Quepos has a main bus terminal in the centre of town. It is tiny for how many busses come and go through there and you will often bare witness to a bus jam out front as you wait for your own departure. Anything you could possibly need is within a short distance of this station. There is a bank and a bakery (coffee!) just down the street. There is also a pharmacy right across the street and even a subway sandwich shop with a/c if you should happen to have a long layover between buses.
Quepos is a key hub in this area of Costa Rica. If you are going to Manuel Antonio then you will be passing through here. Here you can also find buses heading to Uvita, Dominical, Puntarenas, San José and Jacó. Possibly more, we will keep adding to the page each time we travel though. Have a look below for recent photos of schedules.
There are a few different companies that operate buses in and out of Quepos. One of the main ones is Tracopa. You can check the Tracopa website for a list of their schedules and times in addition to what you read below. Note that the Tracopa website is pretty limited as it only shows major routs in and out of San José. When searching leave either the destination or the origin portion as ‘any’ or you may not get any results.
Quepos to Manuel Antonio
Buses go to Manuel Antonio every 30 minutes starting at 5:45am and then every hour after 7pm. The trip takes 25min. As of Jan 2019 the price was 335₡
Quepos 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 Quepos: 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 August 2018 the cost is 4790₡, 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:
Quepos to SJO Airport: When you look at the schedule for Quepos 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 Quepos: 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.
Quepos to Uvita
Bus leaves for Uvita at 6am, 9:30am, 2:30 and 5:30pm. I had the ticket vendor write out the schedule (May 2017). Price is 1700₡. Trip takes about 2hrs.
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.
Quepos to Dominical
Schedule posted below for Dominical. Price is 1500₡ and takes about 1hr 45min. We are told there is also an 11:30 bus going to San Isidro that also stops in Dominical. 1350₡
Quepos to Puntarenas
Buses going 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.
Quepos to Jacó
Buses run to Jacó from 6am to 7pm. See the photo of schedule below. As of May 2017 the price for a ticket was 1375₡. (Nov 2018). The trip takes about 2hrs
Quepos to Santa Teresa
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₡.
Quepos to La Fortuna
Take the bus to Puntarenas (~2.5hrs). From there get the bus headed to San José. You are going to get off in San Ramon (~1.5hrs), 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.
Quepos to David
It is possible to get to Panama from Quepos. You’ll need to purchase your ticket ahead of time from the station in Quepos and then take a taxi to the main highway and wait at the hospital. One helpful traveller named Ian left a comment for you below to tell you how his trip went.
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!
Bus Quepos to Jaco $1375 October 28 2018
Thanks, Michael!
We just took the Quepos to San José bus today. It was a direct bus departing at 12pm. We stopped about halfway through for a 15 min break, and we arrived in San José around 3:45pm. Cost was 4790 colones per person, no extra charge for luggage.
For going to Uvita or Dominical: There is a 11:30 Bus going to San isidro that also stops in Dominical. 1350C
For Uvita/Bahia then get a bus to Ciudad Neily that passes for uvita. For me that was 5 Minutes waiting for the other bus.
Thank you, Loui!
Update : San José – Quepos, Tracopas direct bus, is 4630 C.
I recently took the Quepos to Puntarenas bus departing at 11:00am. It left on time and the whole trip took a little over 3 hours. Just wanted to let you know that the ticket price has skyrocketed a whole 30 colones to 2445. 🙂
Thank you, Jeremy!
Thought your readers might be interested in this. Yesterday we took the bus (Trapoca) from Quepos to David, Panama (switched buses on to Boquete). We bought our tickets a few days early at the Quepos bus station. The bus was supposed to arrive at 10am (we got there at 930am) at the bus stop directly across from the hospital on the main highway. Eight dollar taxi ride from Quepos bus station. The bus arrived at 1130am (green Trapoca bus with David on front). Another passenger said there was road construction which caused at least part of the delay. Border crossing was smooth. Four different places to go, first to pay the departure tax $8 per person. Then exit from Costa Rica, then arrival in Panama, finally bags inspected for produce. We were not asked for onward proof of travel or sufficient funds verification but we are retired maybe that had an effect.
Arrived in David at 530pm. So if someone is in Quepos it’s possible to catch the Trapoca bus from San Jose to David without backtracking.
Thanks, Ian! Super helpful information for other travellers. I made a note above. Hope you have a great rest of your vacation!
I’m travelling from Atenas to Quepos and then back to Atenas after a few days’ stay. I’m guessing I’ll need to take a colectivo bus on the San Jose/Quepos route – how do I know what the times of the colectivo buses are?
Hi Liz! If you look at the 2nd and 3rd photo above you will see the schedule with the collectivos. The schedule is from May but should still be correct. I am not sure if there has been any changes to times and routes after the storms though, so best to ask the ticket seller when buying before you get on the bus!
People often ask whether they can get from Quepos 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.
The directos and the 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.