One of the most popular routes for visitors to Costa Rica is from San Jose to La Fortuna. Although driving in Costa Rica may seem scary (you have probably already read some horror stories), many of the routes and destinations are easy to get to with good roads and this is one of them. The worst part of this route will be getting out of San Jose but once you’re out of the chaotic capital city, it’s smooth sailing from there.
Here is our guide to driving from San Jose to La Fortuna and vice versa.
San Jose to La Fortuna Route
There are 2 ways from San Jose to La Fortuna: by way of Naranjo and Ciudad Quesada and by way of San Ramon. You can take either way but the San Ramon route is the shortest and is the one I’ll be going over in this article.
How Far is La Fortuna from San Jose?
The distance between San Jose and La Fortuna is about 130 kilometers or 80 miles. The distance between SJO Airport and La Fortuna is about 115 km or 72 miles (remember the SJO Airport is not in San Jose, it’s in Alajuela).
The drive time from San Jose to La Fortuna is about 3.5 hours depending on how much traffic there is in San Jose.
Road Conditions
The San Jose to La Fortuna road conditions are in good shape. The route goes through several small towns with all paved roads. It does get a bit curvy at one point though so I do recommend going slow.
You can perfectly drive a sedan for this route, no high car or 4×4 necessary.
Driving Directions for San Jose to La Fortuna
If you have Waze, I highly recommend using that as your GPS. Since Waze chooses the shortest route most of the time, it will automatically pick the San Ramon route but make sure to check before you hit let’s go.
From San Jose, you need to get onto the Panamerican highway to Puntarenas and exit at “San Ramon” on the right. Depending on traffic, it could take around 1.5 hours. You will pass Palmares right before the exit.
After you turn onto the San Ramon route, you will drive through the town. There are plenty of signs so follow the signs to La Fortuna and continue onto Route 702.
When you are on Route 702 and out of San Ramon, it is a very straight forward drive. Just continue on the road and you will see signs for La Fortuna and Arenal. You’ll pass small towns of Angeles Sur, La Tigra, Santa Clara and Chachagua. This is the part that gets fairly windy and from there, it’ll take around 2 hours until you reach La Fortuna.
La Fortuna to San Jose Route
Here is a video of us driving from Arenal to San Jose via San Ramon. I included all of the turns and clips of most of the towns.
You will head east from the park in La Fortuna past La Fortuna Backpackers Resort and drive towards Chachagua. It’s very straight forward and there are signs the entire way.
Can I Drive this Route at Night?
Even though the roads are paved, it is recommended not to drive from San Jose to Arenal at night because it gets very curvy and windy at one point and the signs are very difficult to see in the dark. Even if you have a GPS or Waze, it is recommended not to especially if it is raining. There is a couple points during this route where there is nothing around so you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in case something happens.
It gets dark at 6 PM every day in Costa Rica so if your flight gets in after that, I recommend staying the night in San Jose and leaving early the next morning for Arenal.
Any Points of Interest Along the Way?
You’ll pass through several small towns but mostly you’re driving through a lot of farming areas. But once you are in San Ramon, there are some beautiful waterfalls just 6 kilometers from the city center, Las Musas waterfall park. There are five waterfalls, hiking trails, a playground and even a public pool so that is a nice place for families and not far from town.
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Driving from Guanacaste? (Liberia, Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, etc.) Check out our guide to driving to Arenal from Guanacaste!
Curious about other routes for your trip? Read our Costa Rica road conditions post for more information.
Matt says
HI, thank you for so much valuable info. I am arriving in June to SJO at 1:45pm and traveling to our hotel in La Fortuna. Do you think that will be to late to embark and arrive in La Fortuna by nightfall? Should I try to rearrange and stay elsewhere? This was an oversight on my part not realizing that sunset was so early. Thank you!
Sammi says
Hi Matt! I personally would recommend staying a night in San Jose and leaving the next day. June is our rainy season and there’s a good chance it will be raining when you get done with immigration and customs and the route to La Fortuna isn’t the most well lit. I would stay a night in San Jose and leave early the next morning in La Fortuna.
Matt says
Thanks again! I have a car from the airport and hotel booked already so I have some rearranging to do.( P.S. in case it makes a difference: my hotel is actually east of La Fortuna near where 35 and 4 intersect)
Jesse says
Have been reading your blog. Great info! We are first timers… Wife and I are flying into SJO in 30 days, heading to La Fortuna for a couple nights and then up to Papagayo for remainder of our stay. I would like to rent through Adobe but can’t figure out if I should get GPS or Wifi in car. I figured with Wifi I can use my phone (Waze) and apps like Viber, etc. to make calls. Thoughts?
Sammi says
The Wi-Fi hot spot is great because you will always have Internet. GPS is just GPS and to be honest, the Waze app works much better for GPS so I would go with the hotspot. It’s very nice to always have Internet on your phone.
Toladette Kem says
Hi,
My group and I are planning to drive from SJ to La Fortuna area and then La Fortuna to Jaco. I see information on driving from SJ to Fortuna, but I don’t see anything for La Fortuna to Jaco (unless I missed it). Can you tell me what the road/driving condition is like for that route?
Thank you,
TK
Sammi says
Hi, it is the same route except exit at the Jaco/Orotina exit from the highway and then go straight down south on the Costanera Sur highway for about 30 minutes until Jaco.
Sammi says
Hi Wade, so when you arrive at SJO Airport, an Adobe agent will be waiting for you outside the airport when you finish immigration and customs. They are wearing a blue shirt and will be holding a sign with your name on it so look for him. He will bring you to the Adobe shuttles where they will bring your group to their airport office to pick up the cars and finish paperwork. And then from there, you can head to La Fortuna right after so your whole group will go to the Adobe office and you can leave directly to La Fortuna when you get the cars.
Their airport office is only a mile or so down the street from the airport so it’s very close. Then for return, it will be the same process. You’ll return the car to their airport office and they will shuttle you to the airport via their complimentary shuttle.
Wade says
Thank you for all your help
Sammi says
Hi Wade! You can actually get the car delivered to your hotel in San Jose if you are staying a night in the city, this is free for Mytanfeet readers so that way, your group doesn’t have to go back to Adobe office. If you are staying in San Jose, can you please let us know what hotel you are at and we can modify your reservation. I do have your flight information already from Nick and normally, Adobe picks up their clients from the airport and takes them to their airport office to get the car. But if you’re staying a night in San Jose and don’t want to drive or have the car in the city, you can taxi/shuttle to your hotel and have Adobe deliver the car to your hotel the next morning. Adobe can deliver the car between 8 30 AM and 430 PM.
For customs, you have to put all your luggage and bags through the scanners so backpacks, purses, carry ons, check ins, everything.
Wade says
Hi Sammi. We are going to drive to La Fortuna as soon as we arrive. We just didn’t know if the whole groups goes in San Jose or just Nick & Wade to pick up the cars?
Wade says
I am sorry Sammi but I just reread your last response and it looks like we don’t have to travel into San Jose? Our cars will be at the their office at the airport?
Wade Merrett says
Hi Sammi. We are travelling to La Fortuna from SJO and our flight arrives at 11:15am. Should we arrive in La Fortuna before dark? Your website has been very helpful and we can’t wait to visit Costa Rica.
Sammi says
Hi Wade, it gets dark at 6 PM in Costa Rica and it’s about a 3.5 hour drive depending on how long it takes for you to get out of San Jose so you should make it there by night. I recommend getting out of San Jose asap and then stopping in San Ramon (another local town about 45 minutes from San Jose) for lunch/break because there isn’t as bad traffic there. I also recommend using Waze, the GPS app to help you get out of San Jose to La Fortuna because the traffic in San Jose is awful and driving is not nice there. Glad you like the site and thanks for reading!
Wade says
Hi Sammi. Thank you for the reply. We are renting our cars through you with Adobe and was wondering if the whole group should go to San Jose or just the drivers of the rental cars? We thought it may save some time if we didn’t have to go back to the airport after we got the cars? Also when arriving in Costa Rica if we only have carry ins do we still have to go through customs for checked bags?
Kirsten Borrink says
Hi Sammi,
Great info and video! Would you recommend taking dramamine for the drive? We have two kids ages 10 and 16 and will be renting an SUV. I just don’t want them to feel nauseous through the winding roads.
TIA,
Kirsten
Sammi says
Hi Kirsten, I would if they get really carsick. The views are really nice and you can drive with the windows down to help. There is just one section through San Ramon that is a bit curvy and then it straightens out but if you are driving from La Fortuna to Liberia/Guanacaste, it is very curvy around the lake.
Vicky says
Hi Sammi, you have an AMAZING site! I’m planning our trip to Costa Rica this March and getting so much info from your site! THANKS!!!
We are planning to arrive at 8pm and I booked a hotel Chalet Tirol at San Rafael de Heredia (which is supposed to be about 40min drive from the airport). We want to see La Paz Waterfall before we get to La Fortuna Waterfall and Arenal area. Are there any other places that you can recommend to see on the way from Chalet Tirol to Arenal, La Fortuna?
Sammi says
Hi Vicky, I’m glad you like the site and it’s been helpful! If you are going into the La Paz waterfall park, you will probably spend a good couple hours there so that’ll be an all day from San Jose to Arenal. Poas used to be a good stop combined with La Paz but unfortunately it is closed. On the way to La PAz, I recommend driving through the small town of Poasito and stopping at the little stands on the side of the road, you can try local treats and candies there and it’s a good place to buy souvenirs.
If you had more time (like not going inside the gardens, just the free entrance), I would recommend stopping at Catarata del Toro instead. This waterfall is supposedly the tallest in CR and it is amazing. Here is our article on it: https://mytanfeet.com/activities/catarata-del-toro/ and you can stop there on the way from San Jose to Arenal. It does require a bit of a detour but you drive through some gorgeous country side and small towns and the waterfall is about a 15-20 minute walk down and it is stunning.
Delilah says
Thank you so much for the information. We are arriving in San Jose at 3:00 PM and have reservations in La Fortuna already but now are wondering if we should stay in San Jose with the driving. Going through customs and picking up rental car. We are hoping to be out of San Jose by 4:30 if all goes well.
Sammi says
Hi Delilah, 4:30 PM is right at the worst time of traffic in San Jose and it could take you anywhere from 1 -2 hours just to get out of the city so I recommend staying a night in San Jose and leave early in the morning to La Fortuna because without traffic, it’s about a 3.5-4 hour drive but with traffic, it could easily turn into 5 hours or more and that’d be suuuuuper tiring after a flight. I also recommend using Waze, the GPS app as that will help you navigate through San Jose much better than Google Maps. The airport isn’t in San Jose center luckily so you can pick a hotel close to the airport, that way you don’t need to drive all the way to downtown San Jose. There are hotels just 5 -10 minutes from the airport.
Aaron says
Hi Sammi, thank you so much for providing so much free information. I have learned a great deal from what you’ve provided through your site and emails! This will be our first time visiting Costa Rica, and we have decided to rent a car due to exploring several different places while we’re there. We will have Google maps and waze while we’re there, but do you suggest we rent a GPS as well? We will be coming in through SJO, traveling to La Fortuna, then Jaco, then Manuel Antonio, then back to SJO for departure. Thanks for your help in advance!
Sammi says
Hi Aaron! Waze will be just fine, it works great in Costa Rica! And all the routes you are going are on well paved roads with plenty of signs. Thank you for reading our blog and glad that is has been helpful with your trip! One tip, when you are going from Fortuna to Jaco, go back through San Ramon. We have gone this route a few times and our Waze took us via a different route which was not on as nice of a road as the main route so just check that before hitting go on Waze. Have a great time!
Agness of eTramping says
These tips are simply awesome, Sammi! Would you recommend any hiking trails along the way worth hiking?
Sammi says
There’s not too much that’s right on the way, you’ll have to detour and drive to other points of interest.