Manuel Antonio is a super popular spot in Costa Rica so there are a lot of buses that come and go from here. There is no bus station, the bus leaves Quepos and heads down the road to the beach (Playa Espadilla) and then heads back. There are marked bus stops along the way where people wait to be picked up and get dropped off. It is advised to wait at an actual stop to be sure you are picked up. With so many people coming and go from this place you can understand why it is good to be at an actual marked stop and why you may not be picked up otherwise.
Quepos to Manuel Antonio
Buses go every 30 minutes starting at 5:45am and then every hour after 7pm. The trip takes 25min. As of 2019 the price was 335₡
TIP – need to get to Quepos in a hurry to grab a connecting bus, but not sure when the next local bus will pass? Grab a colectivo taxi for 500₡ and get there quick. This is a special taxi that picks up people along the way until it is full. I wouldn’t recommend trying to grab one with if you’re travelling with a surfboard or large bags – that is what a regular taxi is for.
Manuel Antonio to San José
From San José: There are multiple buses heading to Manuel Antonio from San José every day and leave from the Plaza Gonzalez Viquez diagonal from the Tracopa Station.
From Manuel Antonio: It is a good idea to purchase this ticket in advance during the high season. The ticket can be purchased at the station in Quepos. We asked and they do not let people stand. You must have a seat. As of March 2018 the cost is 4630₡ though the directo and colectivo are slightly different prices. The length of the trip varies depending on what time of day you travel. We are told that the 10 a.m. and the 6pm directo buses take about 4 hours. All the other directo buses take about 3 to 3.5 hours. The Colectivos take about 5-6 hours.
To and from the San José Airport:
Manuel Antonio to SJO Airport: When you look at the schedule for Manuel Antonio to San José you will see buses either labeled Directo or Collectivo. Only the Collectivos pass the airport. Before you purchase your ticket check confirm that the bus you are taking does pass the airport to be sure.
SJO Airport to Manuel Antonio: The bus does not pass the airport heading to Quepos or Manuel Antonio. You will need to take a taxi or local bus to the Tracopa Station in San José.
Manuel Antonio to Dominical
Go to Quepos. Get the bus to Dominical. Check the Dominical page to see where you end up. See the photo of schedule below.
Manuel Antonio to Puntarenas
Go to Quepos. Buses to Puntarenas run from 4:30am to 6pm. See the photo of schedule below. As of Jan 2019 the price for a ticket was 2605₡. The trip takes about 3hrs
Manuel Antonio to Uvita
Go to Quepos.
From Quepos buses leave at 6am, 9:30am, 2:30 and 5:30pm. I had the ticket vendor write out the schedule (May 2017). Trip takes a about 2hrs. Price 1700₡ (Jan 2019)
There are also 2 buses per day that go from San José to Uvita. They leave San José at 6am and 3pm. They will pass by Quepos on the way.
Manuel Antonio to Jacó
Go to Quepos. Buses from Quepos run from 6am to 7pm. See the photo of schedule below. As of May 2017 the price for a ticket was 1265₡. The trip takes about 2hrs
Manuel Antonio to Santa Teresa
Go to Quepos. Grab the bus heading to Puntarenas. Take a 5 min taxi or walk 15 blocks to the Ferry. (See Puntarenas page for more info) Cross on the ferry. In Paquera there will be a bus waiting for you to take you to Cóbano. This trip takes about a 1.5hr and will cost around 1800₡. If you end up connecting with the bus coming from San José you may be able to stay on all the way to Santa Teresa. If not, you get off in Cobanó. The rest of the trip form Cobanó to Santa Teresa takes about 40min and costs 1000₡.
Manuel Antonio to La Fortuna
Go to Quepos. Take the bus to Puntarenas (3hrs). From there get the bus headed to San José. You are going to get off in San Ramon (2hrs), a stop before you get to San José so check with the driver to be sure he passes San Ramon on the route he is driving. From there you can catch the bus to La Fortuna (~2hrs). This is a long journey but can be done for about $14.
Tours in the area
Want to get more out of your time in Manuel Antonio? Check out some of the great tours offered in the area by Gecko Trail Costa Rica.
Help your fellow traveller
If you have taken any of the buses on this page, please drop us a comment below about how the trip went, what time you left, how long it took and what it cost. And, definitely let us know if we have anything wrong.
Lets help each other in our travels!
Took the Tracopa bus from SJ yesterday at 2:30. The bus goes all the way into Manuel Antonio from SJ and doesn’t require a change in Quepos. They stop at all the regular Manuel Antonio bus stops (including the one in front of Selina Hostel and the one along the beach towards the park entrance).
Currently on the way back out. The Tracopa bus doesn’t make pick ups in Manuel Antonio and one must take the 335 colones bus to Quepos first in order to purchase a ticket back to San Jose or anywhere alone the way. I’m currently enroute to Jaco (you can take either Tracopa or Transportes Quepos Puntarenas for this but TQP is recommended by the staff at the station).
The busses have 20 min of free wifi only.
Also, the 14:30 Tracopa SJ-MA bus was supposed to arrive in Manuel Antonio at 18:13 but ended up arriving at 19:30 or so due to traffic outside SJ and Quepos.
I took the 7:30 AM Directo bus to San Jose from Manuel Antonio. Though not well signposted, the Manual Antonio bus stop is at the roundabout by Playa Espadilla. You have to buy the ticket at the Quepos station before boarding, as you have already pointed out on the website. The bus does also make stops along the route to Manuel Antonio to Quepos to pick up passengers. The ticket cost 4,935 colones and we got to San Jose at 11:45 AM. The trip took place on February 9th, 2019.
Hi,
We travelled today from Manuel Antonio to Uvita.
The price for the bus from Quepos to the national park Manuel Antonio is nowadays 335c.
A bus from Quepos to Uvita is still one at 2:30 pm and costs 1700c.
On the way to Manuel Antonio, we came from Puntarenas and the TQP timetable is still the same. Only the price from Puntarenas to Quepos ist now 2605c.
Thanks for the updates, Julian!
re MNUEL/aNTONIO/Quepos-Alajuela BUS
We travelled Quepos-Alajuela by a Tracopa Collectivo bus, which stops at the airport. The trip took only 3.5 hours (on Sunday), with one bathroom stop (so we needn’t have desisted from drinking :)). This was the advice given at the bus station, which turned out to be great. (We had wondered whether to take a Directo to San Jose, then another bus onto Alajuela, but the Collectivo turned out fine.) There are many frequent buses from the Airport into Alajuela city.
Teng
Hello! We will be taking the Tracopa bus from San Jose to Manuel Antonio. I’m having trouble figuring out the address that the bus will drop us off at in Manuel Antonio (and the address we go to to purchase tickets to take the Tracopa bus from Manuel Antonio back to San Jose). Does everyone get off at one stop or can you tell the driver where you are going? We are going to the Hotel Verde Mar.
Also do they take dollars or only colones?
Thank you!
Hi Olivia, they taxis usually take both USD and Colones. If you get a chance to take Colones out from and ATM at the airport you should to have some on you. Buses going to Manuel Antonio basically drive to the end of the road (the beach) and back. I would have a look at where your hotel is on Google Maps and find a landmark. Looks like you are near the beach and so I would expect that others will be getting off in that area. You could also ask your hotel if they recommend a specific spot to get off. You can also ask the driver, but I wouldn’t 100% rely on that.
Can you add an edit on going from the airport to MA and whether any buses stop by the airport headed out of SJ to MA please
Sure thing Rob, as far as I understand it there is no bus going from the airport area to Manuel Antonio and one must get to the Tracopa station to take the bus. The schedules are still from May of this year but that page will get a full update early in the new year. I’ll do my best to be sure info is updated before than. Thanks! Pura Vida.
Hi we just went from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio and I thought I would share the journey with you. We took the 5:30 am bus from bus station in La Fortuna to San Ramon. It cost about$3.50 (2hrs). Then transferred to Puntarenas, $2.50 (1.25hrs). Then in Puntarenas we got the bus to Quepos, about $2 (2.5hrs). Then as you said there are buses running very frequently to Manuel Antonio for about 60cents. In total I think it took 9 hours. Had enough time in Puntarenas to get lunch which was nice.
People often ask whether they can get from Manuel Antonio to SJO airport or near Alajuela without going into San Jose and then backtracking.
You can, by taking some but not all of the colectivos. But first of all you have to get yourself to the Quepos bus station.
All the directos and those colectivos shown on the schedule as going “por la ruta 27” take the toll road and DO NOT pass the airport area.
However, the colectivos with no notation take the old road and stop on the road in front of the airport. So based on the current schedule (Nov/16) the 5:00 AM , 10:00 and 4:45 PM colectivos will get you to the airport.
We took the 10:00AM colectivo on November 14 and were let off at the airport at the 1:30 PM – so 3.5 hours. But if planning the trip, I would allow 4 hours incase of traffic jams or other road issues.
Thank you so much Raquel for this important update! Really good/critical information for those heading to the airport from this area.