Monteverde Travel Guide

Getting There & Departing

By Car -- From San José, take the Interamerican Highway north. About 20km (12 miles) past the turnoff for Puntarenas, there will be a marked turnoff for Sardinal, Santa Elena, and Monteverde. From this turnoff, the road is paved almost as far as the tiny town of Guacimal. From here it's another 20km (12 miles) to Santa Elena. It should take you a little over 2 hours to reach the turnoff and another 1 hour or so from there.

An alternative route is to continue on the Interamerican Highway until just before the Río Lagarto Bridge. This turnoff isn't always well marked. From the Río Lagarto turnoff, it's 38km (24 miles) to Santa Elena and Monteverde.

Whichever route you take, the final going is slow because the roads into Santa Elena are rough, unpaved dirt and gravel affairs. Just before you enter the town of Santa Elena, you'll be stopped at a little tollbooth collecting 200 colones. The money is ostensibly going to maintain the road, and payment is actually optional.

By Bus -- Transmonteverde express buses (tel. 222-3854 in San José, or 645-5159 in Santa Elena) leave San José daily at 6:30am and 2:30pm from Calle 12 between avenidas 7 and 9. The trip takes around 4 hours; the fare is $4.20 (£2.10). Buses arrive at and depart from Santa Elena. If you're staying at one of the hotels or lodges toward the reserve, you'll want to arrange pickup if possible, or take a taxi or local bus.

There are two daily buses that depart Puntarenas for Santa Elena at 1:15 and 2:15pm. The bus stop in Puntarenas is across the street from the main bus station. The fare for the 2 1/2-hour trip is $2.60 (£1.30).

There is a daily bus from Tilarán (Lake Arenal) at 12:30pm. Trip duration, believe it or not, is 2 hours (for a 40km/25-mile trip); the fare is $2.15 (£1.10).

Gray Line (tel. 220-2126; www.graylinecostarica.com) has a daily bus that leaves San José for Monteverde at 7am; the fare is $38 (£19). Interbus (tel. 283-5573; www.interbusonline.com) has two daily buses that leave San José for Monteverde at 8:15am and 2:30pm; the fare is $29 (£15). Another option is to take Costa Rica Expeditions' van (tel. 257-0766; www.costaricaexpeditions.com) from San José; the fare is $40 (£20). Any of the above companies will pick you up and drop you off at most San José and Monteverde area hotels.

The express bus departs for San José daily at 6:30am and 2:30pm. Buses from Santa Elena to Puntarenas leave daily at 4:15 and 6am. If you're heading to Manuel Antonio, take one of the Santa Elena/Puntarenas buses and transfer in Puntarenas. To reach Liberia, take any bus down the mountain and get off at the Río Lagarto Bridge, where you hit the paved road. You can then flag down a bus bound for Liberia (almost any bus heading north). The Santa Elena/Tilarán bus leaves daily at 7am. Both Gray Line and Interbus offer routes with connections to most major destinations in Costa Rica.

Alternative Transport -- You can travel between Monteverde and La Fortuna by boat and taxi, or on a combination boat, horseback, and taxi trip. Any of the trips described there can be done in the reverse direction departing from Monteverde. Most hotels and Desafío Expeditions (tel. 645-5874; www.monteverdetours.com) can arrange this trip for you. Desafío also offers multiday hikes from Monteverde to Arenal; you spend the night in rustic research facilities inside the Bosque Eterno de los Niños.

Getting Around

There are six buses daily between the town of Santa Elena and the Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve. The first bus leaves Santa Elena for the reserve at 6am and the last bus from the reserve leaves there at 4pm. Fare is $1.50 (75p). There's also periodic van transportation between the town of Santa Elena and the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Ask around town and you should be able to find the current schedule and book a ride for around $2 (£1) per person. A taxi (tel. 645-6969 or 645-5148) between Santa Elena and either the Monteverde Reserve or the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve costs around $8 to $10 (£4-£5) for up to four people. Count on paying between $4 and $10 (£2-£5)for the ride from Santa Elena to your lodge in Monteverde. Finally, several places around town rent ATVs, or all-terrain vehicles, for around $45 to $60 (£23-£30) per day. Hourly rates and guided tours are also available. If this is up your alley, try Aventura (tel. 645-6959) or Monteverde Offroader (tel. 645-6463).

Orientation

As you approach Santa Elena, take the right fork in the road if you're heading directly to Monteverde. If you continue straight, you'll come into the little village of Santa Elena, which has a bus stop, a health clinic, a bank, a general store, a laundromat, and a few simple restaurants, budget hotels, souvenir shops, and tour offices. Monteverde, on the other hand, is not a village in the traditional sense of the word. There's no center of town -- only dirt lanes leading off from the main road to various farms. This main road has signs for all the hotels and restaurants mentioned here, and it dead-ends at the reserve entrance.

Fast Facts

The telephone number for the local clinic is tel. 645-5076; for the Red Cross, tel. 645-6128; and for the local police, tel. 911 or 645-6248. There's a 24-hour gas station located about halfway between the town of Santa Elena and the Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve. The Farmacia Monteverde (tel. 645-7110) is right downtown. There's a Banco Nacional (tel. 645-5610) in downtown Santa Elena and Coopemex (tel. 645-6948) on the road out to Santa Elena, near Finca Valverde; both have 24-hour ATM machines.