Going from Santa Teresa to Nosara (or the other way around) is a seriously long journey. You will need to start early on either side.
From Santa Teresa you can either take the 6am direct bus to San José and be let off in Puntarenas (you will have to pay full fare of 6500C for this trip even if you only go to Puntareans) or you can take the local transportes Mal Pais bus to Cobano and connect with the 7am direct bus Paquera(~1000C+1800C). Get on the ferry. Once in Puntareans you either need to take a taxi to the bus station (about 16blocks away) or you can walk (check the map for the route). I recommend finding another traveller and sharing the 1500C taxi.
From Puntarenas you will take a bus to Liberia. There is a bus that leaves at 11am. If you made the 9am ferry sailing then you will be able to roll up in front of the Puntarenas station just in time for this bus. Then from Liberia you will take the bus to Nicoya this bus runs every half hour.
From Nicoya you need to walk to another station about 5 blocks away (see map on the Nicoya page) where you will find busses headed to Nosara (and Samara if you choose) and then the bus to Nosara from there. You should be able to make it onto the 3:30pm bus but if for some reason you miss this one, have no fear, there is a 5:30pm. This final stretch is about 2hrs.
Does this route work in reverse? Having to leave Nicoya to get south seems odd. I’ll try Hitching a ride 1st
I made the journey today from Santa Teresa to Sámara. I started around 6am in ST, taking a bus to Cóbano (₡1,000). Then a bus from Cóbano to Paquera (₡1,500) and got on the 9am ferry from Paquera to Puntarenas (₡810). I split a cab from the ferry to the bus station at Puntarenas (₡800 for my half), went out front by the water and found a bus to La Cruce Barranca (₡500). No need to go to a ticket office, just ask around.
At Barranca I waited about an hour and a half for a bus to Nicoya (₡3,300). From Nicoya it was about an hour on the bus to Sámara (₡1,370), and arrived before 4:30pm. There are several buses from Nicoya to Sámara, leaving every hour or hour and a half until 8:30pm if I remember correctly.
No need to travel all the way to Líberia, it’s still a fairly long day but it should be more direct and cost less than ₡10,000. It went pretty quickly, the scenery was nice, and I made some new friends.
Buenos viajes mis amigos 🙂
I missed one small part of this venture. From Barranca I took a bus that was going to Santa Cruz that dropped me off at la cruce Nicoya. I could have taken a cab from there but walked maybe 2km to the bus stop. I think there may have been a bus directly to Nicoya but the one to SC came first so I got on that one. Just so you know the options 🙂
Great info!!!
Hi do you know if this route is still possible? Thanks
Hello, thank you for your very helpful and informative website. We are travelling on a budget, so we find it extremely helpful! So far all the information and timetables was spot on!