another Costa Rica travel question...

We drove all over Costa Rica 20 years ago. I can't imagine a reason not to. Do it, get the insurance where if you only bring the steering wheel back you're covered.

Didnt make that drive specifically, but was in Costa Rica in January and did a lot of driving. Flew into San Jose and drove from there to La Fortuna (3 hours). Then after a few days there drove from La Fortuna to Tamarindo (3 Hours).

Roads are a lot better than I expected. Wouldnt hesitate to drive down there again. Everything was paved. The only small issues I had were a ton of potholes when driving around Lake Arenal when dring from La Fortuna - Tamarindo, but you wont be going that far south to get to Hermosa. As a matter of fact, once I got past Lake Arenal, the roads got even better as I got closer to Tamarindo. The final 1.5 hours or so of that drive was a big highway that i was able to cruise. I imagine San Jose to Hermosa will be mostly highway like this.

I do highly suggest GPS navigation or make sure someone can use Google Maps on their phone because the road signs down there aren't very good (non existent in some areas). You'll be heavily using the GPS. If you go old school with printed maps you'll be lost quickly.

Also, street lighting isnt good. So I don't suggest driving at night if you can help it.

Check out UGA's campus in Monteverde....

I did four years ago. We got dropped off at a rental agency in downtown San Jose late in evening after leaving paucure lodge during "rush hour." Shortly after getting the rental car and on our way to Los Suenos the gps goes out. Lets just say it was a stressful drive. Road way signage was minimal and if it was in place was at the turn and last minute.

Okay... so I'm still down here in Costa Rica and will give you an updated road report:

I will reiterate: traveling from San Jose to Guanacasta shouldn't be a big deal. Highway 21 or the main Highway that runs through the whole of Central America is a good road. That being said: we raised the bar on insane travel today when we moved from the Playa Potrero area down to Montezuma (Nicoya Peninsula). Our house in Potrero had about a 2k drive up a shitty mountain road to get to it, which we thought was a little nutty.

Today I drove probably 25k on shitty, dirt mountain roads where I felt like I was in the most remoted region of the Ozarks, only in a jungle. I'd been doing 2k on this type of road on a daily basis, and thought that was extreme... but to do 25k on it was taking it to a new level. Then we get down to the beaches area, and it's all nice paved roads. Come to find out that most people access this area via a ferry from the San Jose area. The roads we drove on were described as "hazardous and unreliable, espeically in the rainy season (which it currently is).' Anyway, it was an adventure.. and I need a drink.