How to Travel by Bus from San José to Samara, Costa Rica

Many people ask: How to Travel by Bus from San José to Samara in Costa Rica? Is it possible, and is it difficult? Yes, it’s absolutely possible to travel by bus between Samara and San José. In fact, it’s actually very easy to take the local bus for this trip.

The journey itself can take a while—around 4 to 6 hours, depending on traffic—but on the plus side, it’s very affordable. The fare is fixed at 4,625 colones per person, which is about $9 USD. You’ll be riding in an air-conditioned coach without needing to switch buses. Not bad at all!

In this blog, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to know to book your tickets online, where to board, and what to expect during the trip. We’ve taken this journey ourselves several times. Things might change when regular flights between San José and Samara start in December 2024 to fly into Airport Samara. But if you’re looking to travel on a budget, this bus trip is still an excellent option that I highly recommend.

Daily Bus Schedule by TIG: San José to Samara

Transporte Inteligente Guanacaste (TIG) departs daily from the San José Terminal, located in the city center, and travels all the way to Samara and Carrillo. It’s also possible to catch the bus near the airport, and later in this blog, I’ll explain exactly where to board, because it can be tricky to find if you’re not familiar with the area.

However, traveling from Samara to the San José International Airport is very straightforward. The bus driver will stop right in front of the terminal of the airport. When you board in Samara, just let the driver know you want to stop at the airport, so he can store your luggage in the right spot for an easy airport drop-off. From this bus stop, the airport terminal is within walking distance.

Let’s start from the beginning.

How to Buy Your San José to Samara Bus Ticket Online in Advance

Since most people first arrive at San José International Airport, I’ll explain how to get to Samara from this starting point. Assuming you’ve booked a hotel in the city center for your arrival day, as most international flights from Europe arrive late in the afternoon. In my upcoming blog post about “Where to Sleep the First Night,” I’ll provide more tips on checking hotels for your first night’s stay.

You can easily book your bus tickets in advance from home, or you can use the free Wi-Fi at San José Airport, or you can book your ticket(s) online from your hotel. The website is: https://tiguanacaste.com. When you open it, the first screen will appear (see the image on the left). You need to select “desde San José,” because “desde” means “from.” Then, choose the sixth row from the top with the final destination “Estrada.” After that, select your travel date and choose the time; there is only one option available, as the schedule is fixed.

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The next step is to choose your seat. Click on the dark blue button that says “elegir silla,” which means “choose seat” in Spanish. The seat map of the bus will appear, and you can select a maximum of five seats per purchase. When you choose an available seat, it will turn green. By the way, “sillas ruedas” means “wheelchair” seating, and “silla especial” refers to a special seat located just behind the driver. I typically don’t choose those.

Once you’ve chosen your seat, click the blue button that says “aceptar” at the bottom right of the screen.

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Then you have approximately 5 minutes to finalise the process of buy-in the ticket. First you have to choose where you want to get on board. If you leave from Samara, choose at “abodaja” in the list Samara. If you want to leave from  San Jose downtown, you have to choose “San Jose terminal”. If you want to get on the bus nearby the airport of San Jose you have to choose Coyol.

I will show you how this will look like in the screen:

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You end up with ticking the box for “Acepto los Términos y condiciones”.

How to pay the bus tickets?

If you continue the online purchase process you will have to pay by creditcard. Unless you buy the ticket on the busterminal, than you can pay cash as well.

What is the address of the bus terminal in San Jose of TIG?

The bus terminal in San Jose has recently totally been changed and moved. Now it is located at Calle 22A, Avenida 0, Paseo Colón. See the picture below which I took the last lime I was there. Ask your taxi driver for this address and you will be brought there easily.

How to Recognize the Bus Stop for Boarding?

We’ve taken some pictures of the three important bus stops for traveling from San José to Samara. First, there’s the completely renovated bus terminal in the city center of San José. Next is the Coyol bus stop, named after the nearest village next to San José International Airport. Finally, we have the charming bus stop in Samara itself, where you can board the bus to San José.

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Regarding the picture of the bus stop in Samara, please note that we have included a photo taken during the day so you can recognize it. Normally, it looks more like the picture below, where Pieter is working while we wait for the bus. Since the time on the ticket says 4 AM, we usually sit there at least 15 minutes before departure. Later, we realized that the 4 AM departure is from the Carrillo-Estrada station. That’s when we understood why the taco workers arrived so late for the bus; they know, of course, that it doesn’t make sense to wait long before 4 o’clock in the middle of the night.

How to get to the bus station in the middle of the night in Samara?

That was something we really had to figure out since we were staying in nice houses just outside of Samara. So, what we did was move out of our apartment the night before and book a room at Hotel Giada, and another time at Hotel Belvedere for that last night. Both hotels are within walking distance of the bus station. Maybe that’s a tip for you as well!?

Boarding at Coyol, nearby Airport San Jose

Regarding the Coyol bus stop near San José Airport, I must admit that we’ve never tried this ourselves. Pieter once attempted to board near the airport, but unfortunately, the taxi driver dropped him off at the wrong bus station, causing him to miss the bus. To avoid spending another day in San José, he took a Sansa flight to Nosara instead. You can read about this experience on our flights page.

However, we did ask travelers who boarded the bus at Coyol, and they assured us that it’s very easy to find and close to the airport. Hopefully, with this picture, you and your taxi driver will be able to recognize it!

Tickets, drinks and luggage in the bus

How to buy the tickets if you don’t want to buy online? It’s also very simple. You can choose to buy your ticket at the counter, where friendly staff will assist you, or you can purchase tickets from the machine located inside the terminal of San Jose.

You can also buy drinks and snacks at the terminal to enjoy during the ride. Fortunately, drinking and eating are allowed during the trip. Plus, you’re allowed to bring your luggage on the bus. However, we did purchase an extra ticket since we were carrying so many suitcases on our way.

By the way, make sure to visit the restroom before boarding the bus, as there is no toilet on board!

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Stop on the way

Halfway through the trip, the driver will stop at a restaurant with plenty of restrooms. Typically, he will pause there for about 20 minutes, which is more than enough time to enjoy a nice Tico meal at the counter and stretch your legs.

Bring warm clothes! It gets really cold on the bus.

That’s an important tip we’d like to share with you. What I personally appreciate about Costa Rica is the lack of air conditioning in public spaces. The great exception to this is the bus. I’m not sure why, but it seems like everyone is prepared for the significant temperature difference between the bus and the outside. Normally, we travel from the Netherlands, so we always have enough warm clothes with us. But if you’re coming from a warm place, please make sure to bring something to wear during the 4 to 6-hour drive, as the temperature inside the bus can drop to as low as 12 degrees Celsius!

Final tip: watch out for the “adulto mayor” box!

During my last trip, I had a ticket for the wrong category, specifically “adulto mayor,” which doesn’t apply to my age. This frustrated the driver when I tried to board the bus. I ended up having to pay cash for a new ticket because I had received a discount and hadn’t paid the full ticket price. I probably didn’t wear my glasses while booking the tickets! 😉

Bus also to Nosara, Tamarindo, Santa Cruz, Flamingo and Hojancha.

Since I’m specifically writing about Samara, I’ve just explained exactly how to travel to and from the beautiful beach destination of Samara Beach. However, this bus line also takes you to many other places on the Nicoya Peninsula, like Santa Cruz, Estrada, Flamingo, Hojancha, Nicola, Nosara, and Tamarindo. The procedure for purchasing tickets is exactly the same throughout the province of Guanacaste when traveling with TIG.