From La Fortuna, Monteverde is a common next stop on a Costa Rica itinerary. You have two options: Take a shuttle consisting of 4WD and boat or take the public bus. We took the public bus and in this guide we’ll be outlining how you can easily get the public bus from La Fortuna to Monteverde. It’s relatively simple only requiring swapping buses once and saves money compared to taking the shuttle.
Looking cheap things to do in La Fortuna? Check out our guide here
La Fortuna – Tileran
- 2 hours
- $3750 Colones
You’ll need to take the first Transpisa bus from La Fortuna bus station at 8 am. We arrived at around 7.45 am and the bus was already there letting people on. The bus was not full and everyone was able to get a seat. It was also pretty comfortable.
The bus took around 2 hours to get to Tileran and we bought our tickets from the bus driver for $3750 Colones each.
Tileran – Monteverde
- 2 hours
- $1500 Colones
If you’re lucky your first bus will arrive in Tileran before 9.30 am and you can get straight on the bus to Monteverde. Ours didn’t arrive until 10 am so we had to wait for the next bus at 12.15 pm. It’s a long wait but for us it was worth the cost savings. We grabbed some food for lunch, used the free bathroom in the supermarket and read our books at the bus station while we waited.
The next bus arrived late at 12.45 pm (instead of 12.15). We paid the bus driver $1500 colones for a ticket.
By the time it arrived a lot of people were waiting to get on. For the first 30-45 minutes many people didn’t have a seat but after people got off along the way we all eventually had one. The bus was hot and didn’t have an air con and the ride is pretty bumpy but after 2 hours we made it to Monteverde at around 3pm.
The bus dropped us right in the main street of Monteverde in front of our hostel.
There you go – that’s how to get the public bus from La Fortuna to Monteverde! For us this is a relatively easy travel day (compared to the chicken buses in other countries) but if you’re on a short trip or don’t feel like waiting around at a bus station there’s no shame in taking the shuttle.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve taken this route and have any further information for future travellers.
