Rio Celeste → SJO - Juan Santamaria Int. Airport

Juan Santamaría International Airport (IATA: SJO) sits in Alajuela, 20 minutes from downtown San José, and is Costa Rica's largest airport. It has the widest choice of airlines and usually the cheapest fares, which is why many Guanacaste-bound travellers still land here.

SJO makes sense when your first nights are in the Central Valley, La Fortuna, Monteverde or the Central Pacific. For a beach-only week in Guanacaste, Liberia Airport is four hours closer.

Drivers meet you just outside the arrivals doors, past the taxi rank, holding a sign with your name. Leaving the airport takes a few minutes; from there the Route 27 toll highway drops toward the Pacific and Route 1 climbs north. Flight tracking is included, so a delayed landing never costs you the ride.

• The airport exit is chaotic at peak hours. Ignore offers from touts and look for your name sign.
• SJO to Guanacaste is a 4 to 5 hour drive. If you land after 4 pm, consider an overnight in Alajuela and leave fresh the next morning.
• Toll roads are paid by the driver and already included in your fixed price.
• Departure tax is now included in airline tickets; there is nothing to pay at the counter.