Roads in Costa Rica are notorious for being in bad shape and many places require a 4×4 like Monteverde. As it’s one of the most popular destinations in the country, we get this question all the time. Is the road to Monteverde paved, how far is it from San Jose Airport to Monteverde and do I really need a 4×4?
In this post I’ll go over the Monteverde road conditions and why you need a 4×4 to get in and around Monteverde. You can also read our Monteverde travel guide to learn more about this region.
Driving from San Jose to Monteverde
Route 606 to Monteverde is currently under construction as of March 2018 and only open certain hours a day. It is open from 10 AM to 1030AM, 1230 PM to 1PM, 3 PM to 3:15 PM and 5 PM to 7 AM. It is recommended to take Las Juntas, Route 145 which is open. Read about Las Juntas in the post below.
The distance from SJO Airport to Monteverde is 133 kilometers, or 83 miles via Route 606. It takes about 3 hours depending on how long it takes for you to get out of San Jose since there is a lot of traffic by the airport and in the city. Here is the route on Google Maps.
Sardinal Road Conditions and Route
The route from San Jose is actually pretty easy. Head onto Route 27 Highway as if you’re going towards Liberia and continue for about 107 kilometers depending on where in San Jose you’re leaving from. (107 kilometers from La Sabana). You’ll merge onto InterAmericana highway 1 a little past Puntarenas. This is a paved road and though you may get stuck behind some trucks, it’ll take you around 1.5 hours depending on how fast you drive and how traffic is in San Jose.
Then you will turn right onto Route 606 Costa Rica, the route to Monteverde via Sardinal. You will see a gas station on your right and a huge billboard for SkyAdventures.
Drive onto this road for about 3 kilometers and turn left. There are plenty of signs for Sardinal and Monteverde so you know you’re going the right way.
After about 17 kilometers, turn right when the paved road ends to continue on Route 606 to Santa Elena.
From Sardinal, the first 18 kilometers are on a paved road. Then after you turn right, the road is gravel for another 18 kilometers or so.
The Gravel Road
We visited during March, the driest time of the year for most of Costa Rica. It was extremely dusty so drive with the windows up if the dust bothers you, especially if you’re driving close behind someone.
The road was unpaved, bumpy but not horribly pot holey for the first few kilometers. But as soon as we started going up, we could see why a 4×4 with high clearance is necessary.
Since the route goes up and around mountains, you first need a car with a good engine that can make those steep hills on a bumpy road. Then if you’re coming with a large group and lots of luggage, you need a car that is still high enough even with all the weight.
Then the last 10 kilometers or so, the road gets very bumpy and you can see large rocks on the side of the road. And as soon as you enter the Monteverde region, a couple kilometers from the turn to Santa Elena town, the road has fairly large pot holes. But luckily, the road becomes paved once you are in Santa Elena town and you can breathe a huge sigh of relief!
In total, the drive will take you around 3.5 – 4 hours depending on how fast you drive and the weather conditions.
You can see what the Sardinal route looks like in our video. We drove from Tamarindo.
Driving from Tamarindo to Monteverde (Liberia)
We live in Tamarindo so that is where we drove from. We took the Friendship bridge route towards Puntarenas as if you’re driving to San Jose (same as Liberia except you’ll just get on Route 1).
You can also take the route through Tilaran (on the way to Arenal, but turn right at the intersection where you can continue to Arenal to your left or go to Monteverde to your right). This takes a little longer and this road is unpaved.
But there is a slightly faster way going down towards Puntarenas past Limonal, Las Juntas.
Las Juntas Road Conditions Route 145
Las Juntas, Route 145 is closer coming from Guanacaste than the Sardinal route. Las Juntas is a very curvy route but not quite as bumpy as Sardinal. There are sections of the road that are very narrow so drive slowly and carefully and the road goes from paved to concrete to unpaved many times.
It is still recommended to have a 4×4 or high car for the Las Junas routes and it takes about 3 hours total depending on how fast/slow you drive.
Las Juntas is the turn off a couple kilometers after the Restaurant Tres Hermanas (where the big bull is). Turn left.
You will continue on this road and drive through the big city of Las Juntas and continue up towards Monteverde, passing small towns like Eco Museo, Canderlaria and Campos de Oro.
Signage is excellent and there are some nice view points when you get closer to Monteverde.
The Las Juntas route is actually in pretty good shape so you can definitely take that one coming from Guanacaste. We did run into one small thing while driving on the route. One of the huge trailer trucks got stuck going up a hill and they were blocking most of the road. We managed to drive down on the side of the road on the grass in our 4×4 but anything not a 4×4 wouldn’t have been able to make it since it was very slippery and muddy.
Since the roads are very narrow, be extremely careful when driving around the curves. We drove from Monteverde to Tamarindo via Las Juntas and you can see the route in our video below.
From Santa Elena, go to soccer field/school and continue on the bumpy road towards Xtremo and Don Juan Tours. You will then continue until a slight left to Route 145 (signs for Las Juntas) and continue on that road.
Here is the Google Maps route.
Santa Elena and Monteverde Road Conditions
Santa Elena town itself has paved roads. Cerro Plano, the smaller town also has paved roads but it ends where the El Establo Hotel is. That road continues on to the Monteverde cloud forest reserves, San Luis town and Curi-Cancha Reserve and is extremely bumpy. So you will need a 4×4 in town as many of the roads have huge pot holes, like the one towards San Luis or the roads near the cemetery.
We stayed at 2 Airbnbs in Monteverde that had awful roads. Awful. Like hitting your head on top of the car awful (these roads are the way to Finca Modelo and around the Santa Elena cemetery). We were very happy that we were driving a 4×4!
Tips for Driving to Monteverde
- Don’t forget to put the 4×4 on!
- Signage is excellent but it is still helpful to use Waze, the GPS app.
- Don’t drive to Monteverde at night, especially if you’re visiting during rainy season. The route up in the mountains is very curvy with loose rocks and no guard rails.
- Drive slow, take your time. Don’t pass if you’re not comfortable. You will run into some cars that are verrrrrry slow (huge trucks/old cars), pass when you’re comfortable and clear.
- There are a few spots on the route where you can pull over to enjoy the view. Do it! (Safely of course). The views on these routes are gorgeous!
- Leave as early as possible when visiting in rainy season. It usually rains in the late afternoon and evening. When we visited in November, peak rainy season time, we left around 7 AM and had great weather. No rain, not even cloudy skies so it was a beautiful ride.
- You will see some sedans going on this route (mostly Tico drivers). Like Yeison says, “Give a Tico a compact car and he’ll drive it like a 4×4.” But for foreigners, it is better to have a 4×4 even if you’re an experienced driver. Since you want to be as safe as possible for your trip, rent a 4×4 (trust me), especially if you’re coming during rainy season as the holes get bigger and you may have to drive in the rain.
- For more driving tips, you can read our in-depth Costa Rica driving guide and Yeison’s city driving guide.
- Suggestions for 4×4 cars: Hyundai Tucson/Santa Fe, Suzuki Jimny, Mitsubishi Montero Sport, Isuzu Dmax, Ford Explorer, Ssangyong Tivoli, Toyota Prado/Fortuner. A Hyundai Creta can work too for dry season and light luggage/couple passengers. If you’re coming with a lot of people and luggage, make sure the car has high enough clearance, even if it’s a 4×4. We drove our Hyundai Galloper (the old version of Hyundai Tucson) and our Mitsubishi Montero Sport. Our car is like a tractor, it’s very high and strong so we had no problem with 2 people and all our luggage and equipment.
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Hi Sandy, there is not too much on this route but you can stop by the Taiwan Friendship Bridge which is nice quick stop. There isn’t too much on this route and once you start going up the mountain towards Monteverde, there are some very nice view points along the way. If you hired a private driver, usually they will stop at nice view points. For lunch, a lot of people stop at Tres Hermanas, it is a restaurant about halfway from Tamarindo to Monteverde. There is also a nice little cafe across the street that has Scarlet Macaws.
When you’re in La Fortuna, you don’t need a 4×4. The roads in La Fortuna are all well paved and a sedan will be perfectly fine.
Hi, we will be traveling from Tamarindo to Monteverde with a driver. Is there a good place to stop for lunch along the way, or something we should see? We also will be renting a car through your link for a few days when we are in La Fortuna. Do you recommend a 4×4?
Hi–just saw your update to Route 606 to Monteverde: Route 606 to Monteverde is currently under construction as of March 2018 and only open certain hours a day. It is open from 10 AM to 1030AM, 1230 PM to 1PM, 3 PM to 3:15 PM and 5 PM to 7 AM. It is recommended to take Las Juntas, Route 145 which is open. Read about Las Juntas in the post below.
Is this impacting tours traveling to that area? We plan to rent a car but don’t want to be stuck in traffic trying to get to Monteverde….should we forgo it this trip?
Hi Angela, there may be a little bit more traffic in Las Juntas since that will be the route early everyone is going to take now but since it’s a long route and not that many people drive to Monteverde, you won’t be in bumper to bumper traffic. You may run into a slow truck and other cars but it’s not like you will be sitting in traffic for hours since that route is completely open whereas the Route 606 will be closed most of the day (and they are changing closing times according to their progress).
Were planning to rent through Adobe as you suggest for about 12 days and wonder if we need an SUV from San Jose, to Liberia, Hermosa, Playa Coyote and return to San Jose? Im used to driving in the mountains in BC, Canada, so not a city dweller. Any help would be great before i book, travel dates: Nov 1-13,
Hi Judith, you won’t need a 4×4. Playa COyote might have a couple unpaved roads but the main road down to Samara is paved as well as San Jose to Liberia. I wrote a post about road conditions with pics/videos you can check out for more info: Costa Rica road conditions.
Hi!
Thank you for a lot of great info, spent so much time going through the website getting ready for the first to Costa Rica.
For the trip from Liberia to Monteverde, do you think Hyundai Creta 4×2 will have enough clearance, there will be 2 adults and young teenager, but very lightly packed? Expected travel very early August
Thanks in advance
Hi Ilya! The Hyundai Creta should be OK – just go slow. That car isn’t a 4×4 but should be high enough lightly packed, you’ll just need to go slow and drive careful up the hills and around the pot holes which do get bigger in rainy season.