Costa Rica Guide
Getting Around
By air
Costa Rica's two domestic air carriers offer reasonably economical flights between San José and many beach destinations and provincial towns. Sansa is the state-owned domestic airline; NatureAir is its commercial competitor. Both fly small twin-propeller aircraft, and service more or less the same destinations. These flights can be very handy, saving many hours of bus travel better spent on the sand.
Of the two, NatureAir ( 
220-3054, 
220-0413, 
www.natureair.com ), which flies from Tobías Bolaños airport in Pavas, 7km northwest of San José, is more reliable and has more frequent services on some runs. Sansa ( 221-9414, 255-2176, www.flysansa.com ) flies from Juan Santamaría airport, 17km northwest of San José, and is cheaper but less dependable than NatureAir. On both airlines, make your reservations as far as possible in advance, and even then be advised that a booking means almost nothing until the seat is actually paid for. Reconfirm your flight in advance of the day of departure and again on the day of travel, if possible, as schedules can change at short notice.
If you're planning to cover a lot of ground in a limited amount of time, Sansa's Costa Rica Air Pass ($199/249 for 1/2 weeks; $50 surcharge if you arrived in Costa Rica on an airline other than one affiliated with Grupo TACA) gives you unrestricted use of all their services. If you're travelling throughout Central America, a TACA regional airpass ( www.tacaregional.com ) offers unlimited travel on the domestic airlines of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panamá, as well as Costa Rica. For a rundown of Sansa and NatureAir schedules, along with their addresses and phone numbers, see "By air".
While it's both convenient and exhilarating to fly around the country in the small aircraft operated by domestic airlines and air-charter companies, the accident rate for light aircraft in Costa Rica has been worryingly high in recent years. There are signs, however, that this is being remedied. In 2001, stricter safety checks and more rigorous flying procedures were implemented, and the number of incidents has declined since then. While fares will be at least double that of Sansa and NatureAir, air charter taxis (journeys can cost anywhere from $125 to $550 per planeload) can prove a reasonably cheap way to get to the beaches and more remote areas if several people split the expense. Most charter planes operate from Tobías Bolaños airport in Pavas.