For several years, my wife and I have flown to Costa Rica into both international airports - San Jose and Liberia. We have stayed at various places, from the Nicoya Peninsula to the Caribbean slope, while renting a small SUV. My wife is both a beach lover and a naturalist, and I am an avid birder - so we split the short time that we have between intense birding and relaxing. Since we both work in the American educational system, we generally travel in July. However, I have been several times in March and April and my personal bird checklist reflects both seasons.

There are some minor differences between the two locations. Liberia is a simpler highway grid, and there's far less traffic. San Jose has quicker access to well-known birding locations. However, the time spent in Costa Rica and one's flight options from the city of origin may eventually determine which airport is more convenient. There may also be significant cost variations in flying to each airport, but since this changes so much every year I'm reluctant to say much on the subject. Where you're flying from will determine if you can save time and money flying into Liberia.

Commercial Flights - One of the most significant issues concerning Costa Rican birding in the last decade is the opening of the Liberian airport to International travel. Prior to 2000, you could not fly into Liberia on any International commercial flight. Beginning that year, we became aware of charter flights flying into Liberia from two American cities (charter flights may have ended in 2007). With the expansion of the Daniel Oduber Airport in 2003, however, it became possible to get direct public commercial flights from many U.S. locations into Liberia. The following major airlines fly into Liberia as of 2006: Delta, American, U.S. Air, Frontier, and Continental. As of 2006, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Miami and perhaps other cities now have direct non-stop flights to Liberia although they may be limited to specific days.

Liberia International Airport
San Jose International Airport

San Jose International Airport Terminal

While I much prefer the non-stop flights, they will not likely be the cheapest flights for the American traveler. From Dallas, the flight time to Liberia is about 4.5 hours of flight time with the time change. It is not significantly longer to San Jose. If you fly non-stop, there's much less stress to your travel plans and you may get about 1/2 day extra for birding than if you took a flight that involves a transfer. However, non-stop travel may be seasonal or may just be possible one or two days a week. In the case of Dallas, there is one American non-stop at night. Furthermore, the non-stops (in my experience) frequently are the last option in which one will get a price break.

Liberia vs San Jose - Commercial flights to Liberia from anywhere in the United States are frequently direct flights from places like Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, and Houston. Some non-stop flights may only fly direct one day a week. Things have changed over the years, so please check all possibilities. I'm not a travel agent.

The Liberia airport is a much easier "in-and-out" issue than San Jose. Rental car companies will meet you at the airport in Liberia and will drive you back to their offices for paperwork, and the road system around the Liberia airport is drop-dead simple for people driving. San Jose, on the other hand, can be more congested. If a person has to drive south through San Jose from the airport, signage is limited and traffic is usually heavy. Returning the rental car is a real experience. Even locals avoid the congestion.

White-faced Capuchin- Manuel Antonio    

Fortunately, the San Jose International Airport is not actually in San Jose, but a bit northwest of it. After renting a car, one may not have to drive through San Jose proper depending on the destination. Driving south from the airport is the main problem. As I said earlier, places like Cerro de la Muerte, Tapanti, Rancho Naturalista, and Savegre Lodge south of San Jose are better accessed with a shuttle service than a car in my opinion. Still the area is largely a metropolitan area. There's no getting around heavier traffic no matter where you're going. You'll find your way out of town with a rental car, and people will help you if you have trouble. Standard stuff really. It's just that Liberia is inherently much smaller than San Jose, and the road system around Liberia is ridiculously simple. Directions from the Liberia Airport to Pan American Highway: Go out of the car rental place, turn left then drive to the Burger King intersection and turn right. That's it.

The only downside to Liberia is a geographic one. The Liberia destination is on the Pacific northwest of Costa Rica. One is further away from the Caribbean slope avifauna (which have a higher density of bird species) than if you landed in San Jose. You're close to the Guanacaste specialty birds, but a long way from several of the better-known Costa Rica birding locations. You can still drive to some very birdy habitats from Guanacaste for the wet-tropical birds - like Carara NP or Heliconias Lodge - but returning to Liberia can be an all day thing if your itinerary is stretched too far south. However, it's entirely possible to create a strong and varied birding itinerary from Liberia if you understand the geography and bird habitats. For instance, if someone was flying into Liberia, a birding itinerary of Palo Verde, Heliconias Lodge, and Carara might be more than adequate. If you add Monteverde to that list, nearly every ecosystem would be covered, and you wouldn't have to drive anywhere near the metropolitan areas in the central valley.

At the Airport - Ground Transportation

Shuttle Service - One option you might choose if you were flying into San Jose and then going to Rancho Naturalista, Savegre Lodge, or some other birding lodge for a few days is to rent a shuttle. Costa Rica Gateways offers such a shuttle and generally deals with a birding clientele. Instead of going to the car rental agency at the airport, you simply meet the shuttle service outside the airport entrance and you're off. The reason this might be beneficial over a rental car is that when you travel to one of the birding lodges, your rental car usually just sits there doing nothing anyway. You might pay a little more for the shuttle than a few days of rental car, but the stress of driving through San Jose will make that worth it. From the Liberia airport, on the other hand, a shuttle wouldn't be as relevant. Driving around Liberia is rather simple.

The idea of a shuttle with Costa Rica Gateways has one other advantage: Customizing your tour. With this company, it's possible to rent the shuttle service AND a qualified bird guide. With 2-6 people, this concept becomes completely realistic. All sorts of options become available. You could, for example, hire their shuttle and a guide to take you from the airport to La Selva and Braulio Carillo for 3 days of guided birding and then return you to the airport to pick up a rental car where you then could begin birding on your own. Several possibilities exist.

Other ideas for transportation (shuttles, etc...) to other locations can be found here: Costa Rica Travel Transport, Transportation Services Costa Rica, Liberia Costa Rica Transportation Online

Three-toed Sloth - Manuel Antonio

Rental Cars - If you arrive by air and want a rental car, you should do this over the Internet before you arrive. That way the car agency will literally meet you at the airport (in Liberia), drive a few blocks to the agency to fill out papers, and then you can drive off on your own. In San Jose, the rental car companies have operators at the airport and will drive you to your vehicle in most cases.

There are several familiar rental car agencies in Costa Rica. Most car rental agencies have a web page where you can email the Costa Rican representative and get the car you want (I strongly recommend at least a small SUV). I've used "Budget" "National" and "Avis" but they're probably no better or worse than any other major carrier. I have heard that the larger car companies may be better suited for the American traveler in case of an accident, so I continue to use a company like National or Budget that have offices in the U.S. Also, please read my information on car insurance in the section called "Driving."

Trip Insurance - Trip insurance should not be equated with rental car insurance. Trip insurance can be done over the Internet on your own. If you're going to drive in Costa Rica, you should consider it. We do this every year in case we have a serious accident in the car and have to be flown back for medical reasons. Most policies like this will also cover your expenses in the case of theft (think "binoculars"). They will also cover you if your flight is cancelled or over 6 hours late - a growing problem recently. We've had trip insurance pay off on two different occasions - a laptop computer theft in Jamaica which occurred at baggage handling, and a badly delayed flight to Costa Rica where the policy actually paid for a hotel room and expenses right next to the airport. My wife and I have probably paid less than $500 on trip insurance since we began purchasing it a few years ago. To date, it has paid out almost $2000.

We have used Access America for trip insurance, but I recommend Googling "trip insurance" and poking around.

Weather can be a problem any time of year, so I wouldn't let the summer wet season deter me if I really wanted to bird on my own in summer. The months of May through early August are wetter months but not dramatically wet. We're not talking monsoon season. Usually you get afternoon or evening rains at that time. Only September-October would be truly difficult months for birding. Some lodges even close at that time. December through April is generally the dry season everywhere with February-mid April as the driest period. Outside of these two generalities, the picture is less clear.

The summer wet season has some definite peculiarities. Seasonal rainfall by month is sometimes quite different in each geographic area of Costa Rica during this season. Many tour companies like to say that there is a "little summer" in July when rainfall is less than it is during the surrounding months of June and August. Since I frequently visit Costa Rica in July, I hear this a lot. The tourist industry loves using this factoid. Unfortunately this is not altogether true on the Caribbean side of the country and in southern Costa Rica. Statistical measurements show that July is frequently the wettest month in parts of the Caribbean lowlands and on the Osa Peninsula (although most mornings are generally rain free). Guanacaste and some of the central mountains, on the other hand, do show substantially less rainfall in July than the surrounding summer months. For those areas, the "little summer" story is accurate. In essence, I take the "little summer" story with a grain of salt. Avoid making plans in September and October. Outside of that, I wouldn't worry about it.