One of the main concerns visitors have when renting a car in Costa Rica is if they have a very early morning flight.
There are several flights that depart around 7 AM, so clients will need to drop their car off by 5 AM at their agency to get to the airport.
If that’s you, our partner, Adobe Rent a Car starts receiving cars a little bit before 5 AM and will shuttle clients to the airport after returning the car. We have done this several times, you can read about it below.
If you need to rent a car still, check out our Costa Rica car rental discount and get our discount and extra benefits.
5 AM Early Morning Liberia Airport Car Rental Drop Off
Adobe Rent a Car’s Guanacaste Airport office is 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles). They open their doors and start receiving cars around 4:50 AM.
We arrived at 4:55 AM, the lights were on and there was one Adobe agent already at the front desk, ready to help us.
We left our house near Tamarindo around 4 AM, and there was no traffic.
Free airport shuttle after returning the car
We did the final check of the car and when all the paperwork was good to go, the Adobe agent helped put our luggage in their shuttle and drove us to the airport, about a 5 minute drive.
Adobe has a free airport shuttle when you drop the car off at their office and when you arrive in Costa Rica as well.
We made a short video so you can see the entire process here. As you can see, it’s very easy!
Also, LIR Airport is much less crowded than the SJO Airport so even though we arrived a little after 5 AM, around 5:10 AM and our flight was at 6:55 AM, we made it through check in and security with plenty of time to spare.
Dropping Off in San Jose
The Adobe Rent a Car San Jose office is the same procedure. The office is 3 kilometers from the airport and they open their doors around 4:50 AM to start receiving cars from clients.
They also have a free airport shuttle to take clients to the airport from their office and depending on traffic, it can take around 10-15 minutes so make sure to arrive early enough.
Costa Rica Car Rental Tips
We wrote quite a few posts about driving and renting a car in Costa Rica which you can read below.
Stephan Lee says
Hi there, our flight from Liberia to the USA is at 10:30. What time do you recommend we arrive at the Adobe office to drop off our rental car? We have 2 kids and will have check in luggage. Also, wanted to know if there are restaurants in the departure area (after going through immigration and checkin) to purchase food to take on our flight? Thank you.
Sammi says
Hi Stephen, the Adobe office is 5 minutes from Liberia Airport and return is usually quick, I would arrive at the Liberia office by no later than 745- 8 AM so you can be at the airport 2 hours before your flight. There aren’t many places to eat in the airport but they have a bakery, a cafe with sandwiches/burgers and another restaurant with typical food. It is very expensive though.
Amy says
What do people do if the flight is too early for a 5 am drop off? Are there taxi options in the area very early in the morning? Perhaps we could drop off the car the evening before and take a taxi to the airport?
Sammi says
Hi Amy, you can drop the car off the night before and then taxi/shuttle to the airport in the morning.
Heidi says
I’m so glad I found this post. We are flying out of Liberia on the 6:45 am United flight and have been driving myself crazy over whether or not a 5:00 am drop of for our rental was too late and if we’d risk missing our flight. I’ve been emailing all the rental companies to see if they can accommodate something earlier with no luck. I was beginning to think it was hopeless. Now I think I can breath a little easier. Thanks again.