Air:
An airport located just a few miles from Quepos has several daily flights to and from San Jose. The trip takes just 30 minutes with local carriers Sansa and Nature Air.
There are six or more daily flights beginning as early as 6 a.m. with the last flight departing from Quepos at 2:10 p.m. Charter flights are also available for groups of four to 18 people. Contact local carriers for current schedules and fares. Flights are often full during the dry season (December-April), so book your tickets well in advance.
Bus:
Buses depart daily from the Coca-Cola bus station in San Jose and take four to five hours, depending on whether or not the route is direct. The cost is $4 each way. Buses depart Quepos for San Jose at 5, 8, 10 a.m., noon, 2, 4 and 7:30 pm.
There are several private shuttle companies, such as Interbus and Grayline, which offer door-to-door service for roughly $30 one way.
Car:
Depending on road conditions and traffic, travel time between San Jose and Quepos is roughly 4 hours. The paved road is well-maintained and passes through several scenic towns. From San Jose: Take Hwy 1 (the Autopista) from San Jose following signs to the airport. Pass the airport on your left and continue straight ahead following the signs to San Ramon for ten to fifteen minutes.
From the Airport: Exit the airport. Once you leave the airport road, you will want to be going in the opposite direction that you just traveled. In order to go in the direction of San Ramon, Jaco, Quepos, etc, go to the first rotunda, also the first traffic light, and go all the way around so that you make a giant U-turn and begin following the signs to San Ramon. Traffic merges from all sides at the rotunda, so be very careful here.
Then:
Once on Route 1 - follow signs to San Ramon, and continue straight ahead for ten to fifteen minutes. After the second  time the two lanes of traffic merge into one lane (at each of the bridge crossings), get in the right lane and take the very next exit for Jaco and Quepos / Manuel Antonio. There is a sign here for Punta Leona and for Atenas (14km). Turn left at the stop sign (there is a brown park sign here for Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio), crossing back over Route 1. Reset your trip odometer here to follow our detailed directions.
The road from here on out is relatively good, but very curvy and steep in some of the mountain passes. Passing should be done with extreme caution, though there are several long, straight sections. About 2km or 10 minutes from the Autopista exit is the Fiesta del Maiz, which serves tasty Costa Rican typical food using corn and corn flours. The restaurant has a tall sign, with a rotating, triangular tip.
The road gets curvy shortly after this and, as you descend, the first bridge crosses the Rio Grande. (It is one of the oldest bridges in Costa Rica.) Next up is Atenas – a small town with a gas station, grocery stores and other amenities. In San Mateo, there is a well-marked left turn, follow signs for Punta Leona. 
Continue straight through the next town of Orotina. (This is a good place to stop for fruits and snacks. There are several markets on the left near the railroad tracks and a gas station with clean restrooms.) Take the next exit to the right to Route 27. The sign reads Jaco, Quepos, Caldera.
Exit right again to Route 34, following signs to Jaco and Quepos. This exit has a rotunda at the base; continue to bear right, following signs for a rainforest aerial tram.
Next, you will cross over the Tarcoles River Bridge at km #54—Crocodiles! (Park either before or after the bridge and walk onto the bridge to get a great view of many enormous crocs.) Carara National Park is 10 more minutes up the road on the left.
Continue south along Route 34. Playas Esterillos are the next beaches after a short, curvy, hilly section of road. If you  are hungry or running low on fuel, there is a Castrol Service Center (gas station) after passing the signs for Esterillos east and central.
Mandatory Ceviche Stop: After crossing one of the one-lane, decrepit bridges, look for the Iguana Verde restaurant on your right. They serve some of the best ceviche in the area using only the freshest snook.
It’s another hour or so to Quepos from Jaco. Follow the very straight road through acres of African palm plantations. There are several one-lane bridges that are in desperate need of repair. Enter and exit bridges slowly, as there are often big bumps and long lines of traffic.
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