Costa Rica - How scary are the roads, really?

[Anonymous]

Have been tossing around the idea of planning a trip, but people continue to tell us the roads are heart attack inducing. Is that true and should it deter us?

[Anonymous]

What part of Costa Rica were you thinking?

The roads can be pretty rough, especially after rainy season.

[Anonymous]

Well for comparison I thought they were the best roads in Central America.... They weren't that bad in Costa Rica. Lots of other countries have way worse (Ethiopia, Thailand, etc) As long as you're a good driver, you'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

We hated driving in Costa Rica. Narrow roads, behind diesel trucks spewing fumes for miles upon end in front of you.

[Anonymous]

Well the zika virus is thriving in Costa Rica so that's an even better reason not to visit.

[Anonymous]

The mountains can be a little scary if you aren't into heights but the roads in general are just shitty, not scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have been tossing around the idea of planning a trip, but people continue to tell us the roads are heart attack inducing. Is that true and should it deter us?

Tells us where in Costa Rica, OP. If you are in San Juan, roads won't be an issue. If you are in Mal Pais, you may hit patches of road that have been completely washed away. You may also need to drive through dirt paths in a forest.

[Anonymous]

I didn't think the roads were terrible, just really curvy heading into arenal. My two year old got carsick, and he never has before, so that part sucked.

[Anonymous]

We also had some car sickness problems in the mountains outside of San Jose. The highways are decent but not really what I would call a highway. Not like in Mexico, or even that one decent highway in Belize.

[Anonymous]

Depends where you are as others have said, but around Arenal as well as out from San Jose to the pacific coast and south I don't find them any worse than the pacific coast highway north of San Francisco, or the amalfi coast... Very very windy and narrow, stressful to drive, you can get stuck behind a tractor or truck for a while, but not like 3rd world with potholes and ruts, or cliff edges without walls or anything. I would plan not to do any major driving at night, though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends where you are as others have said, but around Arenal as well as out from San Jose to the pacific coast and south I don't find them any worse than the pacific coast highway north of San Francisco, or the amalfi coast... Very very windy and narrow, stressful to drive, you can get stuck behind a tractor or truck for a while, but not like 3rd world with potholes and ruts, or cliff edges without walls or anything. I would plan not to do any major driving at night, though!

What?? There are potholes and ruts all over!! You have to constantly watch the road and swerve. And the major highway is like 3 lanes with the middle lane used for passing by either side. It's not relaxing but it's not scary. But, you need to drive a little aggressively to be comfortable I would think..

[Anonymous]

Be prepared for detours, especially during rainy season. Many potholes. At one point DH and I ran across a huge snake sprawled in the middle of the road. You definitely need a four wheel drive.

We had driven two hours in when we encountered a huge body of water due to the rain, making it impossible to cross at get to our destination. I was sincerely freaking out about having to spend the night on the side of the road as it would be pitch dark with no night lights and bad traffic. Fortunately we detoured and found another route and was able to reach out hotel before dark.

[Anonymous]

I was being driven by a local driver across the country - he was not particularly aggressive even by US standards (and definitely not by local standards), and it was a loooooong 4 hours. The roads were definitely rough. I took a little tiny 8 seater plane back (thought it would be interesting to see the country driving on the way there, but flight times were challenging on the way back), and if I went again, I'd fly as close to my destination as possible both ways.

[Anonymous]

To PPs, what year were you in Costa Rica? I've heard things have vastly improved in the last 10 years or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be prepared for detours, especially during rainy season. Many potholes. At one point DH and I ran across a huge snake sprawled in the middle of the road. You definitely need a four wheel drive.

We had driven two hours in when we encountered a huge body of water due to the rain, making it impossible to cross at get to our destination. I was sincerely freaking out about having to spend the night on the side of the road as it would be pitch dark with no night lights and bad traffic. Fortunately we detoured and found another route and was able to reach out hotel before dark.

Was there in 2014