If you’re planning on visiting areas on Costa Rica’s southern Nicoya Peninsula like Montezuma, Mal Pais, or Santa Teresa a great option to reduce a little driving time, and enjoy the countries scenery from a different perspective, is to take the 70 minute crossing between the central pacific coastal town of Puntarenas to the Nicoya Peninsula port of Paquera (or of course vice versa). As getting tickets can be a little complicated we thought it would be useful to have a specific section on this.
Our trip – Monteverde to Santa Teresa to Manuel Antonio
From our stay in the cloud forests of Monteverde to the surf town of Santa Teresa was a five hour drive via Route 145 with a spectacular change of scenery as you move away from the mountains into more open dry plains, and whilst there are less places to stop the drive is beautiful none the less through lovely smaller Costa Rican towns.
As always check the Waze and Google maps for your route and note; not far out of Monteverde the road gets very bumpy with large pot holes/craters. Not an issue in a 4×4 but definitely slow and not comfortable for those in a normal car but, the road soon comes good and the roads are good all the way to Santa Teresa.
To save travel time on our next journey from Santa Teresa to Manuel Antonio we took the Paquera to Puntarenas ferry breaking up the six hour journey with a peaceful and stunning trip across the Gulf of Nicoya.
Buying Tickets
You can buy tickets for the ferry online here at QuickPayCR. It’s only in Spanish but your browser should now give you the option to translate to English.
We highly recommend you book in advance especially if you are travelling with a vehicle as although the ferry takes 700 passengers and 170 vehicles and does multiple trips most days you still want to guarantee your place when you want it.
On the website under ‘Salida y Destino’ select if you are traveling from Puntarenas to Paquera or vice-versa and then you can select your date and the time you’d like to take the ferry.
Under ‘Tipo de servicio’ (type of service) if you are traveling without a car select ‘Persona(s)’ then the number of adults, children or seniors in your group. If you are bringing a car select ‘Vehiculo’ and a list of vehicle types will pop up to select from. Choose ‘Vehiculo Liviano’ and then add the number of adults, children and seniors.
Where it asks for the licence plate/registration number (Número de placa del vehículo) enter it or if you have a rental car and don’t know the registration you can just type Rental Car into the space. To note; if you do have a rental car when you arrive at the port you must go to the ticket office with your receipt and licence plate number to register otherwise they may not let you board.
Add your name (Nombre del cliente), email address (Correo Electrónico), and phone number (Número de teléfono).
After putting in all your information you can pay via credit card with an option of what type of receipt you need (datos para factura) so select ‘sin factura’ (without receipt) as the .
Once the transaction is complete you’ll receive an email from Quickpay with a link to your ticket.
If the website is not showing that any tickets are available that doesn’t necessarily mean the ferry is sold out. They only sell a certain amount on the website (one third apparently) and leave many available for purchasing at the ferry port.
Schedule and Ticket Prices
These are the schedule and ticket prices however check the Naviera Tambor ferry website to confirm the latest:
Leaving from Puntarenas at: 4:00am, 6:30am, 9:00am, 12:00pm, 2:00pm, 6:00pm, 8:00pm and 10:00pm.
Leaving from Paquera at: 4:00am, 6:30am, 9:00am, 12:00pm, 2:00pm, 6:00pm, 8:00pm and 10:00pm.
Adults: CRC810 or £1.30 / €1.50 / $1.60
Children Under 12: CRC485 or £0.75 / €0.90 / $0.95
Regular Sized Vehicle: CRC12882 (CRC11400 + 13% VAT) or £20 / €24 / $25
Motorcycle: CRC3842 or £6 / €7.25 / $7.55
Bicycle: CRC2486 or £3.90 / €4.70 / $4.90
Arrival at the Port
Even if you have prebooked tickets its best to arrive at least an hour before departure.
Electronic tickets are accepted but you must make sure you have them for all passengers and vehicle if applicable.
When you arrive at either Paquera or Puntarenas port there will be staff members there who will guide you into a line for boarding.
The drive into Paquera port is very relaxed but into Puntarenas the port is busy and is not as obvious as its at the end of a very long point and stretch of road called Avenue Central. Some keen locals may want to offer some advice on directions, for tips of course, which won’t be necessary so just keep following the road til the end.
If you don’t have pre-booked tickets port staff will show you where the ticket office is and at both ports these are Blue ticket booths. At the time of writing they only accepted cash and not large bills so bear this in mind. Only the driver can go and get tickets, passengers need to remain with the vehicle.
Boarding
If you are travelling by vehicle and have passengers they will have to leave the vehicle and board the ferry by themselves. Only the driver remains with the vehicle.
Obvious point but make sure everyone has access to their tickets!
The ferry schedule is kept to a strict timetable so getting there early and being prepared to board is key. Once boarding commences it all happens very quickly but there’s plenty of staff there to guide you into place.
Once parked you can leave your vehicle and go on deck where there is food and drinks, plenty of seating options with open sections for viewing and enclosed air conditioned areas.
Oh and you’ll definitely be kept entertained with the music on deck! Calypso and reggae will be blasting and it makes the trip even better with the dancing and singing!
Arrival at Port
The 70 minute journey across the Gulf of Nicoya is very pleasant with spectacular views of the Costa Rican coastline and a great opportunity to see different wildlife and animals that you wouldn’t see on land.
Just prior to arrival at your destination port an announcement will ask all drivers to return to their vehicles. Your passengers can go with you and this is strongly advised as it saves trying to locate them once you exit the ferry.
Staff will direct you off the boat and you can start the next leg of your Costa Rican adventure!
