The Tica Bus terminal in San José is pretty typical. There is food for purchase inside and also a hotel attached. If you want to ride with Tica Bus, you need a ticket. You can now buy your ticket online!
Check the Tica Bus website for the list of schedules and prices. There are so many that I wont list them here. You can also check to see where the nearest Tica Bus office is located to go and purchase your ticket.
The pictures below are from the main terminal. For the hotel – economical rooms are priced around $15USD and ones with Air Conditioning and a TV are about $28USD.
Going to Panama?
Check out this great blog post on travel planning for Panama City, San Blas Islands and Bocas del Toro by Costa Rica experts, Mytanfeet: Planning our trip to Panama from Costa Rica.
Everything about this was awful. From the unmarked bus stop away from the bus terminal in David, to the fact that they don’t actually stop in Quepos as it says on the ticket, to the fact that they didn’t stop at all. Had I not been paying attention, and told them to stop after they missed town, I’d probably have ended up in San Jose. They dumped me on the side of the highway in a sketchy spot in the middle of the night. They claimed they needed a safe place to stop before they could pull over — meaning safe for the bus, not the buyer. Ticket also cost more than the other options, and support completely blew me off.