Don’t want to pay $50+ for a shuttle from Santa Teresa to Monteverde? Take the bus! Wait on the side of the road in Santa Teresa for the 6am bus to pass. You can either take the direct bus to San José (but you have to pay the full fare of 7500C) and be let off in Puntarenas or take the local Transportes Mal Pais bus to Cóbano ~1000C and then the 7am direct bus to Paquera ~1800C. Get on the 9am ferry, 810C. You can then either take a taxi from the ferry to the Puntarenas bus station for 1500C or walk the 15+blocks. I recommend finding another traveller to split the taxi fare with, however if you choose to walk, you can find the map on the page for the Puntarenas station.
The bus from Puntarenas to Monteverde doesn’t leave for a couple of hours which is a great opportunity to eat some rice and beans. I recommend taking the 1:15pm bus not the 1:30pm. The journey with this bus is about one hour shorter! In the end you will arrive in Monteverde at around 4:30pm. The journey is a few hours longer but you stand to save about $35!
So relax, enjoy some lunch in Puntarenas and sip on some coconut water outside the station.
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Jan 2022. We took the 6am bus from santa teresa, the 8:30 bus from cobano, the 10am Ferry and then the 1:30bus from paqueras to monteverde. Worked well. We arrived around 4pm. However there was no 1:15 bus leaving paqueras (but the 1:30 bus was quit fast)
Just want to share another option; Wouldn’t recommend as it is a bit of a hassle but if you somehow miss the 1:30 bus (or trusted horariodebuses.com on the 15:15 bus 😉 you can take the 16:00 bus towards Sardinal and ask the bus driver to drop you of at the Cabello Blanco Restaurant. From there you can hop on the bus from San Jose to monteverde which stops at the restaurant for a snack break!
We just did this from Montezuma. We didn’t get the early bus, we left at 8:15 to get the 11am ferry, made it in plenty of time to walk to bus stop (yes it’s like 15 blocks, but it’s along the coast so for me it was worth getting a little sweaty under our heavy packs). 1:15 bus got us to Santa Elena by 4:30, with a small bathroom stop on the way (yay).
Thanks for sharing! Yes I do the walk sometimes too. I also love having a bite to eat at the bus station.
Hey, we are about to do this journey, Santa Teresa to Monteverde… I understand you did this from Montezuma..Did you have to change bus in Cabano? if so what time did the bus leave from Cabano? Trying to figure out what bus we need to get from Santa Teresa to transfer in Cabano and make the 11:00am Ferry…
Any tips would be great 😃
Hi, is this still accurate?
Should be mostly, but read through the Santa Teresa, Puntarenas and the Monteverde pages to look for any more specific info changes. Lots of great traveler comments and advice too.
Does the direct bus from Sante Theresa to San Jose use a ferry? Or does it go around the penisula? If so, does the bus ticket include the ferry/ do they help you get on the ferry?
Yes, the bus goes on the ferry. The bus ticket does not include the ferry (though it may have changed)
Took the direct bus and cost me 7500c
Holà! How about from monteverde to Santa teresa
It’s all of the steps above, but backwards! Monteverde to Puntarenas, taxi to ferry port, ferry from Puntarenas to Paquera, then but bus from Paquera to Santa Teresa. If you check the pages for Monteverde, Puntarenas and Santa Teresa you will find all of the details you need.
https://centrocoasting.com/costarica/monteverde-santa-elena/
https://centrocoasting.com/costarica/puntarenas/
https://centrocoasting.com/costarica/santa-teresa/
Thank you!!!!!!!! This was exactly what I need to know the shuttle is way to expensive on my budget…