:00 p, 10:00 p departures from Paquera to Puntarenas >> 4:00 a, 6:30 a, 9:00 a, 12:00 noon, 2:30 p, 6:00 p, 8:00 p, 10:00 p

Puntarenas/Naranjo – Coonatramar Ferry – PrePay Online

A smaller boat (about 40 cars) serves the northern dock at Playa Naranjo which is closer for playas Coyote, San Miguel, Samara, Nosara and the town of Nicoya.

departures from Puntarenas to Naranjo >> 3:30 a, 5:30 a, 7:30 a, 9:30 a, 11:30 a, 1:30 p, 3:30 p, 5:30 p, 7:30 p, 9:30 p departures from Naranjo to Puntarenas >> 3:30 a, 5:30 a, 7:30 a, 9:30 a, 11:30 a, 1:30 p, 3:30 p, 5:30 p, 7:30 p, 9:30 p Plan on getting there at least half an hour early (1-2 hours on peak hours weekends and holidays) and the whole trip is 2-3 hours. The schedule frequency may be reduced without notice in the rainy season or when one or more of the boats is out of commission for maintenance or repairs. Online prepayment is highly recommended if you have a vehicle. In person the ticket office is adjacent to the dock – park your car in the loading lineup first because space is allocated based on position in line, not payment or reservations. Especially on the Puntarenas side stay alert and pay close attention to your vehicle, luggage, and your pockets. A car with driver costs about $25 and passengers are ~$2 each. Credit and Debit cards as well as Colones or U.S. dollars are accepted. NOTE: paying in advance DOES NOT GUARANTEE a space on the ferry. Whether you purchase tickets online or in person at the terminal the only thing that counts is position in the boarding queue. Especially on weekends in the dry season your vehicle must be in line up to a hour ahead of the scheduled departure time…

Missed the Boat?

If paying with the app gives you visions of James Bond 007’s Aston Martin flying off the ramp and power sliding into the last slot at the last second you can forget it. A few weeks ago we got distracted playing in the waterfall at the Karen Mogensen Reserve and arrived at Naranjo with only 25 minutes to spare. We were told “son reglas” – there are rules – and our pre-paid spot had been given away. There are four options if you miss the boat. 1) get at the front of the line and wait a few hours for the next departure, 2) if you’re on the peninsula you can drive to the other terminal (Paquera or Naranjo) if there’s an earlier boat there, 3) drive around over the Tempisque bridge, or 4) head to the airstrip at Tambor and fly to SJO. It’s about an hour drive between the two ferry terminals on the Nicoya peninsula so if you miss the boat at one it’s possible that it will be faster to drive to the other for an earlier next departure. If you decide to drive all the way around via the Tempisque bridge it will take about 3.5 hours to get from Paquera to the intersection of Hwy 1 and the Caldera Highway (about an hour less from Naranjo). It’s about 2 hours and 15 minutes to the intersection of Hwy 18 and the Pan American Highway where you want to be if you’re heading north (Monteverde, Arenal, Tenorio, Rincon de la Vieja etc.).

Public Bus to Santa Teresa and Montezuma

Bus travelers to the southern beaches are in luck. Transportes Cóbano Bus company picks up at the new 7-10 terminal in San Jose or Puente Villa Bonita (a short taxi ride from SJO airport) and is one of the only bus lines in Costa Rica to offer online ticketing! The cost for the direct service is ~$15 to Tambor, Montezuma or Santa Teresa including the ferry ride.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes

██ La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano — Monteverde Cloud Forest

It’s a LONG drive around Lake Arenal from the volcano to Monteverde Cloud Forest so over the past 30 years there have been innumerable variations on the original “jeep/boat/jeep” shortcut across the lake. The roads are much improved (although still pretty abominable) so the “jeeps” have been replaced by vans but there are still options that include hiking, horseback, and mountain bikes on some segments. The unifying theme is that it’s 5-15 km across (depending on launch and landing locations) from the north shore to the south by boat and almost 100 km around the lake.

Arenal to Monteverde by boat — Boat landing on the south side of Lake Arenal to transfer passengers to a van headed to Monteverde cloud forest

There’s no fixed schedule and many of the boats are operated by tour companies or individual lodges for the sole benefit of their patrons. In person booking for freelance travelers is readily available from any hotel tour desk, the travel kiosks around La Fortuna and Santa Elena (Monteverde), most ice cream shops, and probably the local hairdresser. There are a dozen different boats and companies go out of business on a weekly basis. It’s the wild west and if you don’t mind rolling the dice you can probably negotiate down into the $25-$35 per person range. Reliable advance reservations including door-to-door service to your hotel or lodge are available from most travel services including our recommendation Pacific Trade Winds (4.98/5 on TripAdvisor). The availability of docking varies depending on the water level of the lake and the company providing your transportation. Plan on getting your feet wet.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes

██ Golfito — Puerto Jiménez (Osa Peninsula)

The 40 minute boat ride between Puerto Jiménez and Golfito costs about five dollars and runs about every three hours starting at around dawn. There’s no ticket office or advance reservations – a ticket seller arrives with the boat and starts collecting money about 15 minutes prior to departure. The schedule is a bit schizophrenic, unstable and unpredictable with variations for weekdays, each weekend day, high and low seasons, and holidays. We considered reproducing it here and making daily phone calls to try to keep it updated but decided if you’ve made it this far south you’ve learned Pura Vida! and will just hang out in the excellent little marisquerias (fresh caught seafood) near each dock until the next boat leaves.

Passenger launch from Puerto Jimenez on the Osa to Golfito Costa Rica — Loading the passenger ferry by dawn’s early light – at six in the morning from Puerto Jimenez to Golfito

If you insist on rigid scheduling you can try contacting Transportes Acuaticos Tijerino Cortes by phone at 8632-8672. There are docks on both ends of this passenger service so you can walk-on and walk-off with dry feet.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes

██ San Jose — Tortuguero

There are no roads to Tortuguero but depending on river levels there are at least three ways to get there by boat. Since there are so many option the details are in a separate article.

waiting-for-tortuguero-boat — Waiting in a shady tree for the boat to Tortuguero

There’s a dock in Tortuguero and usually a dry landing in La Pavona but occasionally in the dry season the water levels are so low that the boats cannot make it all the way upstream and the passengers are required to disembark and hike. Similarly sometimes sediment accumulates at the mouth of the Parismina river and passengers on the boat to or from Moín climb out and walk in the shallows or even push the boat.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes

██ San José to the Caribbean Beaches

The Pacuare river is not only one of the top ten rafting rivers in the world (according to National Geographic), one of the last authentic experiences in the world, and a whole lot of fun, but it’s a transportation alternative as well.

Pacuare river raft — The Pacuare is one of the last remaining pristine, natural rivers in the world

Green frog adventures Pacuare kitchen — The guides work together like a well oiled machine whether rafting or cooking. The food with Green Frog Adventures is always amazing – not just some of the best in the remote back country – but better than most restaurants in Costa Rica.

We’ve been down the Pacuare many times. We’ve taken my parents and dozens of friends and consider it one of the best things we can show anyone on a trip to Costa Rica. It’s really quite amazing that something this exclusive is actually available to the general public. About 70,000 people attend the superbowl each year. About 7,900 raft the Pacuare. It’s definitely not the cheapest ($125-$1,775 per person 1-3 days) way to get from the central valley to the Caribbean coast and admittedly you don’t really make good time floating down a river (even in the fast class III and IV sections) but there’s no question it’s the best way to go. Remote raft in “camps” half way down the river range from rustic to eco-luxury and trips range from 1 to 3 days but any of them can begin with a pickup from San Jose and deposit you in Cahuita, Puerto Viejo or other southern Caribbean beach locations at the end. Request reservations with preferred providers. This is a one way option (you can’t raft uphill) and you should plan on getting very wet.

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes

██ Uvita/Dominical/Manuel Antonio/Jacó — Montezuma/Santa Teresa

This one is pretty straightforward. It’s a no-brainer if you’re in Jaco, don’t have a rental car and want to visit the remote beaches of the southern Nicoya peninsula Zuma tours operates daily boats across the Gulf of Nicoya with coordinated shuttles on both ends that pick up and drop off at regional hotels. Prices start at $40 per person for Jacó/Herradura to Montezuma and increase to $95 per person as the length of the van ride increases (e.g. Santa Teresa, Dominical etc.). Reservations highly recommended and available online direct from the operators – Zuma Tours Water Taxi

██ Puerto Viejo Sarapiqui — Trinidad

One boat a day departs Trinidad at 5:00 a.m. and arrives in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui about 5 hours later. It returns to Trinidad from the public dock in Puerto Viejo at 12:30 p.m. arriving just before sunset.

water taxi costa rica — Puerto Viejo Sarapiqui, collectivo boat dock. Water buses (collectivos) serving the communities north of Puerto Viejo and along the San Juan river border with Nicaragua at Trinidad

Updates

Schedules and information, especially for small companies, are changeable. We’ve made a sincere effort to provide accurate information and are quite confident that what we’ve published here is generally current and reliable BUT if you find something has changed we’d be delighted to be informed and unlike most sites we do actually update the Costa Rica Guide webpages. Please contact us.

Other Boats

Private unscheduled boats are available up the Rios Coen, Lari, Telire, Uren and down the Rio Sixaola from south west of Bri Bri at the end of the road at Suretka. There are usually a few for hire waiting for the public bus from the coast. Private unscheduled boats are available for hire at the Tortuguero dock to travel north to Barra del Colorado. Be sure you’re carrying your original passport and not a copy when traveling on small boats near either border. We’ve been stopped by armed patrols near Trinidad, Colorado and along the Panama border on the Sixaola river. In nearly any coastal fishing village you can find a panga willing to take you out locally whether near shore fishing, exploring the mangroves, catching an offshore reef break or visiting the next beach down the coast where no roads go. Prices will vary immensely depending on where you’re starting out, your Spanish Language skills and your negotiating ability. For example a couple of hours from the Riu Palace all inclusive resort will probably cost around $250-$350 but in a remote area like playa Coyote you might get half a day for $50. There are a couple of other small boats in Costa Rica that we have never ridden on. The horariodeferry website lists destinations and departures for passenger only boats between Golifito and Zancudo as well as an open jaw route for Puntarenas to Isla Chira and Puerto Morales. There’s no other information provided on the horario website. If we wanted to do it we’d probably just ask around town where the boat departed from and check it out in person – buenas fuerte!

██ Cent. Pacific-Montezuma · ██ San José-Tortuguero · ██ San José-Caribbean · ██ Cent. Pacific-Corcovado · ██ Puntarenas-Nicoya · ██ Arenal-Monteverde · ██ Golfito-Osa· ██ Sarapiqui-Trinidad Map of Boat Routes