Costa Rica is located in Central America, between Nicaragua and Panama. It’s only a five hour flight from most parts of the United States, and much closer to the East Coast than Hawaii is. The location, safety, reputation of its people for warm and generous hospitality, and the beautiful beaches and jungles have made Costa Rica one of the world’s top tourist destinations in recent years. To get to the Mal Pais / Santa Teresa area, you can either fly from San José to the Tambor airport, or you can drive from San José to Puntarenas and take the ferry to Paquera. From there, drive south through Tambor to Cóbano. It’s pronounced CO-ba-no, not co-BA-no. Most people seem to get it wrong. From there you can drive to Mal Pais, Santa Teresa, or Manzanillo, as well as Montezuma.
It’s another 20-30 minutes to Malpais from Cóbano. The total time from San Jose to Malpais is around 4-6 hours, mostly depending on how long you have to wait for the ferry in Puntarenas. Depending on the season, the ferry leaves every 2-3 hours. You can call 2661-2084 ext-4 to listen to a message that tells you the ferry schedule, but it’s only in Spanish.
by car
If you should plan your journey by car, be prepared that – even though there have been a lot of improvements lately – the roads in are partly not tarred and famous for their potholes. We strongly recommend a 4×4 so you can travel worry-free on the Costa Rican roads. Possible car rentals include Alamo and Budget. If you’d like us to help us with the bookings, feel free to contact us at info@indigoyogaresort.com or by phone at (+506) 2640 1007. Coming from San Jose, you take the Highway No. 1 / Interamericana and drive northwest for about 2 hours in the direction of Puntarenas. It is one of the bigger towns outside the Central Valley so you shouldn’t have any problems finding it. From there you take a ferry to Paquera, which is situated on the Nicoya peninsula. In high season, there is a ferry leaving for Paquera about every two hours. Once you are on the ferry, you can enjoy the sun and scenery for about one hour and 15 minutes. Normally they also offer little snacks and drinks during the passage. The prices for the passage for the car and driver are about 8500 colones (about $ 17); for every additional person it costs about 810 colones ($ 1.40).
From Paquera it takes another 1.5 hours until you get to Mal Pais. To get to your destination, you take the road to Playa Tambor, but continue straight to Cobano. From Cobano you follow the road until you get to Playa El Carmen. On the right hand side you will see a big sign saying “Frank’s Place”. This is the intersection that divides Playas El Carmen and Santa Teresa in the north from Mal Pais in the south. To get to Indigo Yoga Resort, you take a left turn at this intersection and follow the road for a little more than 5 minutes until you see the Indigo Yoga Resort entrance and coffee shop on your left hand side.
by plane
There are two different airlines that offer their services within : Sansa and Nature Air. For timetables and prices you can go to their homepages or you can also contact us at the above mentioned email or phone number and we are happy to help you with your reservations. The flight takes about 25 minutes and we can arrange a taxi transfer to Indigo Yoga Resort for you from the airstrip at Playa Tambor.
by shuttle
We also can arrange a shuttle transfer from San Jose or other destinations in Costa Rica. Please contact us directly to check in for prices and reservations.
by public transport
In San Jose you will have to find the bus station of Puntarenas . Since the bus stations to the various destinations are located in different areas of the town, please ask for directions there. The bus to Puntarenas costs about 1800 colones (about $ 3.20) and you will be travelling for about 2.5 hours until you get to the bus station in Paquera. From there you take a taxi to the ferry port. The ferry costs about810 colones per person. Once in Paquera, you can arrange a taxi transfer to Mal Pais, which costs about $ 90 or take another bus to El Carmen.
From there you can catch a local taxi to Indigo yoga Resort. Please regard the above mentioned prices only as a guidance, we can not guarantee these prices, since they can always be subject to change.