San José to Puerto Viejo and Cahuita: Bus and Shuttle Times and Fares, Both Directions
Verified on 25 September 2026, on ARESEP’s official bus-fare register, MEPE’s own timetable and fare pages, and the route pages of Easy Ride and Interbus.
The public bus from San José to Puerto Viejo costs CRC 6,960 and to Cahuita CRC 5,980 — ARESEP’s regulated fares, in force since 4 September 2026 — about USD 15.33 and USD 13.17. MEPE, the operator, lists five daily departures from San José on its Sixaola line. Easy Ride’s shared shuttles cost USD 69 per person one way to either town, and USD 65 or 69 coming back; Interbus’s booking engine quoted USD 62 from SJO airport to Puerto Viejo (see our trip cost page). Shuttle operators put the trip at 4.5 to 5 hours; MEPE gives 5 hours 30 minutes for its full San José–Sixaola run.
On these numbers the bus costs under a quarter of Easy Ride’s shuttle fare to the same town (our arithmetic: 15.33 ÷ 69 = 22%); what Easy Ride’s shuttle adds is hotel pickup and drop-off.
San José → Puerto Viejo and Cahuita
| Option | Departs | To | Fare, one way | Operator’s stated time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEPE public bus | 06:00, 08:00, 10:00, 14:00, 16:00 from Terminal Atlántico Norte | Sixaola line, via Cahuita | CRC 6,960 Puerto Viejo · CRC 5,980 Cahuita (ARESEP) | about 5 h 30 to Sixaola |
| Easy Ride, from San José hotels | 06:30, 14:00 | Puerto Viejo, Cocles, Playa Chiquita, Manzanillo hotels | USD 69 | about 5 h |
| Easy Ride, from San José hotels | 08:00, 14:00 | Cahuita hotels | USD 69 | about 4.5 h |
| Easy Ride, from SJO (Denny’s, Alajuela) | 06:00, 13:00 | Puerto Viejo | USD 69 | about 5 h |
| Easy Ride, from SJO (Denny’s, Alajuela) | 06:00, 13:00 | Cahuita | USD 69 | about 4.5 h |
| Interbus | no departure shown | — | — | — |
Puerto Viejo and Cahuita → San José
| Option | Departs | Fare, one way | Operator’s stated time |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEPE bus, passing Puerto Viejo | 03:00, 05:30, 09:00, 12:00, 16:00 | ARESEP register: San José–Puerto Viejo stage, CRC 6,960 | about 5 h 30 from Sixaola |
| MEPE bus, passing Cahuita | 03:30, 06:00, 09:30, 12:30, 16:30 | ARESEP register: San José–Cahuita stage, CRC 5,980 | about 5 h 30 from Sixaola |
| Easy Ride, Puerto Viejo → San José / SJO | 06:00, 13:30 | USD 69 | about 5 h |
| Easy Ride, Cahuita → San José / SJO | 07:00, 14:00 | USD 65 | about 5 h |
| Interbus, Puerto Viejo → San José | 06:00 | not on its route table | 5:00 hrs |
| Interbus, Cahuita → San José | 06:00 | not on its route table | 5:00 hrs |
All times and fares read on 25 September 2026 from each operator’s own page; the MEPE pass times are the ones MEPE publishes for its buses leaving Sixaola at 02:00, 04:30, 08:00, 11:00 and 15:00. ARESEP names its fare stages San José–Cahuita and San José–Puerto Viejo and carries no separate row for the return direction. Dollar figures are our conversion at the BCCR reference sell rate of 454.15 colones to the dollar, dated 25 September 2026.
Interbus does sell this leg on its booking engine: USD 62 shared and USD 341 private from SJO airport to Puerto Viejo, quoted for 15 October 2026 and set out on our Costa Rica trip cost page. How a shuttle seat compares with renting a car for the same trip is on our rental car versus shuttle page.
The bus fare: the regulator and the operator print different numbers
| Stage | ARESEP register (in force 4 September 2026) | MEPE’s own site (read 25 September 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| San José – Puerto Viejo | CRC 6,960 (senior CRC 5,220) | CRC 6,760 (senior CRC 5,070) |
| San José – Cahuita | CRC 5,980 (senior CRC 4,490) | CRC 5,810 (senior CRC 4,360) |
| San José – Manzanillo | no stage in the register | CRC 7,350 |
ARESEP’s fares come from resolution RE-0115-IT-2026, dated 28 August 2026 and published in La Gaceta 165, Alcance 115, on 2 September 2026. The register names the operator as Autotransportes MEPE S.A. on route 700 and gives the stages as 217.80 km to Puerto Viejo and 200.50 km to Cahuita. MEPE’s table is headed “Tarifas actualizadas” but carries no date — its reference reads “ALCANCE #” with no number. We print both and do not choose; the same disagreement is recorded on our trip cost page.
MEPE’s timetable, and which buses reach Puerto Viejo
MEPE publishes its San José service as the San José – Sixaola line, running every day of the week, with an approximate journey time of 5 hours 30 minutes. It lists pass times at Bribri, Puerto Viejo and Cahuita for northbound buses only; it does not say which of its San José departures run through Puerto Viejo and which stay on the Bribri road. ARESEP registers both branches — San José–Cahuita–Puerto Viejo–Manzanillo and San José–Cahuita–Bribri–Sixaola — so the stop matters. The ticket offices are the place to confirm: MEPE’s San José terminal is Terminal Atlántico Norte, avenida 9, calle 12, (506) 2257-8129; its Puerto Viejo ticket office is (506) 2750-0023 and its Cahuita terminal (506) 2755-1011.
MEPE’s local Limón – Sixaola timetable shows the same question in writing. From Monday to Saturday it lists 16 departures from Limón, 05:00 to 20:00, and marks 13 of them “Entra a Pto Viejo”; the 06:00, 12:00 and 17:00 are not marked. On Sundays all 11 listed departures from Limón are marked as entering Puerto Viejo. Those counts are ours, from MEPE’s table.
Changing at Limón costs less on paper
Priced against the same ARESEP register, splitting the trip at Limón is cheaper than the direct fare:
| Puerto Viejo | Cahuita | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct, San José → town (route 700) | CRC 6,960 | CRC 5,980 |
| San José → Limón (route 703, Autotransportes Caribeños) | CRC 4,000 | CRC 4,000 |
| Limón → town (route 725, MEPE) | CRC 2,300 | CRC 1,550 |
| Split total | CRC 6,300 | CRC 5,550 |
| Split minus direct | CRC 660 less (about USD 1.45) | CRC 430 less (about USD 0.95) |
Every total and difference in that table is our arithmetic on the register’s rows, all in force from 4 September 2026. That is the whole of what we can establish. MEPE’s Limón terminal is at calle 6, avenida 1; the register does not say where the route 703 bus from San José stops in Limón, and no source we read connects the two. Treat the saving as a fare fact, not as a tested connection.
Two towns called Puerto Viejo
ARESEP also registers San José – Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, route 406, at CRC 3,540, operated by Empresarios Guapileños — a different town of the same name. Interbus’s route table lists “PUERTO VIEJO” and “PUERTO VIEJO SARAPIQUI” as separate destinations. The fares and times on this page are for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, the Caribbean one, which is what Easy Ride’s route page names.
What the operators don’t publish
These are gaps in the operators’ and authorities’ own published information:
- Caribe Shuttle’s fares and times. Its San José and Puerto Viejo/Cahuita daily-shuttle pages, read 25 September 2026, deliver no schedule or price in the page itself; both are loaded by script.
- Interbus departures from San José. Its route table shows dashes in every column for San José → Puerto Viejo and San José → Cahuita.
- Which MEPE San José departures enter Puerto Viejo. Its timetable does not say.
- A date on MEPE’s own fare table.
- Where the San José–Limón bus stops in Limón, relative to MEPE’s terminal.
- An official road distance. The kilometre figures above are ARESEP’s average kilometres per trip for each fare stage, not a road-authority measurement.
- Whether Easy Ride’s USD fares include Costa Rica’s IVA (value-added tax). Its pages say prices are in US dollars, per person, one way, and say nothing about tax.
How we researched this
Scope: this page reports source research, not a trip taken. On 25 September 2026 we pulled ARESEP’s open-data fare register directly — the source for every regulated fare, stage distance, resolution and operator name — and read MEPE’s own fare table, San José–Sixaola and Limón–Sixaola timetables and terminal pages. Shuttle fares, times and pickup points came from Easy Ride’s three route pages (from San José, from SJO airport, and from Puerto Viejo and Cahuita). Interbus’s departure and travel times came from its public route table. The exchange rate came from BCCR’s own indicator feed.
Figures on this page labelled our arithmetic or our conversion are calculated by us from the sourced inputs cited below — the split-trip totals, the differences, the counts of marked departures, the percentage and the dollar conversions. Every other figure is reproduced as its named source published it.
Last verified: 25 September 2026. Shuttle fares and timetables change without notice; the bus fares are current from 4 September 2026 until the next ARESEP resolution.
Sources
- ARESEP — Pliego tarifario de autobús, open-data register — CRC 6,960 and CRC 5,980 with the senior fares, route 700 and its two branches, the operator, stage distances, resolution RE-0115-IT-2026 and its dates; the route 703 San José–Limón and route 725 Limón–Cahuita / Limón–Puerto Viejo fares; the route 406 Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí fare. Pulled 25 September 2026.
- Autotransportes MEPE — home and fare table — MEPE’s own fares (CRC 6,760, CRC 5,810, CRC 7,350) and the Limón terminal address.
- Autotransportes MEPE — San José–Sixaola timetable — the five San José departures, the northbound pass times at Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, the daily operation and the 5 h 30 journey time.
- Autotransportes MEPE — Limón–Sixaola timetable — the Monday–Saturday and Sunday departures and which are marked as entering Puerto Viejo.
- Autotransportes MEPE — San José terminal, Puerto Viejo ticket office, Cahuita terminal — terminal location and phone numbers.
- Easy Ride — from San José shared shuttle — USD 69, 06:30/14:00 to Puerto Viejo and 08:00/14:00 to Cahuita, with stated durations and drop-off areas.
- Easy Ride — San José airport shuttle — USD 69, 06:00/13:00 from Denny’s, Alajuela, to both towns.
- Easy Ride — from Puerto Viejo and Cahuita — USD 69, 06:00/13:30, Puerto Viejo to San José and SJO.
- Easy Ride — Cahuita shuttle — USD 65, 07:00/14:00, Cahuita to San José and SJO.
- Interbus — Our Routes — the 06:00 departures and 5:00 hrs from Puerto Viejo and Cahuita, the dashes for San José departures, and the separate Puerto Viejo Sarapiquí destination.
- Caribe Shuttle — from San José and from Puerto Viejo / Cahuita — cited only for the absence of fares and times in the delivered page.
- BCCR — reference sell rate, indicator 318 — 454.15 colones per dollar, dated 25 September 2026.
Written by Estuardo Enriquez. This site is independent, has no affiliate relationship with any operator named here, and is not connected to any previous owner of this domain.