San Sebastian, San Jose, Costa Rica A terrible road traffic accident near the busy roundabout of San Sebastian, located in the outskirts of Costa Rica's capital city, claimed the lives of two young men this past weekend. Jair Blokland, a 22-year old South American expat from Suriname and Jonathan Vargas, a 21-year old native of Costa Rica, were killed almost instantly after their vehicle struc...

Wikimedia Commons One of the highlights of this year´s ExpoMovil consumer auto show in Costa Rica, besides the seductive models and the brisk business realized by car loan brokers, was the interest in plug-in hybrids and passenger vehicles that are not fully powered by fossil fuels. In recent years, environment and conservation analysts bemoaned the little interest shown by drivers in Costa...

Source: Vamos Rent a Car (Newswire.net) Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas -- This week Vamos Rent-A-Car partnered with the Costa Verde Hotel in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica to offer complimentary services for tourists to the area.  Manuel Antonio National Park is a popular destination due to its protected beaches and hiking trails.  With its 150,000+ annual visitors, another rental car choice is welcom...

A 73-year old expat from the United States lost his life in an automobile crash that may have been precipitated by a cardiac arrest. According to a news report published by daily tabloid Diario Extra, the fatal accident took place during the early morning hours of Tuesday on the road that connects the cities of Bagaces and Cañas in the province of Guanacaste.   The departed expat has be...

Wikimedia Commons ST. LOUIS, March 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Holdings announced today that it is expanding into Latin America with the appointment of Grupo ANC as an Enterprise Rent-A-Car franchise partner in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua.   Enterprise Holdings, through its regional subsidiaries, operates the largest fleet of vehicles in the world through a global net...

Jaco Beach A man from the United States was killed in a road traffic accident near the expat enclave of Jaco Beach, located on the Central Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Preliminary reports suggest that the U.S. citizen may have been performed a reckless overtake and pass maneuver in the vicinity of a bridge without realizing that a propane gas delivery truck was coming in the opposite direction...

Source: Aeris If you must park your vehicle at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica, please note that your parking costs recently went up by more than 100 percent. According to a report by Fabio Mena of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, the new daily parking fee increased from $14.75 to $35, and the hourly rate climbed to $2.48 from $2.14.   If you choose to...

Now that the controversial tech startup Uber is strongly focused on gaining a foothold in the potentially lucrative Latin American market, business analysts are waiting for the day when the company will attempt to establish a presence in Costa Rica. According to a late 2014 article by Johnny Castro of business daily La Republica, Uber will likely experience a tough time entering the market in Cost...

The next time you arrive in Costa Rica and head to an auto rental agency counter to pick up the vehicle you intend to drive during your vacation (we recommend a Daihatsu Terios Bego), you just may run into someone famous. Costa Rica is known to attract celebrities from the world of entertainment, sport and business. In this press release from a car rental agency located near the Juan Santamaria In...

Tactical police units and soldiers from the Nicaraguan Army clashed against farmers who amassed in protest against one of the most controversial, convoluted and quixotic civil engineering projects of the 21st century, the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua. According to Mexican newspaper AM Queretaro, the violent demonstrations have left dozens wounded and two or three in critical condition. ...

The Regulatory Authority on Public Services (Spanish acronym: ARESEP) has summarily rejected a fee increase request tendered by the Spanish firm in charge of the mandatory technical revision of motor vehicles in Costa Rica. The firm Riteve SyC had requested a 200 percent increase that would have rocketed the fee to 30,000 colones (about $60) for the mandatory inspection of a passenger car in Costa...

Driving in Costa Rica is an unforgettable experience. Every time drivers get behind the wheel of their vehicles in Costa Rica, they know that some sort of adventure will follow. For commuters, delivery drivers and others for whom driving in Costa Rica is part of how they make a living, road traffic adventures are more haphazard than fun. For tourists and visitors, however, exploring parts of Costa...

  Source: INS Sergio Alfaro, president of the National Insurance Institute of Costa Rica (Spanish initials: INS), indicated during a recent press conference that the marchamo (mandatory vehicle registration) process will begin the first week of November. This annual process, which requires the purchase of a liability insurance policy, has resulted in very handsome profits for INS over ...

Renault 4CV. Source: Wikimedia Commons Wherever you go in Costa Rica, from Guanacaste to San Jose and from Jaco Beach to Puerto Viejo in the Southern Caribbean region of Limon, you are bound to see the iconic red taxicabs. They are likely to be four-door Hyundai Accents or Toyota Corollas, with occasional 4x4 SUVs in rural areas and vans in tourist hotspots. The exceptions to the red rule are th...

  Source: Fuerza Publica Police officers assigned to an extended security detail in the Caribbean province of Limon over the weekend arrested one of their own after a spectacular car chase that left three patrol cars damaged. Witnesses of the incident, which took place in Guápiles, explained that the events unfolded in a way reminiscent of a film directed by Michael Bay.   I...

Source: Google Images CC A single arrest for suspicion of drinking and driving in Costa Rica may involve hours of work and take Transit Police officers off the highways and roads they are supposed to patrol. Such is the assessment presented by Hulda Miranda in a recent investigative report published in La Nacion. Ms. Miranda described the plight of the Transit Police officers as an uphill batt...

The New Year has thus far failed to bring relief at the pump for drivers in Costa Rica. The prices of gasoline, diesel, propane, and other fossil fuels remain stubbornly high, and the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Spanish acronym: ARESEP) is currently evaluating a request to increase fuel prices. Could 2014 become a decisive year for carpooling in Costa Rica? As the number of cars incre...

BYD Qin. Source: Wikimedia Commons Auto dealerships in Costa Rica have been enjoying record sales over the last few years. This is evident on the crowded roads and permanent gridlock around the country, but hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles have been mostly shunned by Tico drivers. However, the launch of a new Chinese hybrid and the promise of a prototype electric car made in Costa Rica are...

In 2004, a decree from the Minsitry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) banned vehicles from using a 200-meter stretch of road parallel to Guiones Beach, between the cemetery beach entrance next to Cacho’s surf rental and a residential area at the end of the road from Giardano Tropical where Nosara Travel´s office is located. On September 25, the road was reopened after a new resolution from MINAE r...

On Monday, October 14, machinery from the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) commenced maintenance work on route 160. Work began from the intersection of the Samara gas station toward Nosara. Julio Viales, regional director of MOPT, explained that they are first applying 200 cubic meters of arenon (a thick sand), which will go under the asphalt base in order to replace the clay-...

The Bailey bridge over the El Armado creek in Caimital has its days numbered because the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) will replace it with a new one made of concrete. The work will begin in late November and will consist of removing the existing structure and installing a new one-lane concrete bridge 12 meters long, said Reynaldo Mata, engineer in charge of supervising the work. CONAVI ...

Dibujando Nuestro Mapa A few months ago, a couple from the Balearic Island of Majorca in Spain converted their 1999 Ford Transit van into their living quarters for what will become an epic 8-month road trip on the other side of the Atlantic. They recently drove into Costa Rica and visited various beaches around Guanacaste. They are only about halfway through their journey, which started in Eur...

Those traveling on the Pan-American Highway to and from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia will encounter some delays in traffic since CONAVI is working on installing bridges. The recent placement of the bridge over the Cañas River in August of this year along the route marked the beginning of the construction phase of 18 new bridges as well as the rehabilitation of 18 existing ...

After years of demands by residents and tourism operators, one of Costa Rica's most precious natural treasures is getting a modern, paved highway. According to a recent news article by Roberto Portuguez of news daily La Prensa Libre, the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (Spanish acronym: MOPT) gave the green light to a highway project that will lead right up to the Monteverde Cloud Fore...

Renting golf carts to enjoy your vacation or for an alternative transportation method instead of a car, is becoming a very popular option for people who come to Playas del Coco Beach. When you get into town from the Liberia International Airport or the San Jose International Airport, as you come down the main road to the beach, you will see a few companies that provide rentals. We will list th...

My girlfriend and I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica and, as a transportation professional navigating a foreign land, I couldn’t help but take notice of certain aspects of Costa Rican mobility. During our trip, we spent all of our time in small, mainly rural towns – a vast contrast to the bustling urban environment in and around where we live in the Washington D.C. region. However, despi...

Driving from the United States to Costa Rica is an adventure best undertaken with patience, a sense of humor, and about two weeks of free time. From the U.S. border at Brownsville, Texas to the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border at Penas Blancas, the distance totals almost 2,300 miles. The drive can be made in nine or ten days, but in order to enjoy this trans-cultural journey, it’s best to budget ...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published about driving tips for the roads of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is easily one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and visiting it can be a real treat. There are a ton of interesting things to do in Costa Rica, from surfing to taking in the local cuisine. No matter what you're interested in, however, you'll be checking it out surrounded by s...

Driving in excess of 150 km/h on Costa Rica's roads can land the driver up to three years in jail and the loss of their driver's license. The sanction is part of the new Ley de Tránsito that the country will see go into effect in the coming weeks. Driving at such a high speed does not come with a monitary fine but rather with a prison term as called for in Article 254bis of the Penal Code. ...

Volcano Brewing Company just launched a brand new website, check it out! Driving in Costa Rica is definitely a hot topic for many of our guests! Many tourists ask us if it is safe and easy to rent a car in Costa Rica (short answer: yes it is!). We get many locals that live everywhere from San Jose to Manuel Antonio, La Fortuna to Nosara, asking for driving directions and points of inter...

Do pay for the GPS option. You'll learn to love that heartless voice. And if you're thinking you'll turn it off. Don't. You'll want to keep your eyes on the road. When you come from any developed country driving in Costa Rica may be the most maddening, if not downright terrifying thing you can undertake. I read an article recently that suggested that Costa Rica would have to invest $2 billion ...

Driving in Costa Rica can be quite stressful and intimidating, especially if you have never driven in a foreign country, a big city, or over pothole ridden roads that sometimes wash away in rainstorms. Every country is unique in its obstacles and peculiar driving rules, so I’ve put together a list of tips for driving in Costa Rica based on over a year’s experience of driving daily in the Central V...

How hard would it be to load up a vehicle somewhere north of Mexico, cross the southern border of the United States, merge onto the Mexican Federal Highways network, cross over into CA-1 (Central American Highway 1), and arrive in Costa Rica? For two adventurous Canadians, it was a matter of selling their townhouse in Vancouver, British Columbia in early December of 2011, cross over to the Unit...