If you are looking at car rentals from Liberia Airport (Guanacaste Airport), you have several options.
We’ll talk about the best car rental companies from Liberia Airport, how airport pick up works, the best type of car for your trip, rental car insurances and how to return your car to the airport.
For general advice, check our “renting a car in Costa Rica” post for more detailed information.
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Car Rentals from Liberia Airport Quick Info
We have a partnership with Adobe Rent a Car, a locally operated and owned Costa Rican car rental agency that’s been in business for over 30 years, offering all-inclusive pricing and easy to understand insurances.
Get our Costa Rica car rental discount and freebies with Adobe in the link!
Airport code
LIR. The airport’s official name is Guanacaste Airport and Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport.
Are the Rental Cars Directly at the Liberia Airport Parking Lot?
No. You will not pick up your rental car directly at the Liberia Airport.
The airport is too small to fit the rental car offices and does not have a dedicated rental car parking terminal.
The rental car companies have off site offices, about a 5-15 minute drive away which is where you will pick up your car and complete the paperwork.
Car rental companies from Liberia Airport have shuttles running between the airport and the office for clients.
Are There Car Rental Counters Inside the Terminal?
Yes, for major international companies like Dollar, Thrifty, National, Budget, Enterprise, Economy, Hertz, Europcar and Alamo.
They have counters in baggage claim and a meeting area in the hall after you complete customs and go through the double doors.
Budget, Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, Alamo, Enterprise and National can help you make a reservation at their baggage claim counter if you do not have one. You still need to take the shuttle to their office to pick up the car.
Smaller agencies and Costa Rican car rental companies like Jumbo, Adobe Rent a Car and Vamos do not have a counter inside Liberia Airport. Their agents wait outside the airport for their clients.
Rental Car Company Shuttle Pick Up Process
If your rental car company has a counter in baggage claim, check in with them. Companies like Alamo, Enterprise and National offer a host service to assist you in the pick up process.
After picking up your luggage and going through customs, you will go through a set of double doors out into the airport terminal.
Walk straight through the glass doors by the mini mart, and look for the agent holding a sign with the car rental company name on it.
That agent will then bring you to the company shuttle to take you to their off-site office to collect the car and complete your payment and paperwork.
Some companies charge for this meet and greet, specifically the ones that have the airport counter (normally included in the taxes and fees).
Other companies, like Adobe Rent a Car, include the meet and greet as a complimentary service.
Rental Car from Liberia Airport Pick Up With Adobe Rent a Car
Here is our video of the meet and greet process with Adobe Rent a Car. This is ONLY for Adobe Rent a Car, no other car rental agency.
With our partnership with Adobe, this meet and greet is complimentary.
Don’t forget to get our Costa Rica car rental discount and extra freebies!
IMPORTANT: Go straight to the Adobe agent. If you cannot find them, please seek the airport help desk agents for assistance, do not ask other agents or drivers you may see standing around. They may not tell you truthful information and try to mislead you.
How Long is the Rental Car Pick Up Process from Liberia Airport ?
How long it will take for you to get your rental car from Liberia Airport depends on what time of year and what time of day your flight arrives.
The busiest time of year is mid December through March and busiest time of day is from 11-1 PM. Many flights land at the exact same time, so immigration and customs may take awhile. Furthermore, there may be a lot of traffic.
If you are coming at the busiest time of day and year, we recommend to account for at least 2 hours for immigration, customs, shuttle, rental car collection, and paperwork.
In the lowest tourism season months, it can take around 30-40 minutes from landing to driving to your next destination.
How to Return Your Rental Car to Liberia Airport?
You’ll return your rental car to the agency office and then the rental car company will shuttle you to the airport.
Please make sure to arrive at the rental car office with plenty of time to be at the airport around 2.5 hours in advance.
Returning the car does not normally take very long, around 10-15 minutes if no incidents arise.
Is Early Morning Rental Car Return Available?
Yes, most car rental offices open around 5 AM. You can return the car around 450 to 5 AM and then get shuttled to the airport.
If you need to return the car before 5 AM, or do not wish to deal with that so early in the morning, you can return your car the day before and arrange your own transportation to the airport.
You can watch a video and get more information on this early morning return at Liberia Airport here.
Should You Have a Car Rental Reservation?
Yes, in the high tourism season. Availability is extremely limited so there is no guarantee there will be cars available and if there are, they will most likely be very expensive.
High tourism season is December to April. The busiest times are the weeks of Christmas, New Years and Easter. Please book your rental car at least a few months out.
We also recommend to make a reservation for low season, so that you are able to comparison shop and research about insurances before you arrive. The low season is from May through November, but June, July and August are a mini high season and are very busy.
Make reservations at least a month or so out for June, July and August.
Since insurances vary widely among different rental car companies, it is best to do your research beforehand to learn about how they work, rather than trying to figure it out on the spot.
Recommended Car Rentals from Liberia Airport
Each car rental company in Costa Rica operates their own way, especially when it comes to insurance pricing and deposits.
You need to do your research beforehand to check what is included in the rate you are quoted.
That is why we recommend to only book with companies who provide all-inclusive pricing, so that you are 100% clear on exactly what you are paying for and how much your security deposit will be.
We prefer to recommend Costa Rican companies to support highly rated local businesses, such as Adobe Rent a Car (which we have a discount for) and Vamos.
Though a worldwide corporation, Alamo is also a highly rated car rental company from Liberia Airport. They have a huge fleet of cars, particularly Toyotas and offer all-inclusive pricing.
Alamo, Adobe and Vamos rental car companies all accept credit card rental car coverage as well.
Have a question about car rentals from Liberia Airport? Feel free to contact us with any questions you have and we will be happy to help out!
Save Money On Your Car Rental from Liberia Airport!
Get our Costa Rica car rental discount with Adobe Rent a Car in the link. Mytanfeet readers receive a minimum 10% off the rental car rate and freebies such as 2 free additional drivers, free child seats, free surf racks, free cooler and much more!
You’ll also receive Mytanfeet premium customer service, with a guarantee 24 hour response time. We are happy to help our readers with their rental car to make sure it’s perfect and to answer any question you have, so you have a safe and stress free time in Costa Rica.
Private Car Rentals from Liberia Airport
There are some private car rentals from Liberia Airport. You might see their ads on Facebook. Some advertise they can have your car ready directly at Liberia Airport, and they may have cheaper prices, but there are some caveats.
- Many do not have an office.
- Most do not offer any type of emergency assistance or a 24 hour assistance line.
- Some do not have their own customer service department, and may be difficult to contact.
- Their vehicles may not be well maintained and may be much older with a lot of mileage.
- They may not be licensed, insured or registered companies in Costa Rica.
- They may accept cash and offer a discount by not paying the VAT tax (13%). **
- Many may not provide any support or assistance if you get into an incident.
Please DO NOT give business to “pirate” businesses who are not licensed to be tourism rental car companies.
**Please do not support the practice of not paying the 13% VAT tax, as they are avoiding to pay the sales tax and not be truthful on their business taxes.
It is completely your choice who to rent from, but we highly recommend to book only with licensed and registered car rentals from Liberia Airport.
Is It Easy to Drive to Liberia Airport and Surrounding Roads?
Yes. The Liberia Airport is off a main highway, so it is easy to drive to and from there. Liberia city is only a ten minute drive away.
However, there may be a lot of traffic during the high tourism season, so please pack your patience if you are.
How is the Road to La Fortuna from Liberia Airport?
The main route from Liberia Airport to La Fortuna is a paved highway and a very beautiful drive. The most common route is on Route 142, going through Cañas, Tilaran and going around Lake Arenal.
The section going around Lake Arenal is extremely curvy with no painted lines, street lights or raised pavement markets, so we do not recommend driving this route if you will be landing after dark.
It gets dark by 6 PM every day in Costa Rica.
You do not have to have a 4×4 from Liberia Airport to La Fortuna, but depending on your other destinations, a high clearance SUV or 4×4 may be required or highly recommended.
You can check our in-depth guide on the drive from Guanacaste to La Fortuna and watch our video, and get our recommended stops in the post.
Get our Costa Rica car rental discount here!
Costa Rica Vacation Checklist
- First time to Costa Rica? Read our First Time in Costa Rica guide.
- Not sure how to move around Costa Rica? Read our How to Get Around Costa Rica guide to find the best transportation method for you.
- Click the link to get our detailed Costa Rica Packing List and Mytanfeet Amazon storefront for our personal recommendations
- Check our Costa Rica destinations map and Costa Rica restaurant map
- Do not forget to purchase Travel Insurance for your trip to Costa Rica.
- Stay connected by purchasing a prepaid SIM Card in Costa Rica.
- Save money with Mytanfeet Deals for tours and hotels and our Costa Rica Car Rental Discount.
Vince says
Do you know if Adobe allows renting the car in Liberia and returning it in San Jose?
Sammi says
Hi Vince, yes definitely, there is just an extra fee for picking up and returning at different locations.
rick says
Any advice – it looks like most rental companies close at 9pm and we land at 8:40pm?
Thanks!
Sammi says
If you are landing at 8;40 PM, generally the car rental companies will wait for you until you finish immigration and customs. Just make sure to let them know you are landing at that time and they will send an agent to pick you guys up from Liberia Airport.
Sarah Brice West says
Hi there! My family will be traveling during high season due to when we can come. We will arrive 12/31, and are thinking of flying into Liberia (as we desire to see Arenal area and Playa Conchal areas). You recommend not renting a car during this high season, but it is how we hoped to get around with our family and really a must. Can you tell me more? We are happy to reserve a car months ahead of time.
Sammi says
Hi Sarah, in the post I recommend not to rent a car upon arrival during Christmas. It is highly recommended to rent your car at least a month before to secure your vehicle, especially if you need a SUV because availability goes very quick during this time of year 🙂
Brett says
We are a group of 6 landing in Liberia Jan 23 for a week. Because of lack of luggage space in the SUVs, we plan to rent one of the large 9 person vans from Adobe for a week. We’ll be staying on Playa Junquillal, with some driving into Tamarindo and locally, but when we do our touring deeper inland, we’ll use a tour shuttle. My impression is that this type of vehicle should work ok for our purposes, would you agree?
Sammi says
Hi Brett, that should be fine. H1 are very common vans and many shuttle/tour operators use them. When you go down to Junquillal (if you’re going to the one south of Tamarindo), just go slow because that road is kinda hilly and unpaved but it should work. They’ve been smoothing that road over more so they should be doing that at the end of rainy season in January.
Chuck says
Booked a rental car with Adobe in Liberia. Very easy process. Just watch the video on this website and follow the process. The SUV we rented had a 54k on it but insides great shape and clean outside some minor scratches. Would recommend and would use again if we are able to come back
Sammi says
Glad you had a good experience with Adobe Chuck and thanks for sharing!
Sammi says
Hi Kim, in general it’s taken us maybe 30-40 minutes at LIR airport (including waiting for baggage) and we always try to get to immigration as fast as we can. If you just have carry ons, you’ll save a lot of time waiting for luggage and going through customs. There are several planes landing around the same time as yours so it’s best to get off as soon as possible so you can avoid getting stuck behind the people from other flights too (I think there are around 3-4 planes). I think you can make it in one hour if you can get out in around 30 minutes, the Adobe office is a 2 minute ride away and it takes about 15 minutes to do the paperwork and check the car.
I definitely agree that to go from Liberia to Monteverde, you should leave by 2:30 PM. It’s about a 3-3.5 hour drive and the section of the road once you turn up to the mountains is very bumpy, very curvy, no lights and can be dangerous in the dark so you will need to drive very slow.
Kim says
Thanks so much for this post and video. We are arriving in 2 weeks and have booked w adobe.
I’m your estimation/experience, how long will it take to get off plane, get the car, and be on the road? We plan to drive to Monteverde but our flight doesn’t land til 1:10. Everything I have read about that drive tells me I need to be en route BY 2:30 in order to arrive before dark.
Thanks for your insight!
-kim
yeison says
Hello S.Humphrey, there are many car rental companies in Costa Rica and most of them will do or say wherever to rent you a car. We haven’t heard nothing about a price decrease if you rent the at the airport but we have heard of people complaining that the guy outside the airport told them something and when they were picking up the car they came out with some “hidden fees”. Probably you already read that we recommend Adobe rent a car to our readers but for the last 2 years we have only heard good things no hidden fees and they can even deliver the car to your Hotel for free at the same price (Most of the hotels). I hope you enjoy your vacations and please let us know if you have any questions if you want to check Adobe rates click here: Costa Rica car rental discount
S. Humphrey says
Can you explain the difference in pricing for car rentals: renting a car at the airport vs. at the rental office or hotel etc. I read there is an additional charge of 10-15% /week if you get the car from Liberia or San Jose airports.
Thanks.
Vanessa Perez says
Hi! Do you have any videos or tips for a first time CR driver going from San Jose to Limon/Puerto Viejo?
Sammi says
Hi Vanessa! The road is very straight forward, and nicely paved. It actually goes through a large national park and you’ll go through the biggest tunnel Costa Rica has. It is about a 3.5 hour drive but sometimes can be slower because you get stuck behind big trucks so be patient. There are signs to Puerto VIejo everywhere but if you are nervous and would like to be sure, you can use the app WAZE. There are a few towns along the way like Guapiles to get gas, eat, etc.