Travellers often go through Tilarán on their way to or from La Fortuna. A huge thank you to adventure bus traveller Brian Driscoll for updating photos and prices on this page for 2017.
Tilarán to San Jose
Schedule as of June 2017 – 5am (except Sundays and Holidays), 7am, 9:30am, 2pm, 5pm. See photo below. Trip costs 4020₡ and takes about 5hrs.
San José to Tilarán: Head to the Pulmitan de Liberia station in San José. Buses to Tilarán leave at 7:30am, 9:30am (except Sundays and Holidays), 12:45pm, 3:45pm, 6:30pm. See photo of schedule below. The trip to Tilarán takes almost 5hrs and as May 2017 costs 4020₡. This bus passes the airport enroute.
Tilarán to La Fortuna
There are 3 buses each day for La Fortuna:
from Tilarán to La Fortuna: 7:00am, 12:15pm, 3:30pm
from La Fortuna to Tilarán : 6:30am, 11:30pm, 3:55pm
The cost as of June 2017 the cost is 2750₡ and takes 2-2.5 hours. See photo of schedule below from June 2017.
Tilarán to Monteverde
Here is the schedule for Monteverde
4:00am, 8:30am, 12:30pm, 5:00pm.
5:00am, 7:00am, 11:30am , 4:00pm
The cost as of Jan 2019 is 1300₡. The trip takes about 2hrs and 15min.
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!
Just did the La Fortuna – Tilarán – Monteverde trip by local bus: bus leaves La Fortuna at 8:00am (not 6:30am as listed on the schedule, 1.5 hrs unplanned breakfast for us). According to the locals that‘s the default as of June 2019 (price was 2,975 Colones p.p.). Connecting bus at Tilarán leaves as listed at 12:30 for 1,300 Colones.
We took the 12:30 bus from Tilaran to Monteverde on 12/29/18, cost 1300 colones/person.
Buenos dias,
Somos una familia y queremos ir de Tilaran a Santa Elena el viernes 7 de diciembre. y de vuelta en el 9. ¿Tienes autobuses para este viaje? cuales son los horarios
Además, tenemos una casa rolante y nos gustaría dejarla en manos de tilaran los 2 días. es posible?
muchas gracias
Hola lucas, lamentamos no haber respondido antes. No somos una agencia. Solo somos viajeros. Puede busca los horarios arriba. Esperamos que sus viajes hayan sido exitosos.
We are looking for information on getting to Nicaragua from Tiliran CR. We would like to do just a day trip and our Spanish is limited. Any suggestions about bus routes, shuttles or any other fairly painless way to make this trip would be helpful. We appreciate in advance any information you can share.
Hi there. I would go on the bus from Tilaran to Canas. From Canas to Liberia. From Liberia to the border. You can check this page for what the Liberia station looks like. Buses to the border go very frequently. I am not sure if the schedule on this site is up-to-date but they do go about every hours. https://centrocoasting.com/costarica/liberia-municipal/
Hey, I’ve got some updated photos for schedules from Tilarán and Monteverde, but I can’t find where to submit photos. Please let me know where to do this.
Thanks,
Jason
Hi Jason, you can send them to centrocoasting – @ – gmail – dot – com. Thank you!
Hey guys,
My girlfriend and I are traveling from Monteverde to Bijagua (Rio Celeste). Our host at La Carolina Lodge suggested we take the bus from Monteverde to Tilaran/Canas. From there, to switch buses and take a new one to Upala and get off at Bijuaga. Can anyone confirm this? I don’t see any buses going to Upala from Monteverde here…
Sorry, I meant “going to Upala from Tilaran”.
Hey Adam, I haven’t done this route and so I can only tell you what I think is correct and what I have heard from others. I don’t yet have any info for the station in Cañas (which if you want you could take a bunch of photos and info and send that to us to help others!) As I understand it, there are several buses per day from Cañas to Upala and you can get off in Bijagua. So yes, from Monteverde, head to Tilaran. Then Tilaran to Cañas. Then Cañas to Bijagua on the bus that is going to Upala. If you do this, take notes and photos along the way and I will add a ‘route’ courtesy of you and your girlfriend!
We took the bus from Tilaran to Monteverde and return on the 02-2-18. The trip is over a rather rough dirt road but the views are spectacular which makes it well worth the bumps. Took 2 hours going and 2.5 coming back. Cost was 1000 colones ea., (roughly $2.00 US) vs $100.00 ea., US via shuttle.
Thanks, George!!
Thanks so much for posting. This was a big help. As of 10-28-17, the schedules are the same. We took a round trip from Tilaran to Fortuna. The way there was correct. The way back is a bit tricky. We expected the Fortuna bus to depart at 3:55 pm (like the Tilaran schedule states). The Fortuna bus station lists a 5pm departure. Turns out we left at 5:25pm. The guy at the Fortuna station explained that the bus leaves San Carlos for Fortuna around 3:55pm. Whatever the Tilaran schedule lists, plan to tack on an hour to an hour and a half. Hope this helps!
Thanks back to you, Christina! It’s comments like your’s that really help keep the site up to date for others. If you have any other confirmations or additions we’d love to get them.