The Central Pacific is a beautiful but slow drive over the mountains of the Central Valley (the new highway will run along the bottom of the valley). If there isn’t much traffic, the ride from the international airport shouldn’t take more than two hours, but it’s fairly typical to get stuck behind a slow-moving truck for the duration. For most of the drive through the mountains, the road is a single lane each way and very windy.

Buses to Jacó, Manuel Antonio and Quepos run about every half hour from the Coca-Cola bus station in San José, and plenty of cheap buses also run between the towns along the coast. Due to its relative proximity to the Central Valley, the domestic airlines don’t fly to Jacó’s tiny airstrip in Esterillos, which is used for private aircraft. A number of flights run by both domestic airlines travel daily between San José and Quepos. The flight lasts about 20 minutes.

The road from San José to the Central Pacific runs right past the international airport, and adventurous travelers can easily hop off their international flight and into a bus, charter vehicle, or rental car be in the area by lunch time.

A less traveled route from San José takes you through Ciudad Colón and Puriscal and past a series of pretty hilltop villages before dropping down into Orotina and meeting up with the main highway. The road has less traffic, so it can be a more enjoyable journey, though you have to negotiate an 80-year old swing-bridge made of steel wire and wooden planks.

Though there are plenty of buses, cars are much more convenient, especially if you are planning to live in the hills behind Jacó and Hermosa, where the roads have yet to be paved.