Usually when travellers say they are going to Nosara they mean Playa Guiones. When reading bus schedules be aware that the time listed is usually the time the bus leaves/arrives Nosara proper. Playa Guiones is about 20-40 minutes away from Nosara depending on how fast your bus is going. So if you are leaving Playa Guiones and you have arrived at your bus stop on time, don’t stress if it takes a while for it to pass. There are several marked bus stops located at the junctions to beach roads branching from the main road (see map). To grab the bus, you just need to walk to the main road and give it a wave as it approaches.
The bus going all the way to San José is a nicer more comfortable bus with a/c. Buses going only to Nicoya are more basic.
Nosara to San José
There is a direct bus to San José which leaves Nosara once per day at 12:30pm and arrives at 7-10 Terminal. The price is 4585₡ (May 2017) and takes about 6hrs.
San José to Nosara
There is one bus per day from the San José 7-10 Terminal that leaves at 5:30am. The price is 4585₡ (May 2017) and takes about 6hrs.
If you don’t want to leave that early then you can go to Nicoya first and then switch to a bus going to Nosara. Although the bus to Nosara from Nicoya will not be as nice as the direct one from San José.
From San José the bus to Nicoya leaves at 5am, 7am, 10am, 12pm, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and according to the ticket lady, there is an extra one on Sunday at 6pm (2017). Always double check the schedule on the Empresa Alfaro website. Continue reading below for information about the bus from Nicoya to Nosara and be aware that the last bus from Nicoya to Nosara is at 5:30pm!
To/from Nicoya
From Nicoya to Nosara the bus leaves at: 4:45am (not Sunday), 10am, 1pm, 3pm, 4:30pm (Sunday only), 5:30pm (not Sunday).
From Nosara to Nicoya the bus leaves at: 5:00am (not Sunday), 5:30am, 7am, 12pm, 3pm.
The trip takes about 2hrs and the price is 1875₡. See photos below for a copy of the schedule.
Tip: To make the 12:30pm bus leaving Nicoya to Nosara, we recommend leaving Liberia no later than 10am, or you will risk sitting in Nicoya waiting for the 3:30pm bus. The bus from Liberia can take anywhere from 1.5hrs to over 2hrs.
Nosara to Samara
Grab the bus heading out of town and going to Nicoya. Ask to be left at ‘La Bomba’. This is a very common stop so the driver will know where it is and there will likely be other people on the bus getting off here. This will cost about 900₡. Once at La Bomba you wait for the bus to pass heading to Samara, which is coming from Nicoya. This will cost another 300₡.
Have a look at the Nicoya page to see when the buses are leaving and heading to Samara. It takes about 45min – 1hr for the bus to get from Nicoya to La Bomba. In total, depending on your connection, this short distance between Nosara and Samara can take between 3-4hrs.
Nosara to Santa Teresa
This is a long day but it can be done. You will have to:
Take the bus back to Nicoya, switch stations in Nicoya to the one going back to Liberia, in Liberia switch to the Puntarenas bus, in Puntarenas get to the ferry and cross to Paquera, from Paquera take the bus to Cobanó, from Cobanó take the bus to Santa Teresa. All of the linked pages above will give you the information you need for each connection and information about each location and terminal.
Liberia Airport to Nosara
You are in luck, the bus from Liberia to Nicoya passes right in front of the airport. See the Liberia Airport page for more detail. This bus will pass about every 30min so you wont be waiting long. Get on this bus and head to Nicoya. In Nicoya you need to change terminals. Don’t worry they are only about 5 blocks apart. Check the Nicoya page for more information. Once in Nicoya, you can follow the information above: Nicoya to Nosara.
Santa Teresa to Nosara
This one is written out in detail in our Routes section here: Santa Teresa to Nosara
Nosara to Tamarindo
We haven’t done this one but we are told you do this: take the bus back to Nicoya, switch to the bus going to Liberia, switch to the bus going to Santa Cruz. Asked to be dropped at the main station, or a close as possible and then from there get a bus going to Tamarindo. Note that the bus passing Santa Cruz to Tamarindo on Sunday runs less frequently, we were recently told that there is one at 10:30am and again at 2:30pm. I suspect there is one earlier than this or later but we don’t currently have the full schedule. Leave us a comment below if you have done this!
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!
Easiest way to/from Tamarindo and Nosara:
From Tamarindo – To Nosara:
Bus passes through the town going to Santa Cruz regularly. Get on bus and ask to stop in 27 de Abril (about 30 minutes away from Santa Cruz). The bus from Santa Cruz to Nosara passes through 27 de Abril at the same places. The bus from Santa Cruz to Nosara goes about 3 times a day.
From Nosara – To Tamarindo:
Take the bus from Nosara to Santa Cruz. Get off at 27 de Abril. The bus from Santa Cruz to Tamarindo passes through the same places in 27 de Abril. Take that bus all the way to Tamarindo.
There is a bus that runs directly from Samara to Nosara, though it is not listed on any of the signs or online.
It leaves from the main bus stop outside of roots bakery and cafe in Samara, and I caught it at 10am on a Friday. The fare was in the region of 1500colon but I don’t know the exact price. The bus stops at Garza and Playa Guiones and takes about an hour.
Sharing my recent experience going from Tamarindo —> Nosara (Guiones) the buses since I couldn’t find anything online. I imagine the reverse direction would be similar. I travelled on Wednesday October 2, 2019. 6.5 hrs (possibly less, see below), for 5650C (~$10 USD).
BUS 1: Tamarindo –> Daniel Oduber, aka Liberia Airport (or Belén!!).
I suspected I didn’t have to take the bus all the way to the airport since there’s a good deal of backtracking on the route the Nicoya, but I stayed on to the airport because I wasn’t confident. Now I can confirm that this bus AND the bus to Nicoya both stop in the main stop in Belén (look at map, it’ll make sense).
BUS 2: Daniel Oduber (or Belén!!) –> Nicoya.
Buses going between the airport and Nicoya are decently frequent, and you can probably achieve a faster time to Nicoya by transferring at Belén, instead of going all the way to the airport and back.
BUS 3: Nicoya –> Nosara.
Just be aware that you have to walk a few blocks to a different station to catch the bus to Nosara. It’s easy, and you can ask locals “autobús a Nosara?”. The bus passes through Guiones before reaching Nosara.
Great website. Mil gracias! I just took the white bus from Liberia Airport to Nicoya (you can catch it right in front of the airport or out on the highway in front of the airport). It was 1,920 colones and took just over 2 hours. When you get to Nicoya (called Estacion de Buses on Google Maps), there are no signs or maps, but the bus terminal is just a few blocks away. Find the main road called 150, and follow it down the hill, past streets Av. Justo A. Flores, Av 2, and Av 4, and it’s just before the river and just past Av 4 on your left (called Estacion de Buses ALFARO on Google Maps). You pay on the bus and I believe it was 1,200 colones. Stood most of the way, but it was an easy ride. Took about 2 hours in early October from Nicoya to Guiones/Nosara.
Nosara to San Jose bus:
Currently the bus leaves Nosara at 1230pm and then passes through playa guiones 20 mins later or so. U can buy your tickets in advance on Mibus.cr and choose ur seats!
What time does the bus get to Nicoya, I am trying to catch a bus leaving from San Jose @ 12pm on Thursday morning. Can That happen if you are leaving Nosara on the 5:30a bus to Nicoya?
Is it possible to buy tickets from 7-10 days in advance or do you have to purchase tickets the day of?
Unfortunately there is no advance purchase at this point. Have a great trip!
Just FYI – you can actually buy tickets online for Empresa Alfaro through mibus.cr and you can even choose your seats on the bus!
I took the bus from Nicoya to Nosara at 5:30pm and it took me about 2 hours. What you have to know is that you should check where you’re staying at exactly in Nosara, because the bus stops at several stations in Nosara. I did not know that and therefore I had to get a tuc-tuc from the main station to my place. Afterwards I realized that I just could have left the bus earlier at a station near my place.
Enjoy the nice but rather expensive Nosara!
Thanks for the info! and yes, there are a few stops on the road. We have them indicated with a little marker in the map above.
We travelled from Tamarindo to Nosara.
It took us about 5h.
We startet at 7am from Tamarindo, after 1h we reached Santa Cruz. You have to go to another Bus Station but you get it in 5-10minutes. After that we took the Bus to Nicoya at 08:20.
At 09:30 we took the Bus to Nosara (1,75h) from the Bus Terminal in Nicoya. It is a good alternative to the Shuttles (60 dollars) and you have the expirience of public bus;)