To get to Puerto Viejo from San José you need to head to the Terminal MEPE. Have a look at the station page to see where it is located and also to see photos of the station and the schedule. We are still in the process of getting detailed information for Puerto Viejo. Until we get this page complete, have a look at this site Puerto Viejo Satellite for answers to your transportation questions!
San José to Puerto Viejo
Buses from the Terminal MEPE head to Puerto Viejo and the Panama border (Sixaola).The bus leaves several times per day to Sixaola passing Puerto Viejo along the way (6am, 8am, 10am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm). You can find the schedule photo below. The bus to Sixaola from Puerto Viejo is 1760₡ in May 2018. The 12pm bus to Manzanillo should also pass Puerto Viejo. Buses fill up fast in the busy season and it’s not a bad idea to go to the station at least the day before to purchase your tickets if you want to be guaranteed a seat. You may or may not be allowed to still board and stand. The price in May 2018 is 7230₡.
Puerto Viejo to San José: price is 5960₡ (Dec 2018)
What to do?
Gecko Trail has several pretty cool options for things to do when in the Puerto Viejo and Souther Caribbean area.
Puerto Viejo to Bocas del Toro
Here is a route from a couple of travel bloggers you may find helpful: Border crossing from Puerto Viejo to Bocas del Toro.
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!
Hi there!
Just did the trip from Monteverde to Puerto Viejo, took the bus at 5:30am to San Jose and then another bus at 10am to Puerto Viejo and arrived at 2:30pm – so about 9 hours for the whole trip.
The bus from San Jose to Puerto Viejo was 7.345 Colones and leaves at 8am, 10am, 12pm only on Friday and Saturday, 2pm and 4pm.
Hope that helps with planning your trip 🙂
Hi guys,
Just did Puerto Viejo to Boquete and here’s the latest information:
1. Puerto Viejo to Sixaola: the price is now 1875c and takes less than one hour.
2. Border-crossing on foot was very easy. The old bridge is gone. As soon as you get off the bus, a woman will come and ask you to pay the departure tax at the shop. You can pay there, or at another counter next to the pharmacy. The price is now $9 even though receipt says $8 and you cannot pay with card at the immigration desk, they will send you back to those shops.
3. After you are stamped out of Costa Rica, keep walking and take the stairs down on the left, you’ll see some very unofficial desks. Fill out the form and give to the lady, then walk around the corner and down more stairs and there’s the Panama Immigration. I high recommend crossing borders on your own instead of taking a shuttle, it’s much cheaper and you are more likely to avoid the long queue as it is unbearably hot there.
4. There’s no entry fee for Panama, not on the bridge or at immigration. The only document I was asked for was an outbound ticket. I showed them my e-ticket to Colombia and that was sufficient. They will then take your photo, fingerprints and stamp you in.
5. Whether you are going to Bocas or Boquete, if you are taking local transport, you need to transfer at Changuinola. You can take a bus for $0.95 or a shared taxi for $1.5. It takes about 30 minutes. Tell the driver where you want to go and he will drop you at the right station. I’m not sure about Bocas but to David it’s a shuttle bus. It costs $9.75 and takes over 5 hours. The road was not bad but for some reason the driver kept at 30k/h for the most part and stopped everywhere for snacks, pick up or drop off people, so bring a book or a movie. Once you arrive in David, at the same station there are buses leaving every half hour to Boquete for $1.75 and it takes less than one hour to arrive.
Safe travels!
Price from Puerto Viejo to San Jose is 5960 on December 17th.
Great website!
Thanks!
Price of bus Puerto Viejo – Sixaola in July 2018 is 1760 colones. If you pay USD is 4USD. Local people get in the bus out of bus stop.
At Sixaola tienda y bazar bethel will do the process of impuesto salida for 8USD or 4800 colones
Thanks!!
If you have to take the detour through Turrialba due to rain/road closed, the cost is like 7500 and 6.5 hours from puerto viejo.
Thank you for the update!
From La Fortuna to Puerto Viejo in 1 day:
– Option 1 is to do a 2 bus trip by going from La Fortuna directly to San José and from there on to Puerto Viejo, but we were told there is not much time in San José, and as you can read on this page the second bus does regularly sell out. So for us this sounded a bit risky, so this is what we did:
– Option 2 is to take the bus from La Fortuna to Quesada (via El Tanque, this should be the fastest), check the La Fortuna page for a photo of the schedule. We took it at 8:00am and arrived at 9:20 in Quesada. It costs 2800C.
Next bus is Quesada – San José, 10:00 – 13:05 for 1800C. The boletería in Quesada opened around 9:45 (so 15 mins before the bus left), and there was already a queue before that time. Join it while your waiting anyway!
In San José you have to switch to the MEPE terminal, which is a less than 5 minute walk.
Our last bus was as described in this page (Thanks!): San José – Puerto Viejo, 14:00 – 18:45 for 5590C. There was a bathroom/snack stop of 10-15 minutes at the bus terminal of Limon around 17:15.
For the early risers: we got advised option 2, but starting at 6am. This should allow you to catch the 12:00 bus in San José and reach Puerto Viejo in daylight.
Thanks, Bob! I made a new Route page for this. https://centrocoasting.com/routes/la-fortuna-to-puerto-viejo/
There is a 12pm bus too!
Ah yes, thanks! The bus from Manzanillo should pass PV too.