Monteverde to Manuel Antonio by public transport | Costa Rica - A Backpacker’s Guide
Step 1: Monteverde to Puntarenas
To ensure you make all the following connections you will need to get the 5:30am or potentially the 7:45am bus leaving Monteverde. I took the 5:30am to be sure and it also gives you the advantage of arriving by early afternoon so you can enjoy the beach for the rest of the day.
The bus leaves from “Transmonteverde” and is a coach which has Puntarenas on a sign in the window. This stretch should cost ₡2650 and you can buy a ticket from their office at the station either in the morning or the day before. I got mine the day before just incase but it didn’t look like there would have been any issues getting one on the day.
Once the bus left it also stopped for people on the road leading out of Monteverde who paid in cash on the bus but the easiest and guaranteed way is to start from the station. You can also buy a ticket online but there is an extra fee of ₡500 so it’s better to just get it at the station. It left on time and I arrived in Puntarenas at 7:45am.
Step 2: Puntarenas to Quepos
As we got into Puntarenas my driver asked where I was going and I told him Quepos so he dropped me off on the corner of the bus station “Terminal de Buses Puntarenas - Quepos”. However, even if you drop you at their terminal it’s a short walk back to this station. There is a bit of a wait because the next bus to Quepos isn’t until 9am. This one is a coach as well so my main bag went under the bus and the driver warned me to keep my small bag on my lap and not put it in the overheads above my seat. The day before I had met someone who had their backpack stolen from the overheads so I would follow this advice. This leg cost me ₡3000 and I arrived at Quepos at 12:15pm.
Bus schedule in Terminal de Buses Puntarenas - Quepos.
Step 3: Quepos to Manuel Antonio
The bus to Manuel Antonio leaves from the same station you are dropped off at “Terminal de Buses de Quepos”. When I arrived there was a bus waiting which had a sign in the front windows saying Manuel Antonio and the price, ₡380. This is a regular looking bus and not a coach. I waited next to it and the driver came by shortly after and we left at about 12:30. I arrived in Manuel Antonio about 20 minutes later.
This is the same bus that runs down to the beach and Manuel Antonio National Park. It always cost ₡380 and runs every 15 minutes. You can get it at various points along the routes so is a good bus to know if you’re staying in town and need to get down to the national park or beach without walking.
This route is current as of April 2024 and should also work in reverse.
For the bus timetable in the opposite direction see:
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