Samara has two main spots to wait for the bus depending on where you are going. Lots of information below but here is a website we found to check out schedules. https://www.samarainfocenter.com/local-bus-schedule
Samara to San José
If you are going to San José there is a direct bus, it will stop across from the Empresa Alfaro office in town. This location is indicated on the map above and the schedule for this bus can be found below. This is a really nice a/c bus. As of Aprils 2017 the price is 4265₡ and the trip takes about 5hrs.
San José to Samara
There is a bus that leaves the Terminal 7-10 two times per day: 12pm and 5pm. To Samara it’s about 5.5hrs and costs 4265₡ (2017).
Samara to Nicoya
For buses heading back to Nicoya you can wait at a covered bus stop right at the exit of town – about 20 meters away from the Alfaro office. Have a look at the photos below to see this stop. This bus will pass La Bomba – which is where you need to get off for buses to Nosara, see below. As of 2016 the price is about 1800₡ and the trip takes 1.5hrs.
To/from Nosara:
To go between Samara and Nosara you need to head to “La Bomba” a few miles outside of Samara. This is basically a junction between Samara and Nosara. When leaving Samara you can take the Nicoya bus and ask the driver to let you off here. Or, grab a taxi. There is a covered bus stop there where you can wait for the bus to pass. There is a chance you will have to wait a bit here for a connecting bus and you can check the schedule posted on the Nicoya page to get a sense of when the respective bus will pass. La Bomba is about an hour away from Nicoya.
Liberia Airport to Samara
In Liberia the bus to Nicoya will pass by the airport very regularly. You can grab this bus to Nicoya and then from there you can switch to the bus to Samara. Have a look at the Nicoya page for the schedule to Samara.
What to do in Samara?
Lots to do around here: Dolphin Watching and Snorkeling, Night Time Turtle Watching, Stand Up Paddle Boarding and much, much more!
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!
As of 25 April 2019 there are two MiBus buses daily from Samara to San Jose with a short stop in Nicoya. Leaving Samara Monday to Saturday at 4:00am and 9:00am and Sunday at 9:00am and 1:00pm. We caught the 9:00am and it took about 5 hours. The cost was 4,470 per person. (I’ve got a picture of timetable and Samara office opening hours but haven’t been able to attach or copy into this message – email if you’d like me to forward).
Keep up the great work Centrocoasting
Hey im trying to get from samara to playas del coco. Do i need to go back to liberia? Or maybe a bus from santa cruz goes near there? Thanks
Hey there, we are slow to reply but will add info here in case anyone else needs to know. Yes, you need to go back to Liberia and then get the bus to Playa Del Coco. How did your trip go? Can you share any advice?
Hola! Thank you for this information, it helped us during our trip to Samara! To update you, the bus schedule for Samara to San Jose is still accurate as of December 2018!
Awesomeness thanks for the update and schedule confirmation!!
New Bus Times board up in Samara. Have a picture here but don’t know how to post it? I can email it over or something?
Thank you for sending the updated schedule!
Hey. So because this site really helps me a lot with my travels, I wanna share something too now. Its how to get from SÁMARA to TAMARINDO.
Take the bus to Nicoya (1.200 Cólones). Get off in Nicoya and walk 5 mins to another busstation (in Google Maps its just called „estación de buses“). Dont listen to the Taxi drivers. Its really just 5 mins away.
There you have to buy the ticket before you get on the bus heading to Liberia. But you just go to Santa Cruz (375 Cólones). Get off at the main station in Santa Cruz (not on the main road, there will come a little bigger bus station). After that you have to walk again 5-10 mins („Estación de buses municipal“). There you buy a ticket to tamarindo (1.090 Cólones) and get on the bus.
Sounds like a lot of walking and switching busses but its really easy!!
Save travels to everyone!
Thanks, Sony!
Oh and: I took the bus at 10am in Samara it took about an hour, the bus to Liberia came right away in Nicoya and took around 30-40 minutes. And the bus in Santa Cruz left at 1pm. I arrived in Tamarindo around 2pm 🙂
My experience from SJDS to Santa Teresa:
6:30 am chicken bus from SJDL to Rivas. They will probably charge you double the price ifyou have luaggage. The guy also tried to charge a couple who wanted to go to Managua 300 instead of 160. I had to pay 60 instead of 30, and he tried to not give me a ticket.
Bus had 30 min delay and left after 7. In Rivas I went across the street and 100 m back to catch the bus to the border. Again was charged the double price. No arguing and he tried to also cheat me with my change. So if you have some extra cash I would suggest sharing a taxi from SJDS to the borderas this was the most annoying and time consuming part.
Arrived short before 9 at border. Ignore everyone trying to sell you something. Bring exact change for the 1 and 2 dollar charges at border.
To Costa Rica was no line but they asked everyone for onward ticket so be prepared. The bus to Liberia was already waiting outside and cost me around 1.800 colones or something like that. It took 90 min to Liberia. Right on time to catch the 10:30 bus from Liberia to Puntarenas. Fare is 2800 but got charged 1500 more for luaggage. Bus arrived at 1:30 pm close to ferry. Took a taxi for 1.000 to ferry terminal. 810 for ferry at 2pm. On the other side the bus was waiting to Cobano. Around 1.400 and then Cobano to Santa Teresa for 1000.
Arrived in Santa Teresa by sunset.
Sorry i posted that on the wrong topic
Thanks, Marion. I will post it on the right page. 🙂
After taking the Empresa Alfaro bus to Samara and picking up some groceries, we continued on to our final destination of Playa Camaronal. If you need to get to this area, take the Traroc bus towards Estrada. Then you’ll have to walk about 2miles to get to the Playa Camaronal area.
Also when we left, we were able to pick up the Empresa Alfaro bus in Estrada to go to San Jose. The sign said no cash tickets available but they did let us pay cash. We left Estrada at 8am and it took about 6.5 hours to arrive in San Jose.
Thank you!!
Thanks so much for this incredible site! If you are taking the 5 pm bus to Samara from SJO the current price is 4.265 colones as of 15 April 2017!
Thanks, GG! I will get that updated above. So glad centrocoasting has been helpful to you!