How tough is it to get to Costa Rica?

If I want to get to SJ from Taipei, am I looking at days and days of stopovers and connecting flights?
And what are prices like, as a rule?

travelocity.com says its round 700 bucks or so from SFO to SJO and back and with one stop takes bout ten hours or so. Add that to your TPE to/from SFO and that will give you an idea.

Jetblue from JFK takes bout six hours each way and costs round 500 bucks roundtrip. Good airline. Add that to your TPE to New York journey time (flight time bout 15 hours each way so i hear). American has flights from Newark as well as LaGuardia to/from SJO for less then 600 roundtrip.

EVA is pretty good but Ci is cheaper so i hear for TPE/New York sectors.

check on travelocity.com

Pricing of tickets is a bit tricky. The cheapest combination anywhere in Central America from here would be Singapore airlines/TACA.

Now, flights to Central America as a whole are expensive because of “small market”, fuel taxes, and highly restricted in terms of weight because of strong winds. The date of your trip will influence the price and availability horribly.

High season starts in December -migrants going home for Christmas- and won’t let up until May or June depending on when the rains start… then July all the gringos go to study Spanish/do volunteer work/surf during summer break and there go your prices again… until like October.

Costa Rica in particular is expensive, and will be very expensive in February -winter, European turists plus elections. Add Taiwan’s New Year rush and you’ll be looking at a very grim -pocketwise- number.

Tommy is right as the best deals can be found from US on. I was quoted 70 thousand from here to Panama, while my uncle in Michigan got a 300 usd ticket to Honduras. :s Average is 500 usd, from any major city in US to almost any point in Central America. And yes, budget airlines are giving great deals.

Best of luck. Hope you find a good deal.

You might want to have a look at some round the world tickets. Depending on time of year they canwork out very cost effective and you could come back through Europe.

Bring me back some Costa Rican hot sauce.

Bring me back some hot Costa Ricans.

You could do like I did… Pull your thumb out. I did Seattle to CR in about 8 days. Getting though Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua was a breeze… Must have been my good looks… or the hot blonde I was traveling with… :wink:

Houston and Miami are two major US gateways to Latin America. You may want to fly through either of those hubs.

Dont forget you still have to get from Taiwan to an “gateway” American city. Thus SFO, LAX and New York comes to mind for frights (er flights) from TPE.

I think your best bet money wise is to fly to/from TPE and a gateway American city and then onwards on a roundtrip ticket from that city to/from SJO. YOu can compare with your travel agent in Taiwan:

  1. TPE to/from New York or SFO or LAX and then buying the onwards segments online from say travelocity.

  2. Just getting your Taiwan agent to quote you to and from your final destination (SJO) .

compare the two pricewise and timewise and flightwise.

Quickest likely would be TPE to/from New York , overniting in New YOrk at one of the airport hotels (or spend a few days in NYC and have fun) and then onwards to SJO and back via way of NewYOrk (vacation again for a few more days?).

An overniter in NYC would be ideal both coming and going.

I understand EVA fly non stop from TPE to New York and stop over for 2 hours or so in Anchorage, on way back for refueling. I think Ci does the same.

Hot saucy Costa Ricans.

I see UA flies there from LA. I’d look into that.

Tommy, NY route is more expensive. It is good if you are going to the Caribbean, say Dominican Republic. Or some places in South America, like Venezuela and even Brazil. But to Central America, unless you live on that side -and even so most of my family transfers in Houston- it will add 300 bucks to the whole operation.

Costa Rica is a tourist trap, eh, destination, so there are flights from any major -and minor- US and Canadian city. So if he can get a connection, say, to Dallas or Austin, he can get into the cheaper American airlines flights. Or Mexicana, which is offering great deals these days.

Tempo, check that UAL LAX flight. If it is still there, think it goes to the beach airport in the north, closer to Nicaragua, not to the main one, and it is a charter.

Of course, it depends on what/where the Chief wants.

Oh, and as Tommy said, so make sure all your stuff -including yourself- goe sto SJO not SJC. :smiley:

Sincerely, I saw a great deal on a tour that visits Mexico, and then each Central American country. You get local transportation, guide, meals, etc… taken care of. And it would be a great pleasure to be driven around, no worries. Coral reefs in Ratan, Mayan ruins, lovely Antigua and Granada… it is a nice possibility, and really affordable.

LAX to SJO, codesharing for Lacsa/Taca flight, one stop. i know so much about this now, I may have to go :slight_smile: But maybe not on united. 3 stops.

Yep, my sources tell me no UAL flights to CR. they stopped 5 years ago. So it is just codeshare, run by other airline.

There are very cheap flights from Vancover and Toronto.

Beyond the price, its best to pick a gateway city that you could actually spend a few days in and hang out no? Wanna visit LA? Then travel thru LA, same oh for SF. Hey the added bonus for the Chief is that if he comes to SF he can visit ME. That oughta swing in SF favor huh?

He could go and enjoy a bowl of beef noodles in the exact restaurant his holiness the dalai lama ate at ?

Enjoy a free tour (including 600 cc of free beer) at the Pyramid ale house in berkeley at 4pm.

The thrills are coming a mile a minute here :slight_smile:

Definetively a good point, since anyway you have to stay one night in the US for transfer on the way back -can be avoided, but it is quite rushed.

Yep, the Chief can stay with Tommy and have fun… :discodance:

The first two trips I made to Taiwan I went through SFO. Definetively a lot better than LAX. More to do, see, shop…

Wow, no thanks from the chief for all the replies to his question. Guess he must be off-line and really busy. Oh wait, no, he’s actually found time to make dozens of posts in the meantime. It must have come done to a choice between taking the time to be polite and throwing insults at that Visionary from Vancouver (aka the Chewmeister). :laughing: :slight_smile: :whistle:

This is why you posted here?
OK, just in case anyone who’s contrubuted here is paying attention to this twat:
Thanks ever so much for your help, as some of you have already noted in my PMs.
I was, as is customary with the WCIF format, waiting for the first full round of suggestions to come in before expressing my thanks, I assure you your input has been most helpful.

And son, your new squeeze is from Calgary, not Vancouver.
You might want to get that sorted before the Wedding Invites go out. :thumbsup:

[quote=“the chief”]

And son, your new squeeze is from Calgary, not Vancouver.
You might want to get that sorted before the Wedding Invites go out. :thumbsup:[/quote]
Yeah, I know, but I can’t think of anything that works with it; “the …….……. from Calgary”?

[quote=“almas john”][quote=“the chief”]

And son, your new squeeze is from Calgary, not Vancouver.
You might want to get that sorted before the Wedding Invites go out. :thumbsup:[/quote]
Yeah, I know, but I can’t think of anything that works with it; “the …….……. from Calgary”?[/quote]

Welllllll, where I come from, we got one “c” word that usually gets applied…