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Self-Drive holidays in Costa Rica

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Get behind the wheel for the chance to mix Costa Rica's classic highlights with remote exploration on a freewheeling self-drive adventure.

With its first-rate infrastructure and quiet, scenic roads, Costa Rica is ideally suited to self-drive exploration. There are few motorways, but the chance to take your time, drink in the views and stop wherever the mood takes you makes driving here particularly rewarding.

We suggest making the most of the opportunity to take the road less travelled – with the freedom of your own transportation you can easily diverge from the tourist route now and then to stop at undiscovered beauty spots, while also making sure to visit Costa Rica's unmissable highlights.

Begin by exploring Tortuguero National Park, with its maze-like network of canals, lagoons and swamps smothered by a tangle of tropical vegetation, before picking up your car and driving west to the less-visited town of Sarapiqui. Continue on to the magical, mist-shrouded cloud-forests of Monteverde and the spectacular Arenal volcano, then head into the marshland wildlife habitats of Caño Negro Reserve. Finally, after a stay at a hot springs resort with plenty of outdoor activities to choose from, drop off the car and wind down on the wild beaches of Guanacaste.

Costa Rica
Arenal and the north

Holidays Self-Drive holidays in Costa Rica

From expertly designed Private Journeys to trail-blazing Group Tours, browse our range of carefully crafted holidays.

Sillhouette of a car on a road in Costa Rica

Private Journeys

Costa Rica

Self-drive Costa Rica: Coast to coast adventures

14 days from £2,400pp

(based on two people sharing & excluding flights)

Papagaio

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Meet our team

Real Latin american experts

  • Hannah
    Hannah Donaldson - Travel Expert

    Having spent part of her childhood in Colombia and worked in Brazil and Costa Rica, Hannah's ties to Latin America run deep. Hannah is a much valued Travel Expert in our Tailor-made Holidays and Group Tours sales team.

  • Finn Clennett
    Finn Clennett - Travel Expert

  • Mary
    Mary Anne Nelson - Travel Expert

    Born in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, Mary’s insider knowledge and dry sense of humour make her a highly valued member of the Tailor-made Holidays and Group Tour sales team.

  • Kathryn
    Kathryn Rhodes - Travel Expert

    Kathryn backpacked across Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru before joining us. She has a degree in Philosophy and French and is a keen netball player.

  • Chris
    Chris Rendell-Dunn - Travel Expert

    Anglo-Peruvian Chris grew up in Lima and spent much of his adult life in between London and Cusco as a tour leader, before settling permanently in our London-based Tailor-made and Group Tours sales team.

  • Lina
    Lina Fuller - Travel Expert

    Lina's passion for the continent where she was born really took off when she moved to Córdoba (Argentina) to study, spending the holidays travelling between Argentina and her native Colombia.

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