San Jose to Drake Bay

What to expect when visiting Drake Bay

Drake Bay on the northern coast of Osa Peninsula is an unspoiled paradise looking out to the South Pacific Ocean.

This laidback town is a popular gateway to Corcovado National Park — an adventurer’s paradise. It is said to hold 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and is home to a wide variety of animal species: tapirs, scarlet macaws, and jaguars are just some of them.

But Drake Bay is more than just a base camp, it’s a destination on its own. Its beaches are often empty and the waves are calm. Swimming, kayaking, snorkelling, diving, and even dolphin-watching are all popular activities in Drake Bay. Inland is just as exciting. You can go hiking, birdwatching, or mountain biking.

Getting from Drake Bay to Corcovado National Park

Drake Bay is one of two common jump-off points when visiting Corcovado National Park. From here, you’ll have access to two of Corcovado’s entry points: San Pedrillo and Sirena. Both ranger stations can be reached by boat.

• 30-minute boat to San Pedrillo
• 1.5-hour boat to Sirena

The boat ride from Drake Bay to any of the ranger stations is often part of the tour that you will get to enter Corcovado. This tour already includes roundtrip boat transfers, a registered guide, as well a permit to visit the national park.

4 ways to get from San Jose to Drake Bay

Travelling by bus from San Jose to Drake Bay is much cheaper than taking a minivan, but its travel time can be erratic and you run the risk of missing your connecting boat in Sierpe. Combined rates start from 18,000 CRC ($34) for the 7 to 9-hour journey.

Tracopa operates one daily bus trip from San Jose to Sierpe. This departs at 08:30 in the morning.

The advertised travel time with the bus is around 6h. But this can easily take 7 to 8 hours depending on traffic and the number of bus stops. This means that when taking the bus, you might not make it in time for the last boat from Sierpe to Drake Bay.

A bus ticket costs around 7,200 CRC ($14). You can buy your tickets at the bus station.

Boats from Sierpe to Drake Bay depart twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Considering the bus schedule though, you can only take the afternoon boat if you want to arrive in Drake Bay within the same day.

Tickets for the afternoon boat cost 10,000 CRC ($20) per person.

It is not possible to get from San Jose to Drake Bay completely by land. A popular way to travel this route is by a combined minivan shuttle and boat via Sierpe. On the upside, the boat ride is scenic and already an adventure on its own! Travel time is around 5 hours 30 minutes to 7 hours 25 minutes, excluding the waiting time for the boat.

Combined rates start from 51,000 CRC ($100).

Super Shuttle and Easy Ride both offer minivans from San Jose to Sierpe. Both of them depart early morning from San Jose.

The minivan will pick you up at your hotel in San Jose and bring you to Restaurante Oleaje Sereno in Sierpe. This restaurant is often a meet-up place for tourists taking the ferry since it has a parking lot where you can leave your vehicle. It is also located just beside La Perla del Sur, where you can buy your boat tickets to Drake Bay.

Minivan prices from San Jose to Sierpe start from 41,000 CRC ($80) for the journey that takes around 4h 30m - 6h 25m.

The boat is a scenic way to get from Sierpe to Drake Bay. This is why we recommend travelling by land (and sea) from San Jose to Drake Bay instead of taking a flight.

Travel time by boat takes around 1h from Sierpe to Drake Bay. A ticket costs 10,000 CRC ($20).

In the first 40 minutes of the boat ride, you will be travelling along Sierpe River, which is home to the largest mangrove forest in Latin America.

The ride may get a bit bumpy as your boat crosses the boundary from the river to the sea, but know that you are in the hands of veteran boat captains. After that, it should be a smooth ride again until you reach the picturesque shores of Drake Bay.

A faster way to get from San Jose to Drake Bay is to take a flight. Travel time is only about 2 hours 10 minutes, including the airport transfers.

But aside from being expensive with combined rates from 97,000 CRC ($185), the flight will take away the opportunity of taking an exciting boat ride from Sierpe to Drake Bay.

TIP: If you decide to travel by plane, please consider including a carbon compensation fee to reduce your impact on the environment.

You can get from San Jose city centre to San Jose Airport in two ways: via a 1-hour bus that costs 1,030 CRC ($2) or a 30-minute taxi with rates from 16,000 CRC ($31).

You will find the buses at TUASA Terminal every 10 minutes from 04:00 to 23:00. As for the taxis, you can hail them from the street or through the ride-hailing app Uber. Rates with Uber start from 16,000 CRC ($31) but keep in mind that Uber is not yet fully accepted by everyone in Costa Rica.

Sansa Regional offers two flights from San Jose to Drake Bay daily. Flights depart at 08:10 and 11:50 every day and the journey takes around 50 minutes.

Airfares start from 90,000 CRC ($175) when you book months ahead. We recommend booking through Skyscanner for the cheapest fares.

From Drake Bay Airport, you can take a shuttle to your hotel. This is normally pre-arranged through your hotel in Drake Bay. Let them know the carrier you’re flying with as well as your expected time of arrival at Drake Bay Airport.

A shuttle ticket costs 5,200 CRC ($10) per person.

If you’re travelling in a big group, it could be cheaper to just take a private transfer from San Jose to Drake Bay.

Osa Wild offers private transfers with rates from 357,000 CRC ($690) for a 10-seater private transfer. Divide the cost and that’s just about 36,000 CRC ($69) per person.

Private Transport options from San Jose to Drake Bay