One of the most popular routes for tourists is from San Jose to La Fortuna. Many visitors go to La Fortuna as their first destination in their Costa Rica itinerary. If you plan to rent a car and drive to La Fortuna from San Jose, here is our guide to help you have a fun and safe drive and to make the most out of this road trip.
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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 San Jose International Airport and La Fortuna is about 115 kilometers or 72 miles.
The drive time from San Jose to La Fortuna is about 3 hours. The drive from San Jose International Airport to La Fortuna is about 2.5 hours.
These are times without any traffic or stops. We always recommend to estimate at least 1 hour more, to account for traffic, stops and delays.
Is a 4×4 Required?
No, a 4×4 is not required for La Fortuna. However, we recommend a high clearance SUV for the most comfort, as there may be some big pot holes and poor sections in the remote part of the drive.
Furthermore, if you take the routes to stop at Poas Volcano National Park , Catarata del Toro and/or La Paz Waterfall Gardens, it is extremely curvy and steep.
You will need to have a stronger engine, in case you are traveling with a fully loaded car with lots of luggage. In the rainy season, a 4wd will be the best option.
Even if you are only two or three adults, a high clearance SUV will be much better in case each person is bringing a full 50 lb check in, backpacks, purses and carry ons. If you are only one or two adults traveling light with just carry on, a sedan can work, in the drier months like February and March.
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San Jose to La Fortuna Routes
There are a few routes from San Jose to La Fortuna and there are many different places to stop at. Below are some of the most popular routes and stops.
Please click here to go to our map of the routes mentioned in this blog post, as well as places of interest, food, gas and more.
Most Common Direct Route: Route 1 and Route 702
This is the most common route that Google Maps and Waze will show you. Route 1 and Route 702 is the direct route from San Jose to La Fortuna.
If you do not want to make any long stops or detours and just want to get to La Fortuna right away, you should take this route. This route takes around 2.5 hours or 2 hours and 40 minutes, without traffic and stops.
**Sometimes Waze and Google Map will take you via Route 1, Route 702 and Route 141 through Santa Clara, depending on your final destination in La Fortuna, which you should enter as your hotel. This is pretty much the same as Route 1 and Route 702 as it takes the same time, give or take a few minutes. The road is in good condition and you will arrive La Fortuna from the east, as opposed to the south.**
There are a couple of toll booths you need to go through as you leave San Jose/San Jose International Airport. They are small amounts, like 200-800 Costa Rican colones (20 cents to $1.50 USD). You can pay in Costa Rican colones, credit card or small bills USD.
Road Conditions
The Route 1 and Route 702 San Jose to La Fortuna road conditions are in good shape. You’ll start off on the highway and then it goes through San Ramon and several small towns up in the cloud forest.
It is paved nearly the entire way, save for some pot holes here and there and a section up in the cloud forest that is in poor condition.
IMPORTANT. There is a section of this route after you exit San Ramon that is up the mountains, through cloud forest and goes through some tiny rural towns.
This is from around Angeles Sur to Bajo Rodriguez. It can get VERY foggy up here so please drive slowly, carefully and cautiously with low beam lights.
Along this section, there are some road side restaurants and mini markets. The views are beautiful here, and many of the restaurants have a nice view.
If you see a sign that says MIRADOR, that means there is a nice view and that establishment has a sort of lookout point.
This route has a lot of these small, one lane bridges. When you approach this, if you see the triangular sign that says CEDA el Paso on it, then that means yield. You are required to yield to oncoming traffic.
This drive is very beautiful and is not terribly difficult. It takes around 2 hours and 40 minutes, but if you include a couple of stops and run into a bit of traffic, plan for at least 3.5 hours, especially if you are driving during the day on a long weekend or holiday.
La Fortuna to San Jose Route Video
Here is a video of us driving from Arenal to San Jose on this route.
See what the road is like and some places we stopped.
Can I Drive to La Fortuna at Night?
Yes, but we say this with lots of caution. Even though the roads are paved, it is recommended not to drive from San Jose to La Fortuna late at night due to lack of street lights, no side walks, the curviness of the road and extreme fog in the section up by the cloud forest.
Furthermore, many restaurants on this route close by around 8-9 PM. Additionally, if you are arriving late at night, many hotels in La Fortuna do not have reception open that late. Sometimes reception is only open until 10 PM. You will have to contact your hotel to see if late check in is possible.
It gets dark at 6 PM every day in Costa Rica so if your flight gets in late, I recommend staying the night in San Jose and leaving early the next morning. You can make it a longer road trip and take your time to enjoy.
Check our post for recommended hotels near SJO Airport. We have a 10% discount for Adventure Inn which includes a free airport shuttle and hot breakfast.
It is much nicer and easier to drive in the day light, especially if you are visiting during the rainy season (May through December).
Typical rainy season weather are clear and dry mornings, and then it will start raining in the early afternoon.
Learn more about driving to La Fortuna after landing and read our recommendations for all different scenarios (time of visit, flight arrival time, etc.).
If you are landing in the morning, before noon or early afternoon, you can drive to La Fortuna right after landing.
Alternative Route to Stop at Poas Volcano National Park
If you leave the next morning, you have a full day to make this drive from San Jose to La Fortuna. You are able to stop at some places along the way if you wish. One popular stop is Poas Volcano National Park.
This national park is home to one of the world’s largest crater lakes. The park has an easy and a couple moderate hiking trails to view points of the crater lake, an inactive lake and through the cloud forest.
If you visit this national park, I would plan for at least 1 hour to the view point below. If you want to continue to Lake Botos, that would add another 45 minutes at least.
IMPORTANT. You must purchase park tickets on the SINAC website beforehand to visit Poas Volcano National Park. They do NOT sell tickets at the door. Each park ticket is valid for an allotted time slot. If you miss your entry time, they usually do not let you go in.
The extra time if you stop at Poas Volcano National Park brings the total drive time to around 3 hours and 15 minutes. If you stay around 1.5 hours at the park, your entire drive will take at least 4.5 hours depending on if you leave from downtown San Jose or the airport area.
Enter your route in Google Maps as “Poas Volcano Parking Lot” for the national park destination. The national park has a secure parking lot with a guard.
We still recommend to bring your valuables with you (passport/wallet/etc) and try to hide/cover as much of your stuff as possible in the car. Do not leave any valuables visible in the car.
Alternative Route to La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park
If you don’t want to stop at Poas Volcano National Park, another popular stop is the La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park. This nature park has a large animal sanctuary and five waterfalls with a 3 kilometer trail and view points.
It is a gorgeous park with beautiful views of the forest. The waterfalls are absolutely spectacular to see!
The park has their own restaurant so you can get lunch there. If you stop at the park, we recommend at least 3 hours for the park if you get lunch included. Your entire drive with the visit to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park can take you around 6 hours.
We offer a small discount for La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park tickets. Click the link to get your entrance ticket with or without lunch included.
The park has their own parking lot and many tourism vans and tours stop here. Take your valuables with you and do not leave any valuables visible in the car.
On a budget? Then skip the park and stop by the free view point of La Paz Waterfall! It is called “La Paz Waterfall” on Google Maps. There is a pull out spot by the bridge and you can walk down to take photos and see this waterfall.
Poas Volcano National Park and La Paz in One Day?
It is possible to visit both places on your way to La Fortuna but you will need to leave early. We recommend to get to Poas Volcano National Park at 8 AM and arrive at La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park by 11 AM.
That way, if you leave La Paz Waterfall Gardens around 2-3 PM, you can still make it to La Fortuna before it gets dark.
Alternative Route to Catarata del Toro
The third alternative route in this post will be a stop at Catarata del Toro in Bajos del Toro. This is one of the tallest waterfalls in Costa Rica, inside an extinct volcano crater. You can just stay by the view point or you can walk down a trail and some steps to the bottom of the waterfall. No swimming.
This is one of our favorite places in Costa Rica, this waterfall is truly impressive!
If you stop here, the entire drive will be around 3 hours. We recommend at least 1 hour at Catarata del Toro because the walk down is SO worth it!
You should rent a 4wd if you plan to visit Catarata del Toro, due to the roads in and around Bajos del Toro.
Driving from Guanacaste (Guanacaste Airport)
Driving from Guanacaste? (Liberia, Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, Flamingo, Brasilito) Check out our guide to driving to Arenal from Guanacaste!
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Semere says
Hi Sammi,
I have been using your site to do all our Costa Rica travel plans which starts tomorrow, and can’t thank you enough for it.
We will be arriving in SJO at 1PM, and had planned to drive straight to La Fortuna via this route (Ruta 702). I just pulled up Waze, and it seems that a bridge collapse or something has caused a road closure here. Am I correct in understanding this?
What’s the alternative? Go to La Fortuna via route 141 (by way of Naranjo and Ciudad Quesada). I had pretty much studied the San Ramon route, so anything special I need to know about this route? This last minute change isn’t the greatest thing, but out of our control so just have to plan around it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Sammi says
Hi Semere, you can go via Naranjo and Ciudad Quesada too, those are main cities so the roads are fine.
Igor says
Hi there! I love your blog and videos! We are coming to CR for 2 weeks in end of June. The plan is to drive from San Jose to La Fortuna the day after we land.
I have a few questions:
1) Would you recommend taking the shorter way via San Ramon or should be take the longer route and stop at Doka Coffee, La Paz waterfall and the Parc Volcan?
2) We wanted to go to the beach as well for 3 days so from La Fortuna is it best to go to Papagayo and then back to Monteverde? Or should we do Monteverde first?
3) And from Monteverde we need to make a decision about Manuel Antonio or Osa – the drive is about 6-7 hours to Osa – would you recommend it? What would be a good stop in between? I have heard Manuel Antonio is very crowded and that would not be a good experience for my family.
4) Is Osa worth the extra drive to get there?
I’m a bit worried about the driving because it is the “green season” and I don’t know how these roads are in the rains.
Sammi says
The best route to drive from SJO to La Fortuna is through San Ramon – this is a direct drive. If you want to go to see Doka/La Paz/Poas, then you need to take another route
You should do Fortuna – Monteverde – Papagayo
I don’t recommend going to MA or Osa afterwards if you don’t have a lot of days to dedicate to those places since it is extremely far
Bonnie D says
Hello Sammi!
Planning a trip in January, with grandchildren. staying at San Rafael area, wanted to take grandchildren on horseback ride at la Fortuna, to see the waterfalls, and hoping for Hot Springs and a suspension bridge hike ,and at some point hoping to see the ocean. Any suggestions for taxi services,or travel tips You would be willing to give up so we can manage to fit some of this in? We will be staying 7 days
Sammi says
Hi Bonnnie, from San Rafael the best way is to rent a car since San Rafael is not a very touristy area there are no shared shuttles and private will be very expensive. It’ll be best to rent a car, drive to La Fortuna, stay a night or two. In La Fortuna, luckily you can do a lot of activities in one day since they’re very close to each other so you can easily do a hanging bridges in the morning, horseback ride to La Fortuna waterfall in the afternoon and hot springs at night.
Tiffany says
We are arriving to San Jose on Friday and will be driving with 18 other people in 3 SUVs. We arrive at 4:30pm Costa Rica time and were planning on getting to La Fortuna the same night. If we get into La Fortuna at around 9pm on a Friday, are there still places to eat that are open?
Thanks!
Sammi says
Hi Tiffany, you can read in this post: La Fortuna as I included a couple of 24 hours restaurants. La Fortuna Pub and Lava Lounge are usually open until late as well.
Tiffany says
Thanks so much!
Sammi says
Hi Belen, I’m glad the blog has been helpful! Regarding your itinerary, that is way too many places for 5 days as all those destinations are very spread out and you won’t be able to enjoy them in only 5 days due to travel times. By driving, San Jose to La Fortuna is around 3.5 hours, La Fortuna to Guanacaste (depending on where in Guanacaste) is around 4 hours, and Guanacaste to Manuel Antonio is at least 5-6 hours so you’ll be spending a ton of time on the road. You can save time by flying but you will still not be able to enjoy the places as much.
For 5 days, I would choose just 2 places. If you’re flying in and out of San Jose, La Fortuna + Manuel Antonio are good options if you want beach. I recommend checking out our destinations map so you can exactly how far everything is.
Belen says
Hi Sammi,
We are seniors travelling for the first time to Costa Rica. Reading your blog has been most helpful! Thank you for sharing your ideas and suggestions for visiting beautiful Pura Vida Costa Rica. We arrive at 9:30 on Dec 5 and will check into a hotel and leave the next day for La Fortuna. We are great hikers, so we plan to take the canopy/aerial tram in Arenal. Is Cartago a good stop to visit? We plan to rent a car from Adobe for the 5 days we are in Costa Rica. Where is the best place to for hot springs? The route we are contemplating is San Jose, to La Fortuna, to The springs Resort, Guanacaste, manuel Antonio. Is there enough time in 5 full days?
Herb says
Dear Sammi,
We are planning a trip for mid-February, with a flight that arrives at 2:30 PM. There is no flight to La Fortuna available. I know you do not advise driving after dark, but I’d like to get to La Fortuna the first day. It would involve starting late afternoon, with perhaps a hour of darkness.
Sammi says
Hi Herb, by that time in February it’s the middle of dry season so you won’t have to worry about rain. If you land at 2:30 PM, you’ll probably get out and pick up your car by around 4 PM. You’ll have traffic getting out of San Jose so hopefully you’ll be able to get out of San Jose before it gets too bad but if you use Waze for GPS, you can do the drive since it gets dark at 6 PM so you will have about 1 hour of darkness. The last stretch of is in a rural area with no lights or signs but if you use Waze for GPS, you will be fine since it’s a pretty straightforward route once you get past San Ramon, not a ton of turns.
Linda says
Hi Sammi. We are flying into San Jose at 9.30 pm and staying for the night then we have an Airbnb booked for Puerto Viejo. I’d love to stay the first night in La Fortuna and then to the coast. How would that drive be? We’d like to rent a car.
Sammi says
Hi Linda, since you’re arriving quite late, I don’t recommend going to La Fortuna that night. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive from San Jose to La Fortuna so you’ll arrive there by around 1230-1 AM and the road is not easy to drive in the dark because signage is not good and after San Ramon, it’s on rural roads. Then from La Fortuna to Puerto Viejo, it’s like a 4-5 hour drive so you’ll just be driving a ton of hours for just like, a morning in La Fortuna. I’d stay the first night in San Jose and then go to Puerto Viejo, it’s not worth driving all the way to La Fortuna for just that short amount of time to be honest. If you can, stay the first night in San Jose, go to La Fortuna early in the morning, stay a couple days and then go to Puerto Viejo.
For renting a car, we have a discount and extra benefits with Adobe Rent a Car, a Costa Rican car rental company. You can check rates here: Costa Rica car rental discount
Alex says
HI, Thank you for so much valuable info. We are arriving in September to SJO and traveling to La Fortuna. We will be taking a large SUV (for 6 people); are the roads okay for this size vehicle? Thank you again!
Sammi says
Hi Alex, yes the road from San Jose to La Fortuna is all on well paved roads going through San Ramon. You can see in the video what the route is like.
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.