Flights

[GRAINNE FOLEY]

Hi

We are looking to travel to CR this summer but I’m having trouble finding flights for less than $500 each way (there’s 4 of us). The only airline that I found is Spirit but everyone tells me not to fly them because of all the add ons. I keep hearing about $250 flights but i can’t seem to find them! Is it the time of year or am I looking in the wrong place. We are in FL if that helps

Thanks

Grainne

[JASON HOLLAND]

Hi Grainne,

My family is in Florida, so that’s where we go for visits back to the U.S. Try JetBlue. Tickets are regularly available for about $200, sometimes less, each way from Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, perhaps some other cities in the state. If you’re in another part of the state and you have a connection, it’ll be more, of course.

[GRAINNE FOLEY]

Thanks Jason. We are in Ft Lauderdale so I will definitely check them out. If we are planning to check out Tamarindo, is San Jose the closest airport or is there a better one?

Thanks

Grainne

[JASON HOLLAND]

Hi Grainne,

The closest international airport to Tamarindo is actually Liberia, which is then an hour by taxi to Tamarindo, versus five hours by bus or shuttle from San Jose. (Never take a taxi from San Jose to Tamarindo!). But flights into Liberia tend to be more expensive. So you have to balance out the cost versus time for your trip. By the way, good shuttle companies for transport around Costa Rica are Interbus and Grayline.

[GRAINNE FOLEY]

Thanks Jason, I will definitely look into Liberia and check the difference pin price.

Would we be able to take a bus from SJ to Tamarindo or would that be too much with 2 young kids?

Thanks

Grainne

[JASON HOLLAND]

Hi Grainne,

I’ve made that trip with my then 6 year old and 1 year old. It’s about 5 hours. Everybody has a seat on this bus. So it’s not crowded. They even play movies. But I know that until he fell asleep my 1 year old was pretty restless. There’s only one rest stop on the way. So it’s really up to you. Think of it like a 5-hour plane trip.

Jason

[GRAINNE FOLEY]

What about car seats for the kids, can you use them on a bus or how what did you do?

Also are the movies in English or Spanish?

Thanks

Grainne

[JASON HOLLAND]

A good question. An issue faced by all families traveling in Costa Rica.

You are perfectly welcome to bring a car seat on the bus. But not all buses have seat belts to strap them down. You can also bring car seats into taxis, which all have seat belts.

What we’ve done is not use car seats at all unless it was our own car or a rental car. The baby would be strapped to us in Ergo carrier or sitting in our lap. I know it’s not exactly “safe” if there was accident but that’s how things are sometimes in Central America.

The movies on the bus… sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English with Spanish subtitles. I found iPads loaded with movies to be handy.

Jason

[Author]

Posts