Driving from San Jose to La Fortuna

Hey guys, I’m D’Angelo from http://TravelCostaRicaNow.com and today I have another travel tip for you… today’s travels tip is going to be about transportation. More specifically… driving transportation… driving from San Jose, Costa Rica all the way up here to the La Fortuna area, which is home to the Arenal Volcano, which is constantly erupting, which is why most of you come out here in hopes to see lava. So, if we can zoom on in to this map I’ll walk you through on how to get from San Jose to La Fortuna. As you can see San Jose is down here… and up here to the north is the Arenal Volcano… and right next to the Arenal Volcano is the town of La Fortuna which we’ll be headed to today. Now, Costa Rica’s not really known for their street names… for instant if you look at this map here this main road that we’ll be taking out of San Jose… On one map it will be called the Inner-American highway, and on another map it might be called the Pan-American highway, and on a third map it will be labeled highway #1. So, for reference for this video and so you can fallow along better regardless to what map you have I’m not going to label any of the roads that are on the map, and I’m just going to let you know as far as how many miles to a certain point or the towns you’ll be passing through… now the drive from San Jose to La Fortuna is anywhere from 3 hours to 3 ½ hours. Now I’d recommend if possible to drive to La Fortuna in the morning, because later in the late afternoon and early evening those roads have been known to have heavy fog which reduces your visibility tremendously. Umm… also there are three different routes to get to La Fortuna from San Jose so I’ll be going through all three routes.

So, to begin our journey on route 1we’re going to begin driving from San Jose to the town of San Ramon. And in doing so we’re going to be taking this main road here which is going to be the Pan-American highway, Inner-American highway, highway 1 whatever it is labeled on your map… we’re going to be taking this road from San Jose to San Ramon… and in doing so we’re also going to be passing the International airport and the town of Alajuela. You’re going to have to keep your eyes pilled for one of three signs…. You’re going to be looking for a sign saying “Tabacon Hotel and Resort”, a sign saying “La Fortuna”, or a sign saying the “Arenal Volcano”. Any of those three signs will get you to the town of La Fortuna. And, more so, you’re probably going to see signs for Tabacon Resort than you will for the Arenal Volcano or La Fortuna… there’s just more signs for Tabacon then the other two.

From San Jose to San Ramon it’s going to be 35 miles or 56 kilometers for you folks in kilometers. When we get to San Ramon you’re going to make this right into San Ramon. You’re going to stay on this main road in San Ramon and you going to drive straight through the town which is going to be about 16 blocks… when you get to the end of the 16 blocks the road is going to come to an end and you’re going to have the option of going left or right… from there you’re going to go left and go up two blocks towards the San Ramon hospital… and on that second block you’re going to be making a right and you’re going to leave the town of San Ramon. This road is going to be a smaller road (58 miles or 94 kilometers). It’s going to be like a two lane road all the way up… one lane going and one lane coming. You’re going to be passing through quite a few small towns…. The other towns (Los Angeles, & Balsa) you probably just drive threw … you’ll probably blink and not even notice them, but San Lorenzo you’ll notice because they’ll have people zip-lining over head, over ah…over the road or off to the side they’ll have people going on canopy tours. So, you’ll know you’re on the right road… and…. Well, it’s only one road, but you’ll know you’re going the right way. Ah… after San Lorenzo you’ll be passing through a town called Bajo del los Rodriguez. Now, at Bajo de los Rodriguez there’s a fork in the road, and there’s an old voluntary toll both there… so you’ll….. just to give you bearings so you’ll know where you’re at. At that fork in the road you have the options of going left or going right … for route one … we’re going to be going left… and we’re going to head on up to La Fortuna from here. And in doing so we’ll be passing through the towns of La Tigra, San Isidro, y cha…. And Chachagua and after Chachagua you’ll be hitting the town of La Fortuna. Now this route is route one and it is a more scenic route, it’s a more windy route, more curvy, twisty turns, ups and downs, hills, ahhhh… so for anybody that gets motions sickness … just a heads up this is probably not the route you’re going to want to go on. Like myself I get motions sickness and every time I go on this route, I kid you not, every time I go on this road I get sick. So… just giving you guys a heads up for anyone that gets motions sickness.

Now for route two… we’re going to leave San Jose and we’re going to fallow the route like we did with route one where we’re going to go from San Jose to San Ramon… from San Ramon to Bajos…. Bajo de los Rodriguez… ahhh where the fork in the road was and we had the option of going left or going right. From here we’re going to go right and we’re going to take this road and we’re going to fallow this road… it’s going to be a straight road and it’s going to be uhmmm … going through pasture lands and you’ve got some vides…. You actually got a good view of the volcano on a clear day if it’s clear and the volcano is out from behind the clouds. And we’re going to take this road all the way to Santa Clara. Right before Santa Clara there’s going to be a little metal bridge you have to cross over… So, you’ll cross over this little metal bridge and you’ll keep to your left… and you’ll hit the small town of Santa Clara… which there you’re going to make a left on your way to the town of La Fortuna. You’ll know you’re in Santa Clara by… right there where you make a left there’s a …. There’s two soccer fields, and a big metal soccer ball right …. I mean a big cement soccer ball right there … so just keep your eyes out for those two soccer fields. And you’ll be making a left here going through Santa Clara which will take you to the next town Los Angeles, and from Las Angeles you’re going to hit El Tanque. After El Tanque you’re going to hit La Fortuna.

Now, for route number 3… it’s the route I’d recommend to anyone coming during the end of our rainy season. Which is going to be about November… if we had a heavy rainy season… which we’ve had in the years past… Novembers always a bad time of the year for mud slides and landslides. And the roads have been known on route one and route two to be washed out from a land slide…. So, if you’re driving here in November and we’ve had a heavy rainy season you might want to go ahead and stick with route three.

So, for this third route we’ll be leaving San Jose and we’re going to go to the town of Naranjo. From San Jose to Naranjo it’s going to be about 25 miles or 40 kilometers…. Once you go through Naranjo you’re going to pass threw a couple more small towns (Zarcero, Laguna, Zapote). They’re really small towns you’ll probably blink and pass right threw them and not really notice them. But you’re going to be headed on your way to another large city called Ciudad Quesada.

Now Ciudad Quesada also goes by another name called San Carlos. So… just…. On your map it may say Ciudad Quesada or it may say San Carlos, and if you stop and ask for directions you and stop and ask for either city… San Carlos or Ciudad Quesada and they’ll point you in the right direction. Auhhmmm . .. once you get to Ciudad Quesada you’re going to go through the town and you’re going to be looking for signs that say La Fortuna de San Carlos, or La Fortuna, or Tabacon Resort, or signs that point you to the arenal volcano any of those signs will get you to where you are going.

Now, after Ciudad Quesada you’re going to be heading North. We’re going to head to the town of Florencia. And from Florencia we’re going to keep going straight to the town of …. Ahhh…. Santa Clara. Which was the route we meet in route number two. And from here it’s going to be the same as route number two where we’re going from Santa Clara… we’re going to make a right… we’re going to go through the town of Los Angeles… the town of …. El Tanque…. Until we get to La Fortuna.

Now again, this is going to take you anywhere from 3 to 3 ½ hours … uhmmm… depending on the roads, depending on the traffic, depending on the weather. And… the total driving time…. I mean miles is going to be 93 miles from San Jose to La Fortuna …. Or about 150 kilometers.

Well, these are the three routes from San Jose to La Fortuna… ahhh like I said route one is going to be the shortest route… but not by much… maybe 20 minutes or so… and then route two, and then route three is going to be the longest… Again, not by much. So, I hope this video helps, and it gives you some sort of bearing as to get from San Jose to La Fortuna. If you’re driving from La Fortuna to San Jose… you’re taking the same three routes just in reverse. So, for http://TravelCostaRicaNow.com I’m D’Angelo … I hope this helps you guys… see you later…

Enter your search termsSubmit search form