Buses leave the Puntarenas station for several destinations including: Liberia, Quepos, Jacó, Monteverde, San José, Cobanó, Santa Teresa Montezuma.
**STATION CHANGE : All of the bus stations are no longer grouped in one location. The TQP (Quepos, Puntarenas, Jaco) buses now arrive and depart from the Municipalidad de Puntarenas, which is about 4 blocks from the other station. (Jan 2017)
one helpful traveller has given this location as the new bus terminal (Aug 2018) https://goo.gl/maps/9JR2QhF81ep
Bus station to the Ferry
The Puntarenas bus station is located about 15 blocks from the ferry terminal. A taxi between the two will cost you about 1500₡. You can walk but it is far when carrying your luggage and it shouldn’t be hard to find other travellers to share a taxi.
Puntarenas to Santa Teresa
Get from the bus station to the ferry and cross. 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₡.
Puntarenas to Quepos
See photo of schedule below. Price is2605₡ as of Jan 2019 and it takes about 3hrs until you arrive in Quepos.
Puntarenas to Liberia
There are 10 buses per day to Libera between 5am and 5pm. The schedule is posted below. See photo of schedule below. As of February 2018 the price is 2875₡. The trip takes about 3hrs. Be early as buses can leave early.
Puntarenas to Monteverde
See photo of schedule below for buses to Monteverde. 1500₡, ~3hrs
Check out the route if you are coming from Santa Teresa: Santa Teresa to Monteverde
Puntarenas to Jacó
See photo of schedule below for buses to Jacó. ~ 1500₡, ~1.5hrs
Puntarenas to San José
There are both directo and indirecto buses to San José. We are told that only the indirecto buses pass the airport.
This bus does a few different routes (San Ramón, Alajuela, Esparza, El Roble). You can see them here on the Empresarios Unidos website and see which route number goes where.
The schedules are also listed on their website: Empresarios Unidos schedule. We hope their website is up to date! There is also a photo of the indirecto schedule below.
The trip from Puntarenas to San José costs 2585₡ as of May 2017 and takes about 3hrs.
Puntarenas to Cañas and Tilarán
One helpful traveller has told us that there is one bus per day at 11:45am to Cañas and onto Tilarán. Thanks, Doc!
Ferry to the bus station
Cost of a taxi: 1500₡, 5 minutes
Ferry Schedule
Puntarenas to Paquera
- 05:00, 09:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:30*
(*no connecting bus heading all the way to Santa Teresa/Mal Pais, Montezuma)
Paquera to Puntarenas
- 05:30, 09:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:00
***here is an extremely useful number = call tel: 26612084 (then press 4) and you can get the current ferry schedule.
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!
Due to construction works at the coast side in Puntarenas the bus to Monteverde now departs from just around the corner in Calle 4.
At this location you’ll spot the kiosk with the timetables like in the pictures shown above on this page.
But I don’t know for how long it’ll last like that. After finishing the construction works they may change it back to the old bus stop.
Hi,
We took the 1.15pm bus on 03rd July from Puntarenas to Santa Elena and all as per bus schedule. The price was circa 1,600 colones
Hola,
Has anyone taken them ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera lately? Since they’ve done the updates on it? I’m travelling there this weekend and wondering if the schedule is current. Thanks!
Hello!
What bus should I take from San Jose to Puntarenas to make it on time for the 11 am ferry? Thank you!
Hello!
What bus should I take from San Jose to Puntarenas to make it on time for the 11 am ferry on a Saturday? Thank you!
Am going from Santa Teresa – Monteverde today. In Puntarenas there was a local bus that picked up at the ferry terminal right after the 9am ferry and dropped off a block from the bus station, price 265 colones. Good way to save on a taxi.
The price from Puntarenas to Quepos was 2605₡ on 1/2/19.
Thanks for this information, this was very helpful for me to find my way from Puntarenas to Playa Del Coco. Note that the latest price for the bus from Puntarenas to Liberia is 730 colones as of today – I have a photo of the ticket if you need.
Hi Sunny! Thanks for the price update. That would be great if you could send us the photo (facebook msg). That is a significant reduction in cost! Did you mean Playa del Coco to Liberia?
Great web, but there is no cheap bus from Paquera to Cobano, Costa Rica. Only shuttle, you can shuttle all the way to Santa Teresa, but I headed for Montezuma and got off in Cobano, I payed 10$ shuttle. Cheap bus from Cobano to Montezuma.
Thanks, Svend. I will have to doublecheck this. There should be a bus – the locals don’t likely pay for a shuttle. The local bus should go Paquera to Cobano and then from there you switch to the bus going to Montezuma or to the one to Santa Teresa.